Analysis

Football

Serie A’s carve out of important rights in its international rights invitation to tender for the 2021-24 cycle has surprised potential agency bidders. Agency sources say there is a premium attached to being the sole global distributor of a property, which is reflected in rights fees. This will be lost in the current process.
Ice Hockey

The Swedish Hockey League has ensured its long-term financial security by boosting the value of its domestic rights by over a third in a renewal with TV4 Media out to 2029-30.
Motorsport

UK commercial broadcaster ITV is not thought to have seen any competition in its latest five-year renewal of British Touring Car Championship rights.
Cricket

Amazon’s push for New Zealand Cricket rights in India stirred the local media-rights market, helping the board secure a strong deal with the ecommerce giant. But the market does not expect Amazon to move quickly into sports rights in India – instead, it anticipates the same careful approach the company has used in other territories it has entered.
Football

Eleven needed to retain LaLiga rights in Belgium to strengthen its position in carriage negotiations next year.
Football

The value of Uefa’s national-team rights in Scandinavia from 2022-23 has risen sharply, with the European governing body the latest rights-holder to prosper in the region amid a push by broadcasters to seal long-term deals for premium properties.
Football

Digital streaming platform OneFootball has picked up French Ligue 1 rights in Brazil at a substantial discount after DAZN’s exit from the market.
Football

BeIN Media-owned broadcaster Digiturk has agreed to increase its fee for Turkish Süper Lig rights for the 2020-21 season to help keep the league’s struggling clubs afloat.
Rugby Union

Boutique agencies were at the fore in the sales process for international rights to the British & Irish Lions 2021 tour of South Africa, with the bigger players opting not to participate due to the carving out of key territories.
Hockey

Watch.Hockey, the direct-to-consumer OTT service recently launched by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), in collaboration with tech company Nagra, represents a new commercial model that could encourage more mid-tier sports properties to develop state-of-the-art D2C platforms.
Football

Bundesliga international rights declined in value in 2020-21 as the league struggles to find a home in the Middle East and found mixed results replacing its multi-territory Fox deal via market-by-market sales.
Ice Hockey

Norwegian commercial and pay-television broadcaster TV2 has renegotiated and extended its deal for domestic top-tier ice hockey, increasing its rights fee from next season, while also strengthening its ties to the sport by adding all rights controlled by the national federation.
Football

The value of Asian Football Confederation rights in Vietnam rose considerably in the recent deal with telco FPT, driven by a competitive sales process that took place well before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Football

IMG has found new homes for the 2020-21 Serie A rights in Brazil after DAZN cancelled its deal. But the replacement deals will bring in significantly lower revenue, SportBusiness Media understands.
Football

The Infront agency has called into question the value for sports bodies of entering partnerships with private equity companies, arguing that such deals result in a “loss of control”.
Multi-sport

Saudi Arabia’s confirmation that it will create a rights-acquisition and content platform under its Saudi Sports Company division had long been expected. What took some industry observers by surprise was the country’s apparent scaling back of its ambitions and the ostensibly softer tone used when outlining its acquisitions strategy.
Football

Thai media company Zense Entertainment and international broadcaster Eleven Sports are discussing the creation of a linear and digital media platform for Thai domestic football in the wake of Zense’s landmark eight-year rights deal with the Thai FA.
Formula 1

Spanish telco Telefónica will hold steady its per-year outlay on Formula One rights in its renewal for the 2021-23 cycle, SportBusiness Media understands.