Analysis

Rugby

Sky New Zealand’s acquisition of RugbyPass will help the OTT service continue to focus on revenue and user growth in its target markets outside rugby union’s ‘Big Six’ territories, its founder and chief executive Tim Martin has told SportBusiness Media.
American Football

The NFL renewed its free-to-air deal in DACH with German media group ProSiebenSat.1 without going to market as it looks to grow further in the region, having been impressed with the broadcaster’s ability to build the league’s brand and audience.
Cycling

Tour de France rights-holder Amaury Sport Organisation’s decision to exclusively sell the property in Canada to OTT platform FloSports for the 2020-23 cycle represents an experiment that could lead to similar streaming partnerships in other territories, SportBusiness Media understands.
Football

Pan-regional sports broadcaster ESPN is covering all streaming service DAZN’s costs for English Premier League rights in South America and has sublicensed select Premier League coverage in Brazil to the latter in mutually-beneficial deals.
Basketball

Euroleague Basketball has capitalised on the sport’s increasing popularity in Turkey to successfully raise the value of the top-tier EuroLeague by over two-thirds in its renewal with pay-television broadcaster Digiturk.
Football

The South African Broadcasting Corporation secured a steep fall in total outlay in its sublicensing renewal with pay-television broadcaster SuperSport for the country’s top-tier Premier Soccer League.
Football

At stake is the future funding of elite sport through the sale of media rights.
Swimming

Discovery-owned broadcaster Eurosport’s deal in Europe and Asia-Pacific for new franchise-based competition the International Swimming League also mandates it to act as the rights-holder’s global media-rights agency.
Ice Hockey

Russian internet company Yandex will look to expand its sports-rights portfolio after acquiring exclusive rights to the National Hockey League in Russia amid fierce competition.
Rugby

Italian public broadcaster Rai acquired the exclusive rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan at a two-thirds reduction in value from the previous edition after a long stand-off between the company’s internal departments.
Football

Pay-television broadcaster Nova has taken advantage of a sharp reduction in sports rights funding at Greek public broadcaster ERT, following a snap election earlier this year, to acquire a pair of key properties and become Greek top-tier football’s main broadcast partner.  
Football

The IMG agency has sealed a deal for rights to Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A and the US’ Major League Soccer in Sweden with media group Bonnier. The deal signals the end of its OTT experiment in the country as it had previously been broadcasting the properties on its Strive streaming platform.
Handball

The recent carve out of Ligue Féminine de Handball (LFH) rights from the wider package of French handball federation (FFHB) rights may have damaged the LFH’s prospects for coverage after beIN failed to renew their long-standing partnership.
Football

Turkish pay-television broadcaster Digiturk will pay nearly a fifth less per season in dollar terms for exclusive global rights to the country’s top-tier domestic football league, following protracted negotiations with the Turkish Football Federation and the league’s clubs.
Football

The BBC has paid around ten-times more for the UK rights to the 2021 Uefa Women’s Euro than commercial broadcaster Channel 4 paid for the 2017 tournament, SportBusiness Media understands.
Football

The success of Fifa’s centralisation of media rights to World Cup qualifiers involving African nations depends almost entirely on two deals: one covering the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) and a pan-regional deal for sub-Saharan Africa. About 95 per cent of the value of the rights is generated by these two markets, but both are highly problematic.
Football

Two primary obstacles are preventing broadcasters and agencies in South America from agreeing deals with one another to maximise the value of 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier rights: Mediapro’s protracted acquisition of Torneos and the mystery of who holds rights to Venezuela’s qualifiers.
Tennis

US media group Discovery saw off an aggressive bid from incumbent Match TV to take over exclusive rights in Russia to Women’s Tennis Association events from 2020, completing its tennis set in the country.