Analysis

Spanish football’s LaLiga extended its rights deal in China with Wuhan DDMC Culture in May without going to market, where it would have faced a tough task maintaining its income, SportBusiness Media understands. The Chinese rights market has cooled since the previous deal was agreed, and DDMC is thought to be paying the league a strong rights fee.

South African pay-television operator Multichoice is facing the biggest challenge in its 26-year history in the form of a two-pronged regulatory attack on its dominant position in the country’s sports-rights market.

Media group Discovery’s willingness to acquire more ATP Tour content in the Nordic region than rival broadcasters had in the current cycle was key to its successful acquisition of the property.

After two failed attempts at tendering international rights to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, SportBusiness Media understands Brazilian football’s governing body now intends to complete a deal in private negotiations.

The Spanish football federation’s award of 2019 Copa del Rey final rights to public-service broadcaster TVE could have left it open to legal action.

A snap general election in Greece could thwart Greek football club PAOK’s attempts to seal a lucrative rights deal with public-service broadcaster ERT.

The VTB United League, a pan-European club basketball competition, has significantly increased the value of its international rights in a new deal with the Lagardère Sports agency amid interest from local Russian agencies.

Spain’s Mediapro agency has again acquired LaLiga’s package of live, free-to-air Primera División matches, paying a similar fee in the 2019-22 cycle as it did in 2016-19. The sale of this package to Mediapro – alongside one containing free-to-air rights to two Segunda División matches per match-week – closes LaLiga’s domestic tender for the cycle.

Indian pay-television broadcaster Star is close to renewing its rights for the English Premier League at a discount, having faced little competition in the auction, SportBusiness Media understands.

Amazon secured Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour rights in the UK for the 2020-23 cycle with a bid nearly 60 per cent higher than incumbent pay-television broadcaster BT Sport's current fee, SportBusiness Media understands, as the tech and ecommerce giant moves to establish a dominant position in UK tennis broadcasting.

The Italian competition authority’s investigation into the sale of rights for Serie A is ostensibly a disaster for MP & Silva and B4 and a let-off for IMG. But MP & Silva and B4 are no longer active and IMG could yet face a major problem. The agency could be hit with a substantial damages claim by the league for lost earnings.

Pay-television broadcaster All Media Baltics used its pan-regional competitive advantage to retain  English Premier League’s rights in the Baltics without a hefty increase in cost.

DAZN picks up Copa América at bargain price as rivals focus elsewhere DAZN, Sky, Mediaset bid for International Champions Cup Rai to share Women’s World Cup with Sky, show Uefa U21s exclusively Pr

Euroleague Ventures – the joint venture between Euroleague Basketball and the IMG agency –secured a robust price from sports streaming service DAZN for the 2019-20 to 2022-23 rights cycle in Spain despite an initially unpromising market outlook, SportBusiness Media understands.

South Korea can be added to the list of Asian markets where English Premier League rights have fallen in value in the 2019-20 to 2021-22 cycle, SportBusiness Media has learned.

W Series, the all-female motorsport competition, is prioritising exposure over revenue in its media-rights strategy for the series’ inaugural year, it has told SportBusiness Media, although it would be difficult for the series to adopt any other approach, according to industry experts.