Analysis

Multi-sport

The International Olympic Committee has seen its Olympic Games rights fee fall in the Indian subcontinent, driven by the long consolidation in the country’s pay-television market.
Football

The English Premier League has avoided a dramatic decrease in the value of its rights in Vietnam after media group Canal Plus swooped in following the collapse of talks between the league and social media giant Facebook.
Football

The FA has opened the market for FA Cup domestic rights to new competition with the inclusion of a ‘non-linear package’ – expected to attract interest from internet giant Amazon – in the tender for the 2021-22 to 2024-25 cycle, SportBusiness Media understands.
Multi-sport

The Dentsu agency got off to a good start in its 2020 and 2022 Olympics rights sales in Southeast Asia, striking a deal in Singapore that delivered a fee increase and avoided a repeat of the fraught negotiations for Rio 2016.
Football

Spain’s top football league, LaLiga, became a de facto public-service sports broadcaster when it launched the LaLigaSportsTV OTT service in late March. In providing visibility for a wide range of second- and third-tier Spanish sports, LaLiga’s 41 professional clubs are doing what broadcaster TVE, with its Teledeporte sports channel, is paid by the state to do.
Football

The value of English Premier League rights has fallen significantly in Singapore and declined once again in Malaysia with each country’s incumbent rights-holder needing to cut costs internally and facing little external competition.

Any move by Spanish football’s governing body, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF), to intervene in the Mediapro agency’s rights deal with the top division of the country’s women’s league would be counter to Spain’s competition laws, local legal experts have told SportBusiness Media.
Cycling

Public-service broadcaster ARD’s three-year renewal of its Tour de France rights deal in Germany reflects its renewed commitment to the Tour following earlier concerns over doping. It follows two two-year deals which the broadcaster considered a test period.
Football

In acquiring media distribution rights to the 2019 and 2020 International Champions Cup, IMG was the beneficiary of a change in direction by the former sales agency for the competition, Catalyst Media.
Cricket

Media company Star India’s plans to use the Indian Premier League to develop its Hotstar OTT platform in the UK drove pay-television broadcaster Sky’s loss of the property, SportBusiness Media understands.
Motorsport

OTT streaming service DAZN’s acquisition of rights to World Rally Championship, MotoGP and IndyCar in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is part of its plan to avoid customer churn and bolster content in the summer months when its football coverage breaks.
Handball

The Fédération Française de Handball is struggling to find a free-to-air partner for French national-team matches after carving these rights out of its new deal with beIN Sports, SportBusiness Media understands.
Rugby Union

The value of Rugby World Cup rights in Australia has declined sharply after a big increase at their last sale, hit by a strong downturn in interest in rugby union in the territory.
Multi-sport

A consortium of major rights-holders is about to launch legal action in the Saudi courts against the beoutQ pirate broadcast operation, which the rights-holders believe is backed by the Saudi government., SportBusiness Media understands.
Table Tennis

The International Table Tennis Federation is set to become the latest governing body to abandon multiple short-term deals for its commercial rights in favour of a long-term strategic partnership, as it looks to at least double its commercial rights income by 2024.
Football

A new player has emerged that could shake up the Danish sport-rights market before the upcoming domestic Danish Superliga tender after a subsidiary of the country’s largest telco, TDC Group, sublicensed English Premier League rights from Nordic Entertainment (Nent) Group.
Formula 1

Dubai-based free-to-air broadcaster MBC’s acquisition of Formula One in the Middle East and North Africa could trigger a shake-up in the regional rights market, which could lead to MBC’s backer, Saudi Arabia, becoming a legitimate player.
Rugby Union

The Ligue Nationale de Rugby’s desire for greater revenues drove the shift to a minimum guarantee from a pure revenue share in its renewal of the Top 14 international rights distribution contract with Canal Plus.