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Hong Kong is the league’s largest single overseas deal in the present round of deals, with PCCW’s NowTV paying $200 million to snatch the rights from previous incumbent I-Cable Communications. How aggressive either will be remains to be seen, with NowTV making a significant loss on the present deal and I-Cable struggling financially, issuing a profits warning earlier this year.

Executives at several of the agencies which are considering bidding for the rights fear that one company – the Milan-based MP&Silva – has a competitive advantage because of its historical links with Infront Sports & Media, the league’s media adviser.

Together with a low bid for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic rights, the deal reflects ARD/ZDF’s determination to break the trend of high-rising sports rights costs.

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Sky is approaching the end of a three-year deal, 2007 to 2009, for the F1 championship and TV Sports Markets understands that it is virtually certain that the deal will not be renewed.

Around 10 bids in total have been received, although consolidation in the last year suggests that there are only two main contenders – pay-broadcaster Modern Times Group and TV4, which owns free-to-air channels and the Canal Plus premium channels.

Incumbent partner Kentaro and rival agency IMG have also bid.

The Europa League matches were to have filled key slots in the schedule of the generalist channel, which had hoped to launch on analogue platforms in both Belgian territories before the start of the season.

The possibility of an Al Jazeera Sport takeover has been in the air for some time. The move would cement Al Jazeera Sport’s position as the leading Middle Eastern sports broadcaster and further consolidate a market that has already seen a merger this year of Showtime and Orbit.

ARD/ZDF are close to agreeing a deal for Euro 2012 for a reduced fee and their offer for Olympic rights is well below what they will pay for the 2010 and 2012 Games.

The current five-year deal, with the Kentaro agency, runs out at the end of the 2010 season. A tender was issued in July.

The deal almost triples the existing fee. Asset is expected to sublicense on the rights to its current partners, commercial channel Skai and pay-broadcaster Nova Sports.

Starhub will also slash prices for its sports pack to reflect the loss of the rights. SingTel meanwhile announced that it will be offering a standalone English Premier League channel at S$23 a month, with the ESPN Star Sports channels available for an additional S$2 a month.

The ratings compare with the 1.9 average rating for the ICC’s Champions Trophy earlier this month and the 5.7 average rating for this year’s Indian Premier League.

Neo is paying a considerable increase on what the Tour receives at present through non-exclusive deals with Neo and rival Ten Sports. Ten is rapidly cooling on the idea of launching a golf channel.

This week’s Asian deadline excludes Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), which will be subject to a separate invitation to tender going out tomorrow, with bids due in at the end of the month.

The single-seat series, based on national teams, in which all the cars have the same specification, was launched in 2005 but has struggled to cover its costs. Its UK arm, A1 Grand Prix Operations, went into liquidation in June, raising doubts about the future viability of the series.

For the sports broadcasting industry, the development heightens speculation about Uefa’s media rights strategy for its two club competitions, the Champions League and Europa League, and its future relationship with Team Marketing, its long-term sales agency.

The six Premier League matches it has shown so far this season are by a distance its six most-watched programmes, drawing an average audience of 468,000 viewers and a 3.5-per-cent audience share.

EBU members will be granted the rights in 29 of the 36 countries, showing a minimum 27 of the 31 matches live on free-to-air television. The EBU will work with Uefa in the other seven countries – Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Portugal and Slovakia – to “identify the best platform for the broadcasting of such rights”.