Africa

Eurosport Events, promoter of the World Touring Car Championship, has agreed broadcast rights deals in host markets for its forthcoming races in Hungary and Morocco, along with launching a new second screen service to enhance coverage of the motor racing series.

Pay-television channel Motorvision TV has expanded its global reach by launching on six additional platforms in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The Nigerian Olympic Committee has agreed deals to sublicense free-to-air rights for the 2016 Olympic Games to four broadcasters.

The value of the English Premier League’s free-to-air rights in sub-Saharan Africa has fallen by about 17 per cent after a difficult cycle in which the last rights-holder handed back its rights.

Telco Econet Wireless has paid a huge increase to land rights to the Extreme Fighting Championship across sub-Saharan Africa.

Telecommunications company Econet has acquired free-to-air rights for the English Premier League in sub-Saharan Africa.

Motorsport’s Formula One is the latest sports property to take advantage of increased competition in the African sports market, almost doubling its media-rights fee in a new deal.

The Discovery Networks Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) division of international media company Discovery Communications has appointed Sascha Kojic, formerly of the MP & Silva agency, to the newly created role of vice-president of sports for the CEEMEA region.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has launched an invitation to tender for the host broadcast production rights for a series of its competitions.

Contracts for Diamond League rights in sub-Saharan Africa are in the process of being rewritten for the 2016 season.

SuperSport, the pay-television broadcaster that operates in sub-Saharan Africa, has appointed Gideon Khobane as its new chief executive.

Mexican mobile entertainment provider Binbit has struck a multi-year deal with North American basketball league the NBA to distribute mobile phone content to fans in certain countries across Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Start-up pay-television operator Kwese TV is the latest company set to challenge SuperSport in the sub-Saharan market, and its Kwese Sports channel is already battling the dominant sports broadcaster head-on for rights outside South Africa.

England’s Premier League is understood to be prioritising reach and distribution over revenue in the sale of its free-to-air rights in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Sporty Solutionz agency has broadened the reach of the Masters Champions League for the debut season of the Twenty20 cricket competition by striking rights deals covering the Middle East, Pakistan, sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.

Pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports has retained rights in Australia for Test matches and tournaments operated by Sanzar, rugby union’s governing body in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.