Americas
Media giants invest in NextVR
Live-action virtual reality broadcast technology company NextVR has sealed a $30.5m (€28.3m) Series A funding round with participation from leading names in sports and entertainment.
Pac-12 expands LeTV partnership in China
The Pac-12 US college sports conference has expanded its rights partnership with Chinese internet company LeTV.
NBC Universo to broadcast PGA Tour’s Mexican tournament
NBC Universo, the Spanish-language sports and entertainment cable channel of US media company NBCUniversal, will broadcast live coverage of this year’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba, the only Mexican-based event on golf’s PGA Tour.
CFL claims first with YouTube partnership
The Canadian Football League competition will stream live coverage of its end-of-season playoffs and Grey Cup finale via video-sharing platform YouTube.
Disney ‘bullish’ over ESPN after revenue increase
The Walt Disney media company has moved to allay concerns over ESPN after confirming its Media Networks division, which houses the sports broadcaster, achieved better-than-expected revenue during the three months through to the end of September.
CBC pays small increase to extend IOC partnership
Canadian public-service broadcaster CBC paid a small increase to extend its deal with the International Olympic Committee to cover the 2022 and 2024 Games.
Splitting English and Spanish language rewards Uefa in US
Uefa opened its international competition rights to the US market early in its sales cycle to take advantage of the competitive environment, and was rewarded with a significant uplift.
Judge throws out arbitration decision over Nationals rights dispute
An arbitration decision that stated that US regional cable-television broadcaster MASN owed Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Washington Nationals $298m (€270m) for the franchise’s broadcast rights has been thrown out by a New York judge.
NBA targets youth market with Verizon content partnership
US telecommunications company Verizon has agreed a multi-year content and marketing partnership with the NBA basketball league that will bring daily league highlights, new original series and access to some live games to its new mobile video streaming service Go90.
TMZ launches dedicated sports show through Fox partnership
Entertainment news channel TMZ is set to branch out into the sports world through the launch of a new programming franchise in partnership with the Fox Sports division of US network Fox.
HBO Sports president steps down
US pay-television broadcaster HBO has announced that Ken Hershman has resigned as president of its HBO Sports division.
ACC commissioner plays down reports of network launch delay
Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford has labelled talk of US sports broadcaster ESPN seeking to delay the launch of a dedicated network for the college sports organisation as “premature.”
NBA’s Mavericks extend local rights deal
The Dallas Mavericks North American NBA basketball franchise has sealed a local rights deal with the Fox Sports Southwest division of US network Fox.
UCLA Athletics commits to WME-IMG
The athletics division of the University of California, Los Angeles has agreed a 10-year extension to its multimedia rights partnership with the WME-IMG agency.
TVG to rebrand HRTV
TVG will rebrand HRTV, a pay-television broadcaster acquired by the US horse racing broadcaster in February from gambling and horse racing company the Stronach Group.
ESPN pulls videos from YouTube over Red launch
US sports broadcaster ESPN has begun removing its videos from YouTube due to apparent concerns over rights issues ahead of the launch of the video-sharing website’s new subscription service.
Fox Sports responds as World Series opener hit by broadcast outage
The Fox Sports division of US network Fox has blamed a “rare electronics failure” after its broadcast of Tuesday’s dramatic opening game of Major League Baseball’s World Series went off air.
NBA takes to the skies with Sport 24
The IMG Events & Media agency has agreed a multi-year rights partnership with North American basketball league the NBA that will see games broadcast on Sport 24, the IMG-produced live sports channel for the in-flight and in-ship markets.