Americas
NFL teams sidestep risk of playoff blackouts
NFL American football teams the Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals avoided local television blackouts of their weekend play-off games after businesses stepped in to purchase remaining blocks of tickets to ensure stadia were sold out.
Discovery chief Zaslav extends contract
US media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has extended the contract of its president and chief executive David Zaslav through to the end of the decade.
Clubs to receive ‘significant’ increase from Libertadores rights income
Conmebol, football’s governing body in South America, has said that the clubs participating in the 2014 Copa Libertadores knockout competition will receive 95% of the media rights income from the tournament.
Fox Sports to restrict live streaming of NFC play-offs
US pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports will stream live coverage of the Super Bowl NFL American football championship game on February 2 for free, but will restrict online coverage of the National Football Conference (NFC) post-season to subscribers of selected pay-television operators, according to media news publication Variety.
CBS to set streaming first with NFL postseason coverage
US network CBS has announced it will live stream its coverage of the NFL’s American Football Conference play-offs through its CBSSports.com website for the first time.
Comcast SportsNet extends Phillies rights deal
US pay-television broadcaster Comcast SportsNet has extended a media rights deal with the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball franchise.
UFC launches new digital service
The Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts organisation has launched a new digital subscription service which plans to offer a minimum of 10 exclusive live events per year.
Telefuturo to bring UFC to Paraguay
Paraguayan free-to-air broadcaster Telefuturo has acquired media rights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts series.
Telemundo nets Fiba rights
Pay-television broadcaster Telemundo has acquired exclusive rights in Puerto Rico for a series of national team basketball tournaments in a deal with Fiba, the sport’s global governing body.
Murdoch needs Uefa battering ram
Murdoch pays Champions League premium in US and Germany
New Caribbean league to launch own TV channel
Organisers of planned Caribbean football league will launch own T V channel in region
TSN harnesses Twitter Amplify for IIHF Junior Championship
Canadian pay-television sports broadcaster TSN has announced that it will utilise its broadcast coverage of ice hockey’s 2014 World Junior Championship to debut the first live sports usage of the Twitter Amplify platform in Canada.
Chris Anderson, chairman and chief executive, the Caribbean Football Trust
Interview with Chris Anderson, chairman and chief executive of the Caribbean Football Trust, a private investment vehicle, about the proposed pan-Caribbean league Major League Futbol.
NFL vows to challenge FCC’s bid to end ‘blackout’ rule
American football’s NFL “will strongly oppose” a proposal by US regulators to scrap the so-called ‘blackout’ rule that blocks sports events from being shown live on television in their local market if they fail to meet a specified level of ticket sales.
NHL Network and NHL.com to show IIHF Junior Championships
North America’s NHL ice hockey league has agreed a US rights deal for the 2014 World Junior Championship, with games being broadcast through league-owned cable and satellite television channel NHL Network and official website NHL.com.
Cox deal furthers beIN Sport’s reach in Canada
Pay-television broadcaster beIN Sport, which is owned by Qatari pay-television broadcaster Al Jazeera, has furthered its reach in the Canadian market by agreeing a carriage deal with pay-television operator Cox Communications.
ESPN returns to Arena Football League
US sports broadcaster ESPN has agreed a multi-year deal, commencing in 2014, for the rights to indoor American football competition the Arena Football League.
TSN and RDS extend long-running ESPN partnership
Canadian pay-television sports broadcaster TSN and French-language sister network RDS have signed a multi-year extension to their long-term programming agreement with the ESPN International arm of US sports broadcaster ESPN.