Americas

Football

Football: The Deutsche Fussball Liga (DFL), representing the top two tiers of German football, Bundesliga 1 and Bundesliga 2, agreed a number of media rights deals covering the four-year period from 2009-10…
Football

Sports rights agency Mediapro is thought to be close to renewing a deal for Spanish football’s top-tier La Liga with pan-regional pay-operator DirecTV Latin America.
Football

Uefa has paid out an estimated €5 million ($6.4 million) to broadcasters in compensation for the signal blackouts during the Germany-Turkey semi-final in this summer’s Euro 2008 championship.
American Football

American Football: US cable sports network ESPN acquired the rights for the college football Bowl Championship Series.

A review of South Africa’s listed-events legislation is generating concern among the country’s broadcasters and rights holders.

Football

Analysts are reining in their forecasts of the value of the next English Premier League live rights deal, on the basis that regulatory intervention and the economic downturn will limit competition.

Football

A Latin American deal for the next two football World Cups in 2010 and 2014 may have to be renegotiated, with local broadcasters struggling to meet rights fee payments against the background of global recession.

Football

Olympics: Turkish commercial network Fox Turkey acquired the rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games.

Football

Football: The African Union of Broadcasters signed a deal with Fifa for the English, French and Portuguese-language television and radio rights to the 2010 World Cup.

Cricket

The Premier League may offer overseas broadcasters a ready-made Premier League channel in the next three-year rights cycle, as it looks to maintain the steep increase in its international rights revenue in a softening market.

The IOC’s preference for direct relationships in key markets looks set to further loosen the grip of the pan-regional broadcast unions that have traditionally acquired Olympic television rights.

Baseball

Baseball: US sports network ESPN extended a deal with Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media arm for inter-active television and other digital media rights through to 2013.
Football

Football: Bulgarian free-to-air broadcaster TV2 acquired the rights for Bulgaria’s domestic top-tier A league in a five-year deal, from 2009-10 to 2013-14, worth a reported €30m (£23m). Fo
Football

Globo said that it was in talks with the Team Marketing agency about the possibility of acquiring rights for European football’s Champions League competition from 2009-10 to 2011-12.

Scant evidence of the credit crunch affecting the sports rights industry at this week’s Sportel trade fair in Monaco, which attracted record numbers of participants.

Athletics

Athletics: The Shanghai Media Group acquired the rights in China for the World Athletic Series in a four-year deal from 2010 to 2013
Football

Football: Pan-Scandinavian broadcaster Modern Times Group acquired the rights in Denmark, Sweden and Norway for the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Super Cup in a three-year deal from 2009-10 to 2011-12

Globo robustly denied reports that it would not be renewing television rights deals with Olympic sports after rival Rede Record grabbed the rights to the 2011 Pan American Games.