Americas

Football

New American private-equity owner has the financial muscle to back bids for top football, but does it have the will?

Cricket

Rugby Union:  The BBC extended its deal for rugby union’s Six Nations Championship for a further four years, from 2006 to 2009.  The deal includes radio, television and internet rights.  T
Football

Football: UK commercial broadcaster ITV said that it was interested in acquiring a package of eight live Premier League matches a season from satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting as long as the…
Basketball

Football: Portuguese state broadcaster RTP completed the sublicensing of 19 of the 31 matches in this year’s football European Championship to rival commercial broadcasters SIC and TVI (TV Sports Markets 7…
Boxing

Despite two ppv fights among top ten ppv audiences, US fans did not take to cautious, media-shy fighte
Football

Olympics:  The International Olympic Committee will start a tendering process in March for the sale of television rights in Europe to the 2010 Olympics and beyond.
American Football

Ice hockey: US broadcasters ABC and ESPN, which are seeking to renew a five-year deal with the National Hockey League, are said to have offered only about half the $120m (£66m/€94m) a year they now pa…
Rugby Union

Terrestrial channel snatches rights from incumbent Rai for a 300-per-cent rights fee increase
American Football

Football: German sports agency Infront did not take-up its €595m (£412m) option for the Deutsche Fussball Liga rights for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, failing to reach agreement over price. 
Boxing

Football:  German commercial broadcaster RTL acquired the rights for a package of seven or eight Sunday matches from the 2006 World Cup from agency Infront Sports & Media.
Golf

US golf’s PGA Tour says that it expects to win increased fees for its next domestic television rights deal

The newly-owned and rebranded US motor racing series Champ Car made a decent start to the season in its first two races.
American Football

Ice Hockey: The US National Hockey League signed a two-year deal with the NBC network, with an option to renew for a further two years
Basketball

Football: German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF acquired the rights for up to 49 matches in football’s 2006 World Cup from Swiss agency Infront Sports & Media.

Boxing

US cable broadcaster ESPN has revived its interest in boxing almost a year after it seemed set to quit the sport.
Hockey

The revival of the India-Pakistan hockey test series after an interval of five years has attracted high television interest.

Boxing

There is considerable pressure on UK boxing promoter Frank Warren and his biggest fight asset, Ricky Hatton, to come up with a top-ranking US opponent in the next few months.
Basketball

Horseracing: Two rival dedicated cable and satellite horseracing channels could be launched in the UK within the next month with the country’s racecourses split evenly between the two new ventures.