Asia

The Infront Sports & Media agency has extended a rights distribution and commercial partnership with the Chinese Basketball Association.

Organisers of the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur have promised that this year’s edition of the multi-sport event will break records in terms of live broadcast coverage.

US network NBC has committed to complete live coverage of a winter Olympic Games for the first time, with the impact of social media cited as a key reason behind the move for next year’s event in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The Lagardère Sports agency has secured media-rights deals in various territories for the International Table Tennis Federation.

The International Basketball Federation (Fiba) has agreed a nine-year extension to its long-running rights agreement with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

The Lagardère Sports agency has agreed a deal to continue marketing the commercial rights to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Football Federation’s (AFF) recently-revamped ASEAN Football Championship biennial national team tournament.

Newly-formed Indian esports league UCypher has agreed a rights deal with the Indian arm of youth orientated television channel MTV.

Consumer electronics company Samsung is planning to offer virtual-reality coverage of the 2018 winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

International sports broadcaster Eleven Sports Network has acquired digital rights in Singapore for this year’s Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket competition.

The Chinese division of North American basketball league the NBA has entered into a multi-year partnership with Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo.

Australian motor-racing series the Supercars Championship has secured new international broadcast rights deals, and has launched a new mobile application, for its 2017 season.

Greater free-to-air exposure and a deep understanding of Asian media-rights markets has helped One Championship create a “global duopoly” in mixed martial arts, according to its chairman Chatri Sityodtong.

Chinese retail giant Suning’s sporting subsidiaries are filling gaps in the country’s media-rights market left by the retreat of streaming operator LeSports.

Online streaming company PPTV has agreed an exclusive deal for domestic digital media rights to the Chinese Super League club football competition.

The German Football League (DFL) has entered into a strategic partnership with Baidu, through which the top-tier Bundesliga competition will have an official presence on the network of the Chinese web services company.

DAZN chief executive James Rushton has apologised for the failings of the service during the opening round of the J.League football season in Japan, and said it will be “very aggressive” in pursuing key sports rights in Germany.