Australia

Cricket

Cricket Australia has said that viewing figures for the first half of the Big Bash League have justified the national governing body’s decision to switch coverage of the Twenty20 cricket competition to free-to-air television and defer the start of the event.

Mixed Martial Arts

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.

The V8 Supercars motor-racing series has agreed domestic rights deals with Australian commercial broadcaster Ten Network, pay-television operator Foxtel and pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports.

Rugby Union

The Australian Rugby Union has announced pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports and pay-television operator Foxtel as the sponsors of its new National Rugby Championship, which will provide additional broadcast content to Fox Sports.

Skiing

EBU deal with US ski federation will increase exposure for ski events in the country

Basketball

North American basketball league the NBA has signed a multi-year partnership with digital sports content company Perform that will result in the live streaming of NBA games in Australia.

Rugby Union

The Australian Rugby Union will meet with pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports this week in a bid to finalise a rights deal for its proposed National Rugby Championship, according to The Australian newspaper.

Cricket

Cricket Australia has extended its live streaming of the 2013-14 Ashes series by announcing that England’s forthcoming tour game in Alice Springs will be offered live coverage.

Tennis

Australian commercial broadcaster Seven Network has reached a deal to broadcast the 2013-14 Hopman Cup, an annual national team tournament sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation.

Richard Freudenstein, chief executive of Australian pay-television operator Foxtel, has called on the country’s government to alter the current anti-siphoning regulations, which reserve certain sporting events of national interest for free-to-air television.

Football

Australian pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports has acquired the rights to the 2013 Fifa Club World Cup football tournament, which gets underway in Morocco next month.

Tennis

Australian commercial broadcaster Network Ten has said it will not extend its rights deal for the Hopman Cup, an annual national team tournament sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation.

Cricket

Australian commercial broadcaster Nine has agreed a deal with the England & Wales Cricket Board for the media rights to the next two Ashes series played in England.

Football

Football Federation Australia has agreed a new deal with pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports for the 2013-14 season of women’s club competition the W-League.

Rugby League

Australian commercial broadcaster Seven has said it has no plans to switch coverage of the ongoing Rugby League World Cup national team tournament to its main channel despite complaints from some people who have been unable to watch the action.

Cycling

Australian public-service broadcaster SBS is considering dropping coverage of the country’s main domestic cycling races unless it receives six months of payments owed to it by the Cycling Australia governing body, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Australian Rules Football

The Australian Football League, the country’s top Aussie rules championship, is set to trial up to three primetime Sunday night games on commercial broadcaster Seven during the 2014 season, according to The Age newspaper.

Hockey

Hockey Australia, the sport’s governing body in Australia, has agreed a rights deal with public-service broadcaster the ABC, according to the Australian Financial Review newspaper.