Balkans

Sportfive, Kentaro, IMG get plenty of ties against the big five teams; Infront do not fare so well

Bobsleigh/Skeleton: German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF acquired the rights for the men’s and women’s bobsleigh and skeleton World Cups and World Championships for the three years from 2006-07 to …

English football’s Premier League began its international audiovisual rights sales in dramatic style with massive first-round awards in three of its most competitive markets.

Football: The England Football Association agreed deals for its international rights covering the fouryear period from 2008-09 to 2011-12, bringing in worldwide revenues of over $300m (£144m/€207m) - …

Pan-European media giant RTL is to make a surprise return to the sports rights marketing business

Football: Japanese pay-television operator J Sports acquired the rights to Japan’s top-tier J-League in a five-year deal from 2007 to 2011.

Cricket: Pan-Asian broadcaster ESPN Star Sports agreed sublicensing deals for the Twenty20 world championships, held in South Africa in September, with DirecTV (North America), Geo TV (Pakistan), Ten Sports…

Basketball: The US National Basketball Association signed deals for this season with 164 broadcasters covering 215 countries.

American Football: Canadian commercial broadcaster CTV and cable sports broadcaster Rogers Sportsnet acquired the Canadian rights to NFL football for the three years from 2008 to 2010, paying a combined…

Football: French commercial broadcasters TF1 and M6 confirmed their joint acquisition of the rights for Euro 2008, in a €100m (£68m) deal brokered by the Sportfive agency. 

Football: Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset acquired Serie A highlights rights in a three-year deal

Football: Spanish pay-television broadcaster Sogecable acquired the pay-rights for the Champions League in a three-year deal from the 2006-07 to 2008-09 with the Team agency

Football: Free-to-air broadcasters HRT (Croatia), RUV (Iceland) and TV3 (Slovenia), acquired exclusive live rights to all 31 matches of Euro 2008 in deals with the Sportfive agency, which is marketing…

Cricket:  Indian public-service broadcaster Doordarshan was awarded the domestic rights to the upcoming India v Pakistan series by the Madras High Court, which was ruling on the case brought by Indian broadcaster Zee Telefilms.

Pan-European broadcaster acquires content specifically for the region for the first time.