Belgium

But failure of Gioco Calcio, with latest Serie A defections to Sky Italia, calls into question how serious an alternative league channels are

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…

Negotiations upcoming with Union Cycliste Internationale and individual event organisers about World Championship and World Cup events

Temporary channel to cover Olympics and Euro 2004

A matching-rights option in the Belgian football league’s existing television rights contract is causing the league a major legal headache

Football: Sports agency Sportfive acquired the worldwide international television rights for the German Bundesliga in a two-year deal, from 2004-05 to 2005-06, paying over €15m (£10m) per season.

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.

RTBF has extended its deal for Formula 1 rights by five years, from 2006 until 2010.

The joint acquisition of 2006 World Cup rights in Flemish-speaking Belgium by the region’s two main commercial broadcasters is part of a wider battle against VRT

Belgium’s top-tier domestic football league, the Pro Ligue, has started what are likely to be complex talks with potential bidders

Cricket: Asian broadcaster Ten Sports is set to acquire the worldwide rights to international cricket in Sri Lanka in a four-year deal, from 2005 to 2008.

Belgian commercial channel VT4, owned by SBS Broadcasting, is setting up a sports department

The signs are not good for the Pro Ligue

Cricket: The Nimbus Sport agency acquired the worldwide television rights to cricket in India in a four-year deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Year-end subscriber figures for football-driven pay-television over telephone networks in Europe will neither excite the enthusiasts nor worry traditional television.

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

An internal power struggle between a handful of top clubs is complicating the Belgian domestic football league’s planning for its next television rights deal.

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.