Central America

Champions League too expensive, does not attract good audiences, difficult to schedule

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…

Football: Greek public-service broadcaster ERT acquired the free-to-air rights for all 31 matches of Euro 2008 in a €9.5m (£6.5m) deal with the Sportfive agency.  It is the first deal done for the championship.  Italian public-service broadcaster Rai is also set to sign a deal for Euro 2008, paying €120m.

US football’s Major League Soccer is in talks with the Mexican football league over the launch of a mini-Champion’s League competition.

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) - …

International rights split between several agencies - revenue increases 275 per cent

The election of a new president of Mexico’s football association will move forward the implementation of a four-year plan to professionalise the game.

Football: The English Premier League sold the rights for its internet and mobile clips packages to various companies worldwide for the three years from 2007-08 to 2009-10, bringing in about $40m (£20m/€29m).

Baseball: America’s Major League Baseball signed seven-year deals with US national network Fox, extending its present contract but for a reduced amount of coverage, and with cable network TBS for a package of Sunday and post-season games.

Television viewing for the 2006 World Cup in Germany smashed viewing records in several countries in Europe and elsewhere.

Golf: UK pay-broadcaster Setanta acquired the rights to the US PGA Tour in a six-year deal, from 2007 to 2012.

Italian football declining in popularity in the UK

Figure Skating: US network NBC acquired the rights for US figure skating in a three-year deal with the US Figure Skating Association, covering the national championships and the international Skate America…

Basketball: Spanish commercial broadcaster La Sexta acquired the rights to this year’s basketball World Championships in a deal with Fiba, the international basketball federation.

Tennis: Asian broadcaster Ten Sports sublicensed coverage of the finals of this year’s French Open tournament to rival pay-operator Zee Sports.

TV Azteca and Televisa have unofficially agreed not to compete for football