China

The Ali Sports division of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has struck a deal to become the exclusive global internet business development partner of the China Table Tennis Super League.

The English Premier League has launched an early tender in China in order to reap the benefits of the country’s buoyant media-rights market.

English Championship football club Wolverhampton Wanderers has agreed a landmark rights deal with Chinese internet company LeSports.

The North American NBA basketball league has extended and expanded rights partnerships with Chinese IPTV provider BesTV and Italian pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia.

Live coverage of the Australian National Basketball League will be available in China after media companies Ali Sports and Sina Sports agreed rights deals for the competition.

Red Star Kunlun’s entry as the first Chinese team in the Kontinental Hockey League has helped the league massively increase its exposure, but is yet to have any impact on its bottom line.

China Arena Football League, the country’s first professional American football league, has struck a rights partnership with online video platform iQIYI ahead of its debut season.

LeSports, which is operated by Chinese internet company LeEco, has appointed Zhang Zhiyong as its president, according to the Yutang Sports website.

The International Paralympic Committee has entered into a strategic partnership with the Sina Sports division of Chinese internet operator Sina ahead of the start of the 2016 summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow (Wednesday).

Chinese online company Sina Sports has created a new feature page to house expanded coverage of the 2016 US Open tournament under a deal with the US Tennis Association.

DouyuTV, an online entertainment company that broadcasts live esports events in China, has now raised more than RMB2bn (€265.4m/$300.6m) in funding in 2016 alone following a Series C financing round.

The China Sports Media agency has secured sublicensing rights deals with the Reuters news agency and the sports video news agency SNTV for coverage of the Chinese Super League football top tier.

Virtual reality broadcast technology company NextVR is targeting global expansion after receiving significant funding from a raft of high-profile investors.

The Chinese Volleyball League is the latest domestic property to reap the rewards of two years of growth in the country’s sports market.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has recouped CNY200m (€27.3m/$30m) of its outlay on the Rio Olympics in digital rights deals this week.

Chinese video sharing platform Youku, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has struck a sublicensing deal with state broadcaster CCTV for rights to the upcoming summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.