China

The stunning success of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics last year paved the way for its record television rights deal for the 2010 and 2012 Games.

American Football: US digital satellite platform DirecTV extended its deal for the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket package in a four-year deal, from 2011 to 2014, with the National Football League

Athletics: The IMG agency acquired the international television rights for the newly-created Diamond League in a five-year deal, 2010 to 2014, guaranteeing around $6m (€4.7m) a year.

The Mediapro agency is set to sell the Asian rights for Spanish football’s La Liga directly to broadcasters across the region after failing to find an agency buyer.

Recent football and athletics rights deals in China show that opportunities are beginning to open up for sports rights holders in a country where it has been notoriously difficult to achieve ‘proper’ market value for rights.

American Football: US cable sports network ESPN acquired the rights for the college football Bowl Championship Series.

Football: Greek public-service broadcaster ERT, commercial broadcaster Mega and triple-play operator On Telecoms acquired packages of Champions League rights for the three-year period from 2009-10 to 2011-12.

Football: Bulgarian free-to-air broadcaster TV2 acquired the rights for Bulgaria’s domestic top-tier A league in a five-year deal, from 2009-10 to 2013-14, worth a reported €30m (£23m). Fo

Pan-regional broadcaster ESPN Star Sports increased rights fees five-fold to retain its hold on Formula One rights in Asia.

UK pay-operator Setanta looks to hit ambitious subscriber targets.

The phenomenal television-ratings success of last month’s Beijing Olympics will add considerable momentum to the International Olympic Committee’s broadcast rights negotiations in Europe and the US for the 2014 and 2016 Games.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games attracted the country’s largest-ever television audience.

WinTV in losing battle to convert China to pay-TV

Olympics: The Asian Broadcasting Union agreed deals in Indonesia for the 2008 Beijing Games with free-to-air broadcaster TVRI and pay-operator Astro.

Rivals fear Silva in front of queue for Serie A rights.

CCTV’s deal with internet portal Sohu.com for the Beijing Olympics online rights brings to an end a long internal debate.