Eastern Europe

The Infront Sports & Media agency has secured a series of rights deals for upcoming seasons of the Champions Hockey League pan-European ice hockey club competition.

Polish public-service broadcaster TVP has acquired rights for the 2018 and 2020 Olympics in a sublicensing deal with media and entertainment company Discovery Communications, which has also secured agreements for the Games in five other European markets.

The Fight Channel Group has agreed a carriage deal for its Fight Channel World HD pay-television channel with new Romanian OTT platform Streamark.

Ukrainian Premier League football club Shakhtar Donetsk has joined forces with online video service provider StreamAMG to launch a new streaming platform.

Lithuanian free-to-air broadcaster TV3 has acquired rights for the 2018 and 2020 editions of the Olympic Games.

Bulgarian telecommunications company MTel has confirmed the launch of three new sports channels.

Media company CSI Sports has agreed carriage deals for its Fight Sports pay-television channel in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The European Broadcasting Union consortium of public-service broadcasters has made a final call for national authorities to come to the aid of its member Bosnia and Herzegovinian Radio and Television as the operator continues to struggle with funding issues.

Uefa, European football’s governing body, last month secured a strong increase in the value of its national team media rights from telco Digitalb in Albania and Kosovo.

Eesti Meedia has acquired rights in Estonia for the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games under a sublicensing deal with media and entertainment company Discovery Communications.

Public-service broadcaster Czech TV has extended an agreement for rights to the Ski Classics long-distance skiing championship, while public-service operator Sport TV has signed on as the series’ media partner in Slovenia.

Euroleague Basketball has increased its media-rights income in the 2016-17 season by 36 per cent compared to 2015-16, and this will rise further in 2017-18 thanks mainly to a blockbuster deal in Greece.

North American basketball league the NBA has signed a multi-year partnership with Lithuanian internet news portal Delfi.

International sports broadcaster Eleven Sports Network has acquired rights in Belgium and Poland to the Glory: Collision kickboxing event, which will take place in Germany on December 10.

Viasat, the pay-television operator run by multi-territory commercial and pay-television broadcaster Modern Times Group, has extended a rights agreement in Scandinavia and the Baltic region for the MotoGP motorcycling series, while international sports broadcaster Eurosport has acquired rights in Romania to the championship.

Polish pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus Sport did not show any English Premier League matches on Saturday afternoon at 4pm local time for the second weekend in a row due to fears over piracy in the UK.