England

English Premier League club Arsenal has entered into a partnership with Total Soccer, the leading football programme on the CCTV Sports channel operated by the Chinese state broadcaster.

The English Football League is to launch a new highlights programme aimed at young children after entering into a partnership with the UK and Ireland division of US cable and satellite broadcaster Nickelodeon.

American football league the NFL is planning to live stream all three International Series games scheduled to be played in London next season, with technology giants Apple and Google in contention for the rights, according to Reuters.

The Sina Sports division of Chinese internet operator Sina has acquired rights to broadcast MUTV, the in-house television channel of English Premier League football club Manchester United.

Belgian pay-television broadcaster Telenet has confirmed it has extended a rights deal for football’s English Premier League.

Polish pay-television operator NC Plus and Dutch cable-television operator Ziggo have struck rights deals for football’s English Premier League.

Digital sports media company Perform has acquired exclusive rights for the English Premier League in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, while Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV has been awarded rights for the top division of football in England.

UK pay-television operator Virgin Media has fired the latest shot in its campaign surrounding the broadcast of English Premier League football games by stating that the league should consider introducing a regional blackout system to allow it to show all 380 matches per season live on television.

The English Premier League is to receive bids from broadcasters in 10 European territories today, TV Sports Markets understands.

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has extended a rights deal for near-live extended highlights of football’s English Premier League.

UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has unveiled plans to promote its Match of the Day programme, which provides highlights of football’s English Premier League, via a new initiative on social media platform Facebook.

Pan-regional pay-television broadcaster DirecTV has agreed a three-season extension to its rights deal in Latin America with club football competition the English Premier League.

The Premier League has signed a multi-year partnership with Pulselive, the digital division of sports technology company Hawk-Eye, which will result in a complete overhaul of the official web and mobile properties of the top division of English club football.

English club rugby union’s top-tier Premiership will receive free-to-air exposure during the opening weeks of its 2015-16 season, with pay-television broadcaster BT Sport set to provide three games via its BT Sport Showcase channel.

Modern Times Group, the multi-territory commercial and pay-television broadcaster, has extended its rights partnership with the Premier League in Sweden and Denmark, as well as adding rights in Finland for the first time, while Norwegian commercial and pay-television broadcaster TV2 has also extended its contract with the top division of English football.

UK pay-television operator Virgin Media has continued its campaign against the means by which rights are sold for the English Premier League, by stating the model for the top division of domestic football is an “anathema” to real markets.