Europe
Features
Amazon seeks UK tennis dominance with WTA rights play
Amazon secured Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour rights in the UK for the 2020-23 cycle with a bid nearly 60 per cent higher than incumbent pay-television broadcaster BT Sport's current fee, SportBusiness Media understands, as the tech and ecommerce giant moves to establish a dominant position in UK tennis broadcasting.
IMG hopes of emerging unscathed from Serie A antitrust probe hang in the balance
The Italian competition authority’s investigation into the sale of rights for Serie A is ostensibly a disaster for MP & Silva and B4 and a let-off for IMG. But MP & Silva and B4 are no longer active and IMG could yet face a major problem. The agency could be hit with a substantial damages claim by the league for lost earnings.
Pan-regional edge aids All Media Baltics in Premier League renewal
Pay-television broadcaster All Media Baltics used its pan-regional competitive advantage to retain English Premier League’s rights in the Baltics without a hefty increase in cost.
DAZN bags Copa América rights in Italy as talks continue for International Champions Cup
DAZN picks up Copa América at bargain price as rivals focus elsewhere
DAZN, Sky, Mediaset bid for International Champions Cup
Rai to share Women’s World Cup with Sky, show Uefa U21s exclusively
Pr
Euroleague beats bearish Spain outlook with DAZN deal
Euroleague Ventures – the joint venture between Euroleague Basketball and the IMG agency –secured a robust price from sports streaming service DAZN for the 2019-20 to 2022-23 rights cycle in Spain despite an initially unpromising market outlook, SportBusiness Media understands.
Women’s motorsport series goes for ‘reach over reward’ in inaugural season
W Series, the all-female motorsport competition, is prioritising exposure over revenue in its media-rights strategy for the series’ inaugural year, it has told SportBusiness Media, although it would be difficult for the series to adopt any other approach, according to industry experts.
Bonnier boosts investment in HockeyAllsvenskan to avoid tender
Swedish media group Bonnier has significantly increased its investment in Sweden’s second-tier ice hockey league, the HockeyAllsvenskan, to prevent a tender process that might have allowed a rival to swoop.
Player popularity boosts NBA rights in the Balkans
Pay-television broadcaster Arena Sport will pay more than triple the current per-season deal value to take National Basketball Association rights in the Balkans from rival Sportklub, driven by the sport’s growing popularity in the region.
Speedway GP maintains UK income despite lack of competition in BT renewal
The value of FIM Speedway World Championship rights in the UK held up in a new three-year deal, from 2019 to 2021, despite incumbent rights-holder BT Sport facing no serious competition.
France’s TF1 sought 40% of RWC 2019 outlay in failed sublicense push
French commercial broadcaster TF1 was expecting to recoup 40 per cent of its outlay on the 2019 Rugby World Cup from its ill-fated attempt to find a sublicensee, SportBusiness Media understands.
Sky Deutschland solidifies golf dominance in DACH with PGA, Open deals
Pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland has raised its annual outlay on two of golf’s majors, the PGA Championship and Open Championship, by almost half to secure its dominance over the sport in the DACH region against the threat of US media group Discovery.
Government pressure drives France Télévisions’s Olympics sublicensing deal
The French government strongly encouraged public-service broadcaster France Télévisions to reach an Olympics sublicensing deal with US media group Discovery for the 2022 to 2024 cycle to ensure the widest access to the Paris 2024 games, SportBusiness Media understands.
IMG-Serie A legal battle would place league’s Italian-language rights strategy under microscope
In rejecting IMG’s damages claim for nearly €60m ($67.2m) in April, Lega Serie A has presented the agency with a dilemma. Taking the league to court could be expensive with no guarantee of success. And there are issues of reputation and positioning in the market.
IMG takes big step in recouping Premier League investment after new deal in the Balkans
IMG continues to recoup its investment in English Premier League rights in Eastern Europe with a new deal with pay-television broadcaster Sportklub in the Balkans.
Nent makes shock move for winter sports in Nordics
Nordic Entertainment (Nent) Group has gained a foothold in winter sports in the Nordics with its shock acquisition of a host of properties from the Infront agency.
Mediapro, TVE front-runners for unsold LaLiga free-to-air rights
Spain’s Mediapro agency and public broadcaster TVE will likely try again to acquire LaLiga’s two unsold domestic free-to-air rights packages for the 2019-20 to 2021-22 cycle, SportBusiness Media understands.
Mediaset bid for free-to-air Champions League rights could be stymied by stubborn Rai
Mediaset ‘at the window’ for Champions League as Rai-Sky renewal talks stall
Broadcaster is thought to have offered uplift on Rai’s €40m per season
Refi
FA Cup ‘non-linear’ rights package opens door to Amazon
The FA has opened the market for FA Cup domestic rights to new competition with the inclusion of a ‘non-linear package’ – expected to attract interest from internet giant Amazon – in the tender for the 2021-22 to 2024-25 cycle, SportBusiness Media understands.
LaLiga becomes Spain’s de facto public-service sports broadcaster with OTT launch
Spain’s top football league, LaLiga, became a de facto public-service sports broadcaster when it launched the LaLigaSportsTV OTT service in late March. In providing visibility for a wide range of second- and third-tier Spanish sports, LaLiga’s 41 professional clubs are doing what broadcaster TVE, with its Teledeporte sports channel, is paid by the state to do.
Spanish football federation women’s top-tier rights takeover ‘would breach anti-trust laws’
Any move by Spanish football’s governing body, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF), to intervene in the Mediapro agency’s rights deal with the top division of the country’s women’s league would be counter to Spain’s competition laws, local legal experts have told SportBusiness Media.