Europe
Features
Amazon’s Autumn Nations Cup swoop triggers speculation over rugby intentions
Tech giant Amazon’s acquisition of UK rights to the Autumn Nations Cup competition has triggered a debate over whether the company will now embark upon a concerted push into rugby.
Infront takes EHF rights hit to secure coverage in tough key markets
European Handball Federation club competition rights have decreased in value in several key markets, with incumbents dropping out to leave tough market conditions for seller Infront.
Nova pays premium to avoid Panathinaikos blackout in 2020-21
Greek pay-television broadcaster Nova has sharply increased its fees to Super League One club Panathinaikos to avoid losing the rights to the side’s home matches in the coming 2020-21 season.
Lack of competition slows pay-TV fee growth for Italy’s Lega Basket
Lega Basket, the governing body of top tier Italian basketball, saw its domestic pay-television media-rights income growth slow considerably in the 2020-22 rights round, driven by a significantly less competitive market.
Sky keeps NFL rights fee flat in UK, Ireland renewal
Pay-television broadcaster Sky renewed its NFL media-rights deal in the UK and Ireland at an unchanged fee, SportBusiness Media understands.
Ziggo gets discount for LaLiga renewal in Netherlands
Dutch telco Ziggo has secured another fee reduction in its latest renewal of Spanish LaLiga rights amid a lack of competition in the market.
Discovery continues cut-price Bundesliga sublicense to DAZN on same terms
International media group Discovery has continued its sublicensing agreement with DAZN into 2020-21 at the same fee after the former’s attempt to terminate its Bundesliga rights deal was thwarted by the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS).
LaLiga rights fee plateaus in Portugal after Eleven Sports renewal
The Portuguese arm of pay-television broadcaster Eleven Sports has only slightly raised its per-season outlay on Spanish LaLiga rights, for the 2021-24 cycle, with the property looking to have hit a ceiling in the territory.
Marcin Animucki, president of the Ekstraklasa SA board
Marcin Animucki, president of the Ekstraklasa SA board, discusses the leagues latest domestic deals and how it was able to avoid paying rebates for the suspended 2019-20 season.
Canal Plus locks in European Tour rights for eight years in France renewal
Canal Plus and the European Tour renewed their deal in France for a mammoth eight years in what is seen as an attempt by the broadcaster to fend off the potential threat of Discovery’s GolfTV channel.
FREE | Nordics market report, 2020
In the latest interactive monthly data report, SportBusiness Media analyses the media-rights landscape in the Nordic region, consisting of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Polish Ekstraklasa avoids rights rebate in extended domestic deals
The Polish Esktraklasa was able to avoid paying domestic rebates for the suspended 2019-20 season by extending its existing deals with pay-television broadcaster Platforma Canal Plus and public-service broadcaster TVP for a further two seasons on unchanged final terms.
Nordics market report, 2020
In the latest interactive monthly data report, SportBusiness Media analyses the media-rights landscape in the Nordic region, consisting of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
TV2 moves to consolidate portfolio with four-season LaLiga deal
Hungarian commercial and pay-television broadcaster TV2 has renewed rights to Spain’s LaLiga, as it looks to secure key rights to retain its dominant position amid new competition.
Euroleague Basketball carves out Lithuanian FTA rights while growing Baltic value
Euroleague Basketball has boosted the value of its rights in the Baltics by carving out free-to-air rights in the valuable Lithuanian market, in deals with media group TV3 and Lithuanian public-service broadcaster LRT.
Canal Plus raises French third-tier football outlay in renewal
Canal Plus has paid an uplift to renew its rights to France’s Championnat National, the third tier of club football in the country, for another four seasons.
Tough conditions ahead for rights-holders in Switzerland as Swisscom, UPC rivalry ends
Swiss market experts are predicting tough sales conditions following the cross-carriage agreement between telcos UPC and Swisscom.
CNMC ruling limits Telefónica’s dominance, but rivals still call for competition review
The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia’s (CNMC) decision to extend telco Telefónica’s content-sharing requirement until at least 2023 will limit the extent of the telco’s Spanish market dominance. But many of its rivals are still calling for a comprehensive review into the telco’s position.
DAZN spots chance for post-Covid recovery in Spain with MotoGP sublicense to RTVE
OTT platform DAZN’s decision to sublicense a pair of MotoGP Grands Prix to Spanish public-service broadcaster RTVE will go some way to recovering subscribers who left its service in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.
RFEF sees respectable Copa del Rey fee in France after initial debacle
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) managed to secure a fairly robust fee for the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa from L’Equipe TV in France, despite a lost season following the abortive sale of the rights to a previously unknown agency.
British & Irish Lions media value holds up in UK, Ireland in Sky renewal
The British & Irish Lions touring side maintained the value of its media rights in the UK and Ireland in a deal with pay-television broadcaster Sky for next year’s tour of South Africa.
Discovery agrees ‘opportunistic’ WWE deal in Italy to build DMAX, Dplay Plus OTT
US media group Discovery has made a modest investment in the Italian rights to WWE wrestling to help increase audience share of its DMAX channel and improve the sluggish take-up of the broadcaster’s Dplay Plus premium OTT service.
LaLiga to more than double Russian rights value amid strong competition
LaLiga will more than double the value of its rights in Russia in its imminent renewal with the Telesport agency for the 2021-26 cycle.
Mediapro’s minimum guarantee demand may scupper Téléfoot carriage talks
The reluctance of French pay-television platforms to pay a minimum guarantee to carry Mediapro’s new Téléfoot channel has become a huge obstacle to the Spanish agency’s prospects for finalising distribution deals before the start of the new domestic football season.