Europe

Football
Spain

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.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)
Russia

The UFC and Russian company Media Telecom have announced the launch of UFC TV, a dedicated channel in Russia and CIS. The channel will be available via state-owned telco Rostelecom
Golf
Poland

GolfTV, the Discovery-owned online streaming service, has acquired rights in Norway, Poland and Russia to the Masters, the first men’s major of the year.
Spain

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.
Cycling
Germany

Public-service broadcaster ARD’s three-year renewal of its Tour de France rights deal in Germany reflects its renewed commitment to the Tour following earlier concerns over doping. It follows two two-year deals which the broadcaster considered a test period.
Football
United Kingdom

UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has agreed deals to cover Scotland’s women’s national football team’s friendlies matches ahead of the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup and the opening event of the 201…
Football
United Kingdom

UK public-broadcaster the BBC and commercial radio station Talksport have extended their Premier League rights audio-rights deals for three seasons until the end of the 2021-22
Cricket
United Kingdom

Media company Star India’s plans to use the Indian Premier League to develop its Hotstar OTT platform in the UK drove pay-television broadcaster Sky’s loss of the property, SportBusiness Media understands.
Horse Racing
United Kingdom

Racecourse Media Group has appointed Jim Mullen and Britt Boeskov as independent non-executive directors, it said today (Wednesday)
Cycling
Germany

German public-service broadcaster ARD has signed a three-year extension to its rights deal for cycling’s Tour de France.
Wrestling
Spain

Spanish commercial broadcaster Atresmedia has agreed a further rights renewal with wrestling organisation WWE. The duration of the new deal is unknown
Motorsport
Germany

OTT streaming service DAZN’s acquisition of rights to World Rally Championship, MotoGP and IndyCar in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is part of its plan to avoid customer churn and bolster content in the summer months when its football coverage breaks.
Rugby Union
England

English rugby union club Harlequins has agreed a content sharing partnership with ESPN
Football
France

Pay-television broadcaster BeIN Sports has acquired exclusive rights in France to Major League Soccer over an unspecified term
Football
Italy

OTT operator DAZN has been hit with a €500,000 ($564,000) fine for misleading advertising in Italy. Italy’s antitrust authority AGCM found the company guilty of two breaches of the country’s consumer code. The
Football
Germany

Deutsche Fußball Liga chief executive Christian Seifert has hinted that the organising body of the top two divisions of German football will push to remove the 'no-single-buyer' rule ahead of the auction …
Football
Poland

Polish public-service broadcaster TVP has agreed a sublicensing deal with pay-television broadcaster NC Plus that ensures the Ekstraklasa, the country's top-tier football league, will receive free-to-air…
Multi-sport
Spain

Spanish football league LaLiga has launched its multi-sport OTT platform LaLigaSportsTV, offering free coverage of Spanish sporting competitions ranging from badminton to weightlifting