Europe
World Cup boosts TF1’s viewing figures
French commercial broadcaster TF1 ended 2018 with a national audience share of 20.2 per cent, with its coverage of the Fifa World Cup final being the most-watched show of the year
Scudamore awarded bonus for TV rights deals
Richard Scudamore, the outgoing chief executive of football’s English Premier League, earned an additional bonus of more than £4m (€4.4m/$5.1m)
LaLiga agrees deals for unsold 2019-20 to 2021-22 media rights
LaLiga, which operates the top two divisions of Spanish football, has completed two media-rights deals following a second round of sales for the 2019-20 to 2021-22 cycle.
Lega Serie A poaches Infront executive for chief executive role
Sports media executive Luigi De Siervo has been appointed as the new chief executive of Lega Serie A, which operates the top division of Italian football
Virtual Bundesliga secures free-to-air platform
German media company ProSiebenSat.1 has acquired rights for the Virtual Bundesliga, the esports football competition that is operated by the German Football League (DFL)
Twitter to distribute FA Cup clips
Twitter has teamed up with the Football Association in England to offer highlights clips of the FA Cup to fans worldwide
Movistar to close esports channel
Spanish telco Movistar has announced the closure of its esports channel two years after its launch
Nent Group secures exclusive WTA rights
The Nordic Entertainment Group media company has struck an exclusive rights deal with the Women’s Tennis Association.
GolfTV picks up LET golf coverage
GolfTV, the Discovery-owned online streaming service that will launch in January, will show coverage of the Ladies European Tour across 25 European countries until at least 2021
Fierce competition drives increase in Wimbledon rights in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
The value of Wimbledon rights in the DACH region will increase significantly in the next cycle after incumbent rights-holder Sky Deutschland faced down strong competition to retain them
Sky seals early ATP extension
Pay-television broadcaster Sky has extended a rights deal in Germany and Austria with the ATP, which operates the top professional men’s tennis tour.
Twitter secures Roma content deal
AS Roma of Serie A has become the first Italian football club to seal an exclusive content partnership deal with social media platform Twitter
EC approves BC Partners’ United Group takeover
The European Commission has approved the acquisition of United Group, an Eastern European media and telecommunications company, by private equity firm BC Partners
Telekom Sport extends German ice hockey league rights
Telekom Sport, the pay-television channel operated by German telco Deutsche Telekom, has extended a rights deal for the DEL, the country’s national ice hockey league.
ServusTV picks up Australian Open rights
Austrian commercial broadcaster ServusTV has acquired rights for the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam.
The deal will run for three years, from 2019 to 2021
C More Golf to go off air in Denmark after Discovery PGA deal
C More has sold rights in Denmark for golf’s PGA Tour to Discovery Networks in a sublicensing deal, according to the Telecompaper news service.
WRC completes rights deals in France and Finland
The FIA World Rally Championship has secured new media-rights deals in France and Finland from 2019, with pay-television operator Canal Plus and public-service broadcaster YLE respectively
BT confirms renewal of UFC rights in the UK after Eleven deal annulment
UK pay-television broadcaster BT Sport has confirmed it will continue to hold exclusive rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship from 2019, after SportBusiness Media broke the story on Wednesday