Europe

Greek pay-television broadcaster Nova has confirmed individual rights deals with five Superleague football clubs as the top division of domestic football moves away from a collective rights selling model.

German media company Constantin Medien has said the path is clear for it to focus on the sports market after unveiling financial results marked by a period of upheaval at the firm.

Spanish agency Mediapro has formally sealed its contract for the domestic rights to Serie A, the top division of Italian club football, through a payment of around €64m ($78.9m), a move that is set to commence talks with broadcasters over carriage of matches from the league.

MUTV, the in-house television channel of English Premier League football club Manchester United, has acquired rights to the international friendly match between Russia and France.

Eurosport is seeking a new chief executive after confirmation today (Monday) that Peter Hutton will leave the international sports broadcaster amid a major restructuring to take up a new position at social media company Facebook.

UK telco BT has renewed deals for two relatively cheap properties this month, each providing a lot of content and niche, loyal fanbases: the National League – the fifth tier of English football – and British top-tier speedway.

Greek pay-television broadcaster Nova has struck media-rights deals with eight Superleague clubs, effectively marking the end of the league’s collective rights selling.

After almost an entire season without Bundesliga coverage in the Czech Republic – and limited coverage in Slovakia – the Pragosport agency has this month struck a deal covering both territories.

Greek pay-television broadcaster Cosmote’s new deal with Uefa will significantly increase the number of national team matches it can broadcast at no extra cost.

UK racecourse owner and operator Arena Racing Company has acquired a majority stake in Greek firm Vermantia, a leading provider of multi-channel content solutions for lotteries, gaming and betting operators.

Swedish media company Modern Times Group has today (Friday) said it will split into two entities following the collapse of a proposed takeover deal.

Austrian commercial broadcaster Servus TV has scrapped a deal to show live coverage of the top-tier German Bundesliga football competition on its free-to-air channel due to a dispute over the choice of matches to be shown.

The Players’ Tribune, a digital content platform developed by athletes for athletes, has today (Thursday) announced plans to expand into Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

International sports broadcaster Eurosport and Austrian public-service broadcaster ORF have acquired rights to the inaugural edition of the European Snow Volleyball Championships.

UK viewing data for the week between Monday 5th and Sunday 11th March. This week we also feature the previous month's audiences on FreeSports for the first time.

UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4 has acquired rights to the European Champions Cup rugby union tournament.