Europe

UK production company Sunset+Vine has regained the distribution contract for the Extreme Sailing Series under a new deal with the competition’s owner and organiser, OC Sport.

Spanish LaLiga football club Real Madrid has linked up with content producer The Dream VR to launch it own virtual reality channel.

Spanish agency Mediapro has said it will open a tender for domestic rights to the Uefa Champions League and Europa League next month, as Vodafone España became the latest telco to express its unease at the cost of agreeing carriage deals for club football in the country.

Esports event operator ESL has extended its rights deal with German media group ProSiebenSat.1 and has agreed a new partnership with Polish public-service broadcaster TVP.

Media company Discovery Communications has hailed the performance of its first Olympics as a major rights-holder, stating the Pyeongchang 2018 winter Games delivered on its commitment to engage more people, on more screens than ever before across Europe, leaving it in a strong position for the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Comcast confirmed this (Tuesday) morning that it has submitted a new offer for Sky, the European broadcaster operated by rival media company 21st Century Fox, despite the latter having agreed a broader deal with Walt Disney late last year.

Cypriot telco CyTA has secured exclusive rights in the country to the Uefa Champions League and Europa League club football competitions.

Spanish telco Telefónica has threatened to forgo renewing its contract with the Mediapro agency to broadcast the Uefa Champions League club football competition, with chief operating officer Ángel Vilá criticising the “exuberance and excess” in the sports rights market.

E-commerce and media company Amazon is interested in acquiring a ‘super pack’ of rights to club football competition the English Premier League, according to the Digiday website.

DAZN, the OTT service operated by digital sports media company Perform, has acquired rights in a host of markets to boxing’s upcoming world heavyweight unification clash between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker.

Soccer United Marketing, the media and marketing arm of North America’s Major League Soccer, has entered into a strategic partnership with London-based digital media company Copa90.

English Premier League football club Manchester United has launched an official channel on YouTube, breaking a cycle where it was the most-viewed club on the video-sharing platform purely through unofficial content.

The German Football League (DFL), organising body of the top two divisions of the domestic game, has promoted Peter Leible to head of global audiovisual rights for its Bundesliga International subsidiary.

German media group ProSiebenSat.1 has appointed Max Conze, formerly of British technology group Dyson, as its new chief executive.

BeIN Media Group has acquired rights to Serie A, the top division of Italian club football, in the Middle East and North Africa, according to La Repubblica.

UK viewing data for the week between Monday 5th and Sunday 11th February. This week we also include leading audiences in January on Eurosport and across pay-television.