Europe

The European Handball Federation has reduced the shortlist of bidders for the audio-visual and marketing rights to its raft of competitions to four candidates.

Football leagues will be excluded from a copyright reform that is being designed to make media content more easily accessible across national borders in the European Union.

Croatian telecommunications company Vipnet has acquired domestic rights to the Uefa Champions League club football competition.

Italian public-service broadcaster Rai has agreed a sublicensing deal with media company Discovery Communications for rights to the 2018 winter Olympic Games.

UK Sport, the body that oversees the investment of public and National Lottery money into British Olympic and Paralympic sport, has signed a live-streaming partnership with UK public-service broadcaster the BBC.

The Ligue de Football Professionnel, which operates the French football league, has held talks with Facebook and Amazon over its next cycle of media rights, according to the organisation’s director general, Didier Quillot.

Sportkanalen, the new sports channel that has been launched by Swedish pay-television broadcaster C More, has struck a carriage deal with the Com Hem and Boxer pay-television platforms.

Rival UK pay-television operators BT and Sky have sealed a landmark multi-year deal to make channels available on each other’s platforms.

Italian public-service broadcaster Rai is understood to be close to a sublicensing deal with Discovery Communications to acquire rights to the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games.

Spanish commercial broadcaster Mediaset acquired all rights to the 2018 Fifa World Cup in a deal worth at least 15 per cent less than Fifa earned for 2014.

The Ski Classics series of long-distance skiing events has agreed new broadcast deals in France, the UK and the Middle East and North Africa region for the remainder of its 2017-18 season.

The value of Uefa Champions League and Europa League rights in Greece is set to fall in its new cycle despite rights being sold exclusively to pay-television broadcaster Cosmote last week.

French commercial broadcaster TF1 has acquired rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup after taking up an option in its deal for the 2015 tournament, TV Sports Markets understands.

The Irish Rugby Football Union roughly doubled the value of domestic rights to Ireland autumn internationals in a deal with public-service broadcaster RTÉ, and is still to sell rights in the UK.

Video-on-demand service Megogo has made its first move into the Ukrainian sports-rights market with the acquisition of exclusive rights to three top European football leagues.

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has sealed a new seven-year rights deal with the Professional Darts Corporation.