Europe

Russian state-controlled commercial broadcaster Channel One will show parts of the 2018 winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, according to the Tass news agency.

German commercial broadcaster RTL is set to agree a three-season extension to its rights deal for the Formula One motor-racing championship, according to Bild.

Ernst & Young has claimed in a letter to the Lega Serie A assembly that an unnamed client of the consultancy is ready to invest at least €1bn ($1.18bn) per season in the body that operates the top division of Italian football, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Benfica’s in-house pay-television channel, BTV, will continue to show the Primeira Liga top-tier football club's games until the end of the 2018-19 season.

Greek pay-television broadcaster Cosmote has extended its rights deal for the Uefa Champions League and Europa League, according to multiple reports, taking in exclusive rights to the two European club football competitions for the first time.

The Rugby Football Union is keen to maintain a balance in offering coverage of the England national rugby union team via free-to-air and pay-television platforms, according to chief executive Steve Brown.

Finnish telco DNA has become the latest operator to enter a carriage dispute with media company Discovery Communications and its pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport.

The Telesport agency is in talks with a host of Russian broadcasters, including state broadcaster VGTRK, for rights to the 2018 winter Olympic Games.

UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has extended a rights deal with World Snooker to cover the sanctioning body’s three major tournaments.

Maltese telecommunications companies Vodafone and Melita have pulled out of a planned merger after failing to gain approval from authorities in Malta.

A total of 200 live football matches per season have been made available through seven packages outlined in a tender document distributed by the English Premier League yesterday (Thursday) for the next cycle of domestic rights.

LaLiga, the organising body of the top two divisions of Spanish football, has struck a carriage deal with the Sky España arm of the European pay-television group to offer its official television channel for the second-tier Segunda División through Sky’s recently launched OTT platform.

UK viewing data for the week between Monday 20th and Sunday 26th November, including audiences from the English Premier League, Uefa Champions League and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

German media group ProSiebenSat.1 has agreed a two-season rights deal with the DTM domestic touring cars series.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority expects to publish its initial verdict on 21st Century Fox’s proposed takeover of pay-television broadcaster Sky in mid-January – a month later than originally planned.

France Télévisions could forgo rights to the country’s home Olympic Games in 2024 over costs, according to reports.