Europe

To secure an increase in the value of its domestic media rights, the English Football League must make pay-television operator Sky believe it is facing real competition and enable the bigger clubs to control their own digital services in a way that neither erodes Sky’s exclusivity nor upsets the smaller clubs.

The Swedish football league is likely to double the value of its rights as media groups Bonnier and Discovery go head to head in an ongoing tender.

SFR Sport lost out to French pay-television rival Canal Plus in a fourth round of bidding for International Basketball Federation (Fiba) events this month, but added the Diamond League to its slow-growing portfolio of sports rights.

Strong competition and Robert Lewandowski’s decision to remain with Bayern Munich drove a big increase in the value of Bundesliga pay-television rights in Poland last month.

Uefa will earn just under €3.5m for national team rights from 2018-19 to 2021-22 in Iceland RÚV will pay about €850,000 for rights to 24 first- and second-party Iceland matches 365 will pay €2.6m for

Gavin Patterson, chief executive of UK telco BT, has hit out at the “rampant inflation” in the prices being paid for sports rights, with the firm’s pay-television broadcaster, BT Sport, currently seeking to retain one of its prized assets.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment, owners of Impact Wrestling, have agreed a deal for the US wrestling series to be televised exclusively by the Spike channel in the UK and Ireland.

UK viewing audiences for the week Monday 13th to Sunday 19th February and a look at FA Cup audiences for the season so far. Watching Brief Vol. 145

International sports broadcaster Eurosport has secured rights to the Wimbledon tennis championships in a further eight territories.

Spanish commercial broadcaster Mediaset has filed a complaint with the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y La Competencia (CNMC), Spain’s competition regulator, against LaLiga allegedly breaching the terms of an agreement to broadcast match clips, while the organising body of Spanish club football has unveiled a new initiative to enhance coverage of games.

The German Football League (DFL) has entered into a strategic partnership with Baidu, through which the top-tier Bundesliga competition will have an official presence on the network of the Chinese web services company.

Spanish public-service broadcaster TVE has agreed a one-season extension to its rights deal for the Formula One motor-racing championship, while it has also picked up a package of rights to the latter stages of the qualifying competition run by the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) for the 2018 Fifa World Cup.

German media company Constantin Medien has extended the contract of its chief executive, Fred Kogel, until December 31, 2018.

DAZN chief executive James Rushton has apologised for the failings of the service during the opening round of the J.League football season in Japan, and said it will be “very aggressive” in pursuing key sports rights in Germany.

Telecommunications company Portugal Telecom has confirmed the acquisition of a 25-per-cent stake in domestic pay-television broadcaster Sport TV.

Media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has acquired a 20-per-cent stake in digital sports media company Play Sports Group.