Europe

British billionaire Sir Philip Green has pledged his support to Dugout, a new digital media platform set to launch in partnership with a number of Europe’s leading football clubs, according to Sky News.

Pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports has acquired rights in Italy to the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations national team football tournament.

UK telecommunications company BT has announced a partnership with its EE mobile network operator subsidiary, through which customers of the latter will gain free access to the firm's BT Sport pay-television channels for six months.

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has announced that it will begin its coverage of this year’s edition of golf’s Open Championship with a free service plan.

Portuguese pay-television operator Cabovisão has joined telecommunications companies Nos and Vodafone in an agreement to share broadcast rights for sports events.

International sports broadcaster Eurosport has acquired rights in Russia to the English Championship and League Cup club football competitions, according to Television-Sport.com.

French telecommunications company SFR has formed a new unit that will group together all of its media activities in the country, including the SFR Sport operation.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to complete a new deal in the UK and Ireland with incumbent broadcaster BT Sport which will more than double its current media-rights income.

Mediapro last week acquired the remaining two packages of domestic Spanish LaLiga rights for the three seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19, after a second round of bidding.

Strong competition drove up the value of rights to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Ireland this week, despite a much worse time zone than in 2015.

The Netherlands Authority for Consumer & Markets (ACM) has asked the European Commission for permission to handle the proposed merger between Ziggo, the cable-television operator held by media company Liberty Global, and mobile phone operator Vodafone.

Irish telecommunications company Eir has appointed Glen Killane as its first managing director of Eir television and sport.

Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV will launch a free-to-view channel next month.

Swiss telecommunications company UPC has unveiled plans for a new sports broadcast platform which it says will “breathe new life” into the media market in Switzerland.

Swedish public-service broadcaster SVT and commercial and pay-television broadcaster TV4 have acquired rights to the Uefa Euro 2020 national team football tournament.

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has reportedly decided not to show this year’s edition of tennis grand slam the US Open, bringing to an end one of its longest-running major rights deals.