Europe

Norwegian public-service broadcaster NRK renewed two vital skiing rights deals last month, agreeing to pay decent increases for both.

Interview with Nicolas Rotkoff, chief executive of entertainment and sports for Altice, on the telco’s acquisition of English Premier League media rights in France.

A joint venture between telecommunications companies Orange and Vodafone has acquired a package of rights to domestic club football in Spain under a deal worth a minimum €300m ($318m).

Polish pay-television operator NC Plus and Dutch cable-television operator Ziggo have struck rights deals for football’s English Premier League.

The Saran Media agency has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with the Turkish Volleyball Federation.

John Manning, research analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, examines television audiences in selected European markets for motorcycling’s MotoGP World Championship

The Football Association of Ireland has confirmed plans to stream online coverage of every game from the League of Ireland, the top division in the Republic of Ireland, outside of the country from 2016.

Digital sports media company Perform has acquired exclusive rights for the English Premier League in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, while Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV has been awarded rights for the top division of football in England.

Pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports has secured the main package of domestic rights for Spain's LaLiga, dislodging telecommunications company Telefónica as the main rights-holder for domestic club football in the country.

Portuguese telco NOS has acquired rights for matches featuring the country’s Primeira Liga top-tier football club Benfica.

UK sports production and media company Sunset+Vine has agreed a deal with public-service broadcaster the BBC to produce live coverage and highlights of the World Indoor Professional Bowls Championship.

UK pay-television operator Virgin Media has fired the latest shot in its campaign surrounding the broadcast of English Premier League football games by stating that the league should consider introducing a regional blackout system to allow it to show all 380 matches per season live on television.

Latvian pay-television broadcaster Best4Sport has acquired rights for the German Ice Hockey League (DEL).

UK commercial broadcaster ITV has retained its exclusive rights for the British Touring Car Championship after agreeing a five-year extension to its deal with the motor racing series.

Aintree Racecourse, host of UK horseracing’s showpiece event the Grand National, has confirmed that the 2016 edition of the race will start an hour later than in previous years in an effort to help increase television audience figures.

Pan-European basketball competition the United League has reached an agreement in principle on a broadcast rights deal with Russian sports media platform Match TV, according to the tournament’s deputy chief executive Ilona Korstin.