Europe

Latvian Kontinental Hockey League ice hockey club Dinamo Riga has claimed a first with the launch of a new television channel.

Russia’s new sports television channel Match TV will launch on Sunday, with officials outlining that it will seek to provide a new perspective on sport.

The BT TV division of telecommunications company BT attracted more than 100,000 new subscribers in the three months through to the end of September, ahead of the start of pay-television broadcaster BT Sport’s coverage of football’s Uefa Champions League.

Dutch pay-television broadcaster Sport1 has agreed a rights deal with the Formula E electric car-racing championship.

Media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has acquired rights in Denmark for the top divisions of football in England, Spain and Italy in a sublicensing deal with commercial and pay-television broadcaster Modern Times Group.

International pay-television sports broadcaster Eleven Sports Network has launched an over-the-top platform in Belgium.

North American basketball league the NBA has agreed a multi-year expansion to its rights partnership with digital sports media company Perform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Commercial and pay-television broadcaster Modern Times Group has acquired rights in the Nordic region for North America’s Major League Baseball World Series.

Spain's LaLiga has agreed a deal with the Mediapro agency to make coverage of the domestic Copa del Rey club tournament available on video-sharing website YouTube in 17 countries.

The CAA Eleven agency has launched a tender in Turkey for broadcast rights to the Uefa Euro 2016 national team football tournament.

Modern Times Group, the multi-territory commercial and pay-television broadcaster, has sold its Russian and international pay-television channel businesses as it seeks to comply with new media regulations being introduced in the country.

UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has unveiled plans to promote its Match of the Day programme, which provides highlights of football’s English Premier League, via a new initiative on social media platform Facebook.

Increasing the value of its media rights is an essential bargaining chip for the Euroleague as it faces a threat to its long-term survival from Fiba, the sport’s global governing body.

Spain’s top-tier basketball league, the Liga ACB, this week defended its decision to switch coverage exclusively to pay-television from next season following a three-season deal with telco Telefónica.

After protracted negotiations over a UK deal for Euro 2016 and 2020, Uefa last week signed off on a valuable deal with long-term partners the BBC and ITV.

The Perform Group is in advanced talks over a deal for Women’s Tennis Association rights in France from 2017, TV Sports Markets understands.