Europe
Gazzetta TV bolsters football rights portfolio
Gazzetta TV, the Italian sports channel operated by the RCS MediaGroup, has acquired rights to French football’s Trophée des Champions, along with the English Championship and League Cup competitions.
Sky backing English T20 relaunch – report
UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has offered the England and Wales Cricket Board £40m (€56.3m/$62m) annually for the global rights to a proposed city-based Twenty20 tournament slated to launch in 2017, according to The Observer.
Bayern and Hamburg chiefs call for Bundesliga media rights change
Senior club officials from Bayern Munich and Hamburg have called for an overhaul in the Bundesliga’s broadcast rights model and a change in the method of revenue distribution for the top division of German football.
O2 to launch multiple sports channels in Czech Republic
Telco O2 has been granted permission by the Czech Republic Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) to launch five new sports channels in the country, according to the Parabola.cz website.
Collective switch vindicated as LaLiga overtakes Serie A following income jump
Spain’s LaLiga has leapfrogged Italy’s Serie A in media rights income to become Europe’s second most valuable league following deals agreed in recent weeks.
Shift to pay-TV helps R&A boost global Open revenue
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club is expected to increase its global media rights revenue by about 64 per cent from 2015 to 2017.
New BTV deals part of continued market shake-up
Pay-television channel BTV, owned by Portuguese Primeira Liga club Benfica, this month acquired exclusive rights to three second-tier properties in Portugal.
Premier League boosts coverage in China; sells UK clips
The value of Premier League internet rights increased hugely in deals in China, but the value of digital clips in the UK remained flat in this week’s deal with Sky.
Sport1 returns for second season of Champions Hockey League
German sports broadcaster Sport1 has agreed a one-year extension to its rights deal for pan-European club ice hockey competition the Champions Hockey League.
Domingos Soares de Oliveira, chief executive, Benfica; Bernardo Faria de Carvalho, director of sales & international expansion, Benfica
Interview with Domingos Soares de Oliveira, chief executive of Benfica; Bernardo Faria de Carvalho, director of sales & international expansion at Benfica, on BTV's past, present and future.
America’s Cup seals Australian, Polish rights deals
The 35th America’s Cup sailing event has secured broadcasting deals in Australia and Poland.
Serie A and Infront to launch IPTV platform – report
Lega Serie A and the Infront Sports & Media agency will launch a new IPTV platform on August 22 broadcasting games from the top division of Italian football, according to il Fatto Quotidiano.
EHF strikes Hungarian rights deal with AMC Networks
AMC Networks International-Central Europe, the central European division of US entertainment company AMC Networks, has acquired rights in Hungary to broadcast various events operated by the European Handball Federation.
Watching Brief (Vol.106) Special Focus: Football – Fifa Women’s World Cup
Lukas Zajancauskas, research analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, examines television audiences for this year's Fifa Women's World Cup.
Uefa launches European bidding for new rights package with Russian tender
The CAA Eleven agency has launched a tender in Russia for rights to the European qualifiers for the Uefa Euro 2020 and 2022 Fifa World Cup national team tournaments, the 2018-19 and 2020-21 Nations League competitions and other international matches.
Fight Sports broadens reach with new carriage deals
Media company CSI Sports, the owner of Fight Sports, has struck carriage deals for the pay-television channel in Finland, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
ProSiebenSat.1 seals DOSB New Media takeover
German media company ProSiebenSat.1 has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in the DOSB New Media arm of the German Olympic Committee (DOSB).
Rai strikes deals for Pro12 and domestic rugby competition
Italian state broadcaster Rai has reached an agreement with the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) to show games from the Pro12 European club tournament and the Eccellenza, the top division of Italian club rugby union.