Europe

US media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has said it will take full ownership of pan-regional sports broadcaster Eurosport through a €491m ($541m) deal with French commercial broadcaster TF1 Group.

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky is set to assume full control of Sky Deutschland, which operates in Germany and Austria.

Public-service broadcaster BBC Wales and Welsh-language channel S4C have secured broadcast and online rights to Wales’ warm-up games for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

UK pay-television broadcaster Sky has further strengthened its content portfolio for the Premier League by securing a three-season deal for the league's video clips rights.

German commercial broadcaster RTL has extended its long-running rights deal for the fights of boxing’s reigning heavyweight world champion, Wladimir Klitschko.

Greek pay-television broadcaster OTE has renewed its deal for the Spanish Liga top-tier club football competition.

UK pay-television broadcaster Premier Sports has renewed its rights agreement with the British Elite Ice Hockey League.

Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV has acquired rights for the 35th America’s Cup sailing showpiece.

Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset has bolstered its club football content by agreeing three-season deals for France’s Ligue 1 and the Scottish Premiership.

Hungarian public-service broadcaster MTVA has launched a new free-to-air television channel entitled M4 Sport.

The Setanta Sports Eurasia pay-television channel has extended deals for the top football divisions in Italy and France and secured a new deal for the sport’s top tiers in Scotland and Belgium.

UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has defended its decision not to show the first six hours of play at golf’s Open Championship on Monday.

Modern Times Group, the multi-territory commercial and pay-television broadcaster, has signed a five-year extension to its rights deal in the Nordic region for North America’s NHL ice hockey league, while it has also acquired rights to the 2016 World Cup of Hockey national team event.

Polish pay-television operator Polsat has applied for national broadcasting licences for two new sports channels.

Ofcom has rejected a call from telecommunications company BT to include a full investigation into the country’s pay-television market as part of the UK media regulator’s ongoing digital communications review.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has agreed a five-year strategic partnership with Belgian pay-television broadcaster Telenet for its principal cyclo-cross events.

Dutch pay-television broadcaster Sport1 has acquired rights for the Spanish Liga, while pay-television broadcaster Fox has reportedly won the tender in Italy for coverage of the top division of football in Spain.

New international pay-television sports broadcaster Eleven Sports Network has agreed a carriage deal with Belgian operator Proximus.