Europe
FASTRACK
Abu Dhabi Sports Channel gave the English Premier League the spectacular start to its international rights sales it was looking for with a staggering deal, beating strong favourite Al Jazeera Sport and incumbent Showtime.
Dutch La Liga deal leaves door open
Sport1 has negotiated itself a loophole in its new deal for Spanish La Liga rights that gives it the freedom to renegotiate just one year into the three-year deal.
Tough times ahead for Nova as OTE splashes the cash
OTE has embarked on a sports-rights spending spree as its new IPTV service, Conn-x TV, looks to muscle its way into the country’s pay-television market.
Three-year cycle rings the changes again at Sportfive
The structural reorganisation at Sportfive continues a three-year cycle of evolution since it was first formed in 2001, according to Stephane Schindler.
Pitch poised for more after Six Nations coup
The Pitch International agency is poised to further extend its rugby union portfolio following on from this week’s deal for Six Nations international rights.
French federation gets friendly in bid to halt falling fees
The French Football Federation has come up with an innovative tender in an attempt to avoid a significant cut in television revenue for French national team matches.
Lega helpless after lack of offers hands Sky everything
The Lega Basket was forced to accept a very small increase in the value of its media rights for the next two seasons after expected rival bids failed to materialise.
ESPN profits as USA goes all the way in South Africa
The USA team’s unexpected run to the final of Fifa’s Confederations Cup earned cable broadcaster ESPN its highest non-World Cup audience for a national team match.
TV Rights Deals 1: Football – Premier League, La Liga, French and Greek deals
Football: Sports broadcaster ESPN acquired the UK rights previously held by Setanta for 46 Premier League matches from the 2009-10 season and 23 matches a season for the three years from 2010-11 to 2012-13,…
TV Rights Deals 2: All the latest golf, basketball, rugby, cricket and MotoGP deals
Basketball: Italian pay-broadcaster Sky Italia acquired the exclusive live rights for the top-tier domestic Serie A league in a two-year deal with Lega Basket, paying €5.4m ($7.6m).
Stage set for ESPN after curtain falls on struggling Setanta
The dramatic, last-minute collapse of what was itself an eleventh-hour bid to rescue Setanta sets the stage for global sports network ESPN to finally make its move in the UK market.
FASTRACK
In monetary terms at least, no-one will emerge a winner should the present impasse in Formula One between eight of the 10 teams and FIA president Max Mosley lead to the creation of a breakaway series.
UK gold rush to end as Setanta hits rock bottom
The collapse of Setanta’s Premier League deal marks the end of what has been a golden period for sports-rights holders in the UK.
Orange targets tennis in return to the rights market
Orange is to target French Open tennis rights as it returns to the sports acquisition trail, having put rights-buying on hold in recent months because of a continuing legal row over the distribution of its Orange Sport channel.
NOS: No more football deals for at least two years
Dutch public-service broadcaster NOS says that its deal to retain the Uefa Champions League rights marks the end of its football rights acquisitions for the next couple of years.
German handball boom sees DSF bag Bundesliga rights
Germany's Handball Bundesliga secured a good increase in rights fees this week after agreeing an all-inclusive deal with free-to-air sports broadcaster DSF.
Cheap Twenty20 hits new highs for cheerful BSkyB
The ICC’s World Twenty20 tournament has helped UK pay-broadcaster BSkyB smash its record audiences for any sport outside football.
TV Rights Deals 1: 2010 World Cup, Uefa and other deals
Football: Portuguese commercial broadcaster SIC sublicensed the rights for 18 of the 56 matches from next year’s Fifa World Cup from public-service broadcaster RTP.