France

International sports broadcaster Eurosport and French digital-terrestrial television channel L’Équipe have retained rights in France to events organised by the International Biathlon Union.

Strong competition is expected between France’s main pay-television broadcasters for Uefa Champions League, Formula One and European rugby rights, with all three properties currently on the market.

French media company Vivendi has said it is considering legal action after Italian communications authority AGCOM ordered it to cut its stake in either Italian broadcaster Mediaset or telecommunications firm Telecom Italia within a year.

French commercial broadcaster TF1 has elected to sublicense its rights for the 2017 Fifa Confederations Cup national team football tournament to pay-television broadcaster SFR Sport, according to L’Équipe.

A collective of major broadcasters and Europe’s leading football organisations have joined forces to call on the G7 group of industrial nations to take action to tackle internet piracy.

Public-service broadcaster France Télévisions and the Eurosport France channel have lodged a joint bid to retain rights to the Coupe de France football club knockout tournament.

French media group Vivendi and Italian broadcaster Mediaset launched lawsuits against each other for defamation yesterday (Tuesday) in the opening day of a court case in Milan, according to the Reuters news agency.

French media group Vivendi has fired another shot in its ongoing battle with Mediaset, accusing the Italian broadcaster of providing “misleading” information during talks over a partnership last year.

The parent company of beIN Sports has injected €600m ($646m) into supporting the company’s pay-television operation in France, according to daily newspaper Libération.

French broadcaster Canal Plus has claimed it will set an advertising first for its coverage of the second leg of the Uefa Champions League football clash between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, which takes place later today (Wednesday).

SFR Sport lost out to French pay-television rival Canal Plus in a fourth round of bidding for International Basketball Federation (Fiba) events this month, but added the Diamond League to its slow-growing portfolio of sports rights.

International sports broadcaster Eurosport and public-service broadcaster France Télévisions have been confirmed as rights-holders of this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup national team tournament in France.

Orange chief executive Stéphane Richard has said the telco is interested in working with French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus on acquiring sports rights.

L’Équipe, the French digital-terrestrial television channel, has renewed its agreement for rights to the International Motorcycling Federation’s (FIM) Endurance World Championship.

French pay-television broadcaster SFR Sport has acquired rights to the Europe Cup, a club competition operated by the International Basketball Federation (Fiba).

Social media platform Twitter has expanded its presence in the sports-rights market by agreeing a sublicensing deal for live-streaming rights to France’s games in the Six Nations.