France

Vincent Bolloré has increased his stake in French media company Vivendi to more than 20 per cent.

French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has acquired rights to the newly-launched Basketball Champions League European club tournament.

French stock market regulator the AMF has blocked telecommunications company Altice’s bid to secure full control of its SFR subsidiary claiming that it lacked information for minority shareholders to judge it.

Vivendi remains hopeful that it can salvage an agreement with Italian broadcaster Mediaset over a disputed pay-television deal, according to the French media company’s chief executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine.

French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has rejected a request from the French Football League (LFP) to pay a compensation fee that would allow it to alter its coverage of the top-tier Ligue 1 club competition.

French public-service broadcaster France Télévisions has named Laurent-Éric Le Lay, the former chairman and chief executive of international sports broadcaster Eurosport, as its new sports director.

French telecommunications company SFR has launched its new 4K ultra-high-definition channel, SFR Sport 4K.

This is the first in a series of monthly interactive data reports in which TV Sports Markets focuses on the media-rights landscape for a specific sport: this month the focus is on European football

National Basketball Association media rights soared in value in Hong Kong by more than 500 per cent this week as LeSports displaced incumbent rights-holder PCCW.

David Svenson, research analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, examines television audiences in selected European markets for the 2016 Olympic Games.

French digital-terrestrial television channel L’Équipe has agreed a content partnership with Ligue 1 football club Saint-Étienne.

French free-to-air television channel Numero 23 has secured rights to the Pro A, the top division of domestic basketball.

French digital-terrestrial television channel L’Équipe has acquired rights to Saturday’s boxing title fight between Gennady Golovkin and Kell Brook.

French pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports has extended rights for the North American NBA basketball league and secured coverage of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournament as part of a package of African football rights.

French digital-terrestrial television channel L’Équipe 21 has dropped coverage of the domestic Pro A men’s top-tier basketball league for the 2016-17 season.

French telecommunications company SFR-Numericable, through its Altice Media Group France division, has confirmed a deal to acquire rights for the Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England.