France

The French division of pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport, pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus and public-service broadcaster France Télévisions have acquired rights to domestic rugby union league the Pro D2 under five-year deals.

The French Finance Ministry opposes telecommunications company Orange’s exclusive talks to sell a 49-per-cent stake in video-sharing platform Dailymotion to Hong Kong-based telco PCCW, according to the AFP news agency.

Pay-television broadcaster beIN Media Group has acquired rights in France to North American women’s basketball league the WNBA, according to L’Equipe.

Media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has increased its stake in the French division of pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport to the 51-per-cent mark.

French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus is planning to close its Sport Plus television channel, according to L’Equipe.

Canadian pay-television sports broadcaster TSN and French-language sister channel RDS have agreed a multi-year extension to a rights deal for the French Open tennis grand slam.

The domestic media rights value of French rugby union’s Top 14 final increased strongly in new deals agreed last week.

The Lagardère Unlimited sports marketing division of media conglomerate Lagardère has posted a 6.6-per-cent year-on-year fall in turnover in 2014.

French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus has acquired rights to the 2015 season of US motor racing championship IndyCar.

French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus and public-service broadcaster France Télévisions have acquired rights for the final of the domestic rugby union Top 14 tournament for four seasons, from 2015-16 to 2018-19.

Canal Plus and Eurosport are battling it out over the pay-television rights to French rugby union’s Pro D2, with the existing rights fee set to treble.

Mike Kiernan, analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, looks at television audiences for Super Bowl XLIX

Public-service broadcaster France Télévisions has agreed a sublicensing deal with pay-television broadcaster beIN Media Group for rights to the 2015 Track Cycling World Championships.

Cyril Linette, director of sports at French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus, has been appointed director general of sports daily L’Equipe.

Host Broadcast Services, a fully owned subsidiary of the Infront Sports & Media agency, has been selected by the International Cycling Union (UCI) to serve as host broadcaster of its 2015 Track World Championships, with the event set to feature onboard bike cameras for the first time.

French digital-terrestrial television channel L’Equipe 21 has acquired rights for the remainder of the 2015 season of the World Rally Championship motor racing series.