France
UK lifts ratings as France pays for being less choosy
The BBC increased its viewing figures for rugby union’s Six Nations championship this year by 770,000.
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 1: Boxing, football, golf and more
A rematch between boxers Oscar de la Hoya and Shane Mosley for the WBC and WBA super welterweight world titles is set to go ahead after US pay-television network HBO offered Mosley a greater share of pay-per-view…
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 1: Football, wrestling and motorcycling
French commercial broadcaster TF1 acquired the free-to-air rights to football’s Champions League in a deal reported to be worth about €33m (£22.6m) a year. It will have the first choice of live matches each Champions League week.
Canal Plus may extend ppv to French boxers
France’s Canal Plus is considering a plan to show the fights of top French boxers on pay-per-view.
Revamped F1 gets mixed reception
Audiences for the first round of the Formula 1 World Championship plummeted in three of the top four European markets.
How the strong get stronger from secret TV deals
Bayern Munich’s secret television deal with the now-defunct Kirch Gruppe may be the most dramatic example of an unorthodox rights deal but it is merely the tip of the iceberg.
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 1: Football, squash, cycling and more
Audiovisual Sport, the football rights-holding company for Spain’s two main pay-television companies, said it valued the rights of all 20 clubs in the Primera Liga at €200m a season, 25 per cent less tha…
Masters expands world coverage
Fifty broadcasters around the world will show the tennis’s Masters series this year.
EBU broadcasters may be hit hard in battle with Brussels
EC believes bigger EBU broadcasters do not need collective-buying power framework
TV bidding game: wild cards and maybe-bidders
The emergence of wild-card bidders for the Champions League television rights could kick start competition in Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Selling Golden League TV rights ‘will be tough’
Athletics Managements and Services have said that selling the television rights for the Golden League will be tough.
How news access is controlled
The basic public right to information is enshrined in Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Premiere wants to go it alone with multi-channel F1
Two months after Ecclestone closed his multi-channel ppv coverage of Formula 1, Premiere wants to create its own multi-channel service.
Row over sport news-access
Demands by the big news agencies for greater news access to sports events looks set to lead to a major row involving sports rights-holders, sports agencies and the EC.
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 2: Euro and African football, tennis, cricket, basketball and golf
Football: Portuguese DTH platform Meo, owned by telecoms firm PT, acquired the high-definition rights to Uefa’s Euro 2008 tournament in a sublicensing deal with commercial channel TVI, which holds the r…
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 1: DFB deals, Ligue 1, Football League, Serie A
Football: German public-service broadcasters ARD/ZDF acquired the rights for German national team-matches and first-pick matches of the DFB Cup knockout competition in a three-year deal from 2009-10 to…