Germany

Olympics:  The International Olympic Committee will start a tendering process in March for the sale of television rights in Europe to the 2010 Olympics and beyond.

Negotiations upcoming with Union Cycliste Internationale and individual event organisers about World Championship and World Cup events

Sceptical broadcasters would prefer to buy top rights independently rather than through an EBU operating with unfavourable conditions

Football: German sports agency Infront did not take-up its €595m (£412m) option for the Deutsche Fussball Liga rights for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, failing to reach agreement over price. 

Football: French pay-broadcaster Canal Plus acquired the exclusive live rights and a highlights package for the French football league in a three-year deal

The acquisition by German sports channel DSF of the exclusive live rights for the Wimbledon tennis championship from next year is a further indication of the way in which public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF are withdrawing from coverage of the sport.

The deal last week between the Infront agency and pay-operator Premiere for the 2006 World Cup rights bring the agency’s sales for the tournament in Germany to about €290 million

Cycling: Italian public-service broadcaster Rai agreed a four-year deal with the European Broadcasting Union, from 2005 to 2008, for coverage of the Tour de France. 

Football: Sports agency Sportfive acquired the worldwide international television rights for the German Bundesliga in a two-year deal, from 2004-05 to 2005-06, paying over €15m (£10m) per season.

Football:  German commercial broadcaster RTL acquired the rights for a package of seven or eight Sunday matches from the 2006 World Cup from agency Infront Sports & Media.

The German football league increased the value of its international television rights by 40 per cent in selling the rights for the next two years to the Sportfive agency.

German broadcaster ARD has bought the German television rights for the next five fights of heavyweight boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko

Commercial broadcasters have questioned the effectiveness of the rights sublicensing scheme drawn up to placate the European Commission by the EBU.

American Football:  The National Football League signed new deals with three of its five major US television partners – the CBS and Fox networks and digital satellite platform DirecTV

Pay-television operators in the UK, Germany and Italy reported growing numbers of subscribers

English football’s Premier League will be at the heart of the battle for subscribers to third-generation mobile telephony