Germany
Record viewing for women’s cup
Swedish TV4 gets best-ever viewing figure for Women's football World Cup final
Spain rivalry lifts MotoGP but F1 stalls with Alonso
Spanish public-service broadcaster TVE is enjoying a flying start for its coverage of motorcycling’s MotoGP this season, with the rivalry between young Spanish riders Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa
Agency football future under fire
Further questions were prompted this week about the future role of agencies in football
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 2: Ice hockey, handball, skiing, tennis and more
Ice hockey: US network NBC agreed a one-year extension to its revenue-sharing deal with the National Hockey League, through to the end of the 2008-09 season
Bayern triumph boosts DFB Cup
Television audiences for this year’s German domestic cup, the DFB Cup, rose nine per cent on the previous season
DFB under fire as ProSiebenSat.1 push for tender
The German football association, the Deutscher Fussball-Bund, could join the football league in having its television rights arrangements put under the spotlight of the country’s cartel office
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 1: Football, rugby, golf and more
The Deutscher Fussball-Bund, the German football federation, signed a five-year extension, ending 2009, to its television rights deal with German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 2: Olympics, F1, Wimbledon, boxing, rugby and more
Olympics: Australian telecoms provider Telstra agreed a A$9m (£4.2m/ €5.3m) deal with Seven Media Group to show exclusive live coverage of the Beijing Olympics on its BigPond mobile service.
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 1: Football
Football: UK commercial broadcaster ITV acquired the rights for the first-choice Champions League match on Wednesdays in a three-year deal with the Team Marketing agency
ISPR’s football rights are a good fit for Sportfive
Infront, and other suitors, did not like the rights guarantees ISPR had committed to
Agency set to be squeezed out of Bundesliga rights deal
Deutsche Fussball Liga may deal directly with Premiere, bypassing Infront
Top TV Sports programmes in Europe
The TV Sports Markets monthly survey of European sports viewing in December shows Champions League second-phase matches topping the tables in six of 19 countries surveyed.
Women’s handball brings TV2 early Christmas present
Women's World Championships draw good audiences in Norway, Germany, Romania
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 1: Football, motorcycling, Formula One and others
Football: Polish public-service broadcaster TVP and commercial broadcaster Polsat agreed a joint-deal for the 2006 World Cup with the Infront agency worth €15m (£10.3m).
Regulator finally gets its teeth into league’s TV ‘cartel’
The German antitrust authority this week defended its decision to launch a new investigation into the collective selling of Bundesliga media rights
FASTRACK
Kirch shadow falls on Champions League rights
Speculation that German media entrepreneur Leo Kirch may be planning a merger between German rights group EM
TV RIGHTS CLIPS 2: Cricket, motorsport, football and tennis
Motorsport: German pay-broadcaster Premiere extended its deal for live Formula One rights by one year, until the end of the 2007 season.
Regulators strike back as football leagues flex muscles
The media-rights sales for three of Europe’s top five leagues have come under fresh regulatory scrutiny