Germany

Football: Middle-East broadcaster Al Jazeera Sport acquired the rights for European club competitions the Champions League and the Uefa Cup in three-year deals worth a combined $200m (£102m/ €136m). 

Boxing website SecondsOut.com is close to tying up rights deals with top US and European promoters to show fights on internet pay-per-view.

German cable operator Kabel Deutschland says that it is no longer interested in acquiring content rights.

American Football:  UK pay-operator British Sky Broadcasting acquired the UK and Ireland rights for the National Football League in a four-year deal from 2007-08 to 2010-11.

Eurosport acquired the German rights for handball’s Champions League in what is a rare departure from its pan-European acquisition strategy.

Boxing: German commercial broadcaster RTL acquired the rights for the next four fights of Ukrainian heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko in a deal with the Sportfive agency worth €10m (£6.8m).

Football: Japanese pay-television operator J Sports acquired the rights to Japan’s top-tier J-League in a five-year deal from 2007 to 2011.

Poor viewing for the European athletics championships in Gothenburg will not help the European Athletics Association get the fee increase it is trying to get.

Football: Portuguese public-service broadcaster RTP acquired the rights to the national team’s Euro 2008 home qualifiers and friendlies in a two-year deal, 2006-07 to 2007-08, with the Olivedesportos agency

The Sportfive agency faces difficult talks in the remaining four big European markets where it has yet to sell the rights for football’s 2008 European Championship.

German pay-television operator Premiere is set to lose further ground with the loss of more sports rights contracts to Arena.

Kirch's Bundesliga deal, Forstmann's 3-year anniversary at IMG, La Liga fee cut, German skiing fiasco

Rugby Union: French public-service broadcaster France Télévisions acquired the rights for the Six Nations tournament in a four-year deal with the Six Nations Committee, from 2010 to 2013, worth over €…

Football: The German football league, the Deutsche Fussball-Liga, agreed a deal with Leo Kirch that guarantees the 36 Bundesliga clubs a minimum of €575m a season for the six years from 2009-10 to 2014-15. 

Football: Spanish agency Mediapro made a seven-year offer worth €1.19bn (£815m), or €170m a season, for the television rights to Spanish Primera Liga club Real Madrid covering the seasons from 2008-09 to 2014-15.

High-profile doping scandals hit television viewing for this year’s Tour de France.