Global

Cricket

Five national cricket boards are behind a plan to overhaul the existing system for selling broadcast rights to international cricket – a proposal that will be discussed at the International Cricket Council’s annual conference later this month, according to ESPNcricinfo.

Football

LaLiga, the organising body of Spanish club football, has joined forces with the US government and a number of major sports leagues to draw up a “global coalition constitution” to tackle the issue of piracy of audiovisual content.

Dan Reed, head of sports partnerships at Facebook, has said that the social media platform has no plans to bid for sports-media rights, despite the growth of its Facebook Live service.

Basketball

Basketball’s Euroleague said this week the complaint it lodged at the European Commission against the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) in February could have far-reaching consequences. 

The IMG agency this week told TV Sports Markets the decision to embark on its eLeague joint venture with media conglomerate Turner “was not influenced by other eSports companies and events”.

Basketball

Interview with Eduard Scott, chief operations officer of Euroleague Basketball, on the league’s complaint to the European Commission about Fiba and the recent Munich Court injunction against Fiba Europe sanctions.

Football

Digital sports media group Perform has announced the launch of Goal Studios, a new digital football agency that will work with rights-holders, commercial partners and other agencies.

Internet video technology provider NeuLion has agreed a deal to acquire Saffron Digital, a company that helps clients to build over-the-top digital video services.

Olympics

The International Olympic Committee has reached agreements with 27 international sports federations to work together on the new Olympic Channel, with a 2016 launch date set to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Volleyball

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has said it will stream all 120 matches from the 2016 Volleyball World Grand Prix season via its channel on video-sharing platform YouTube, a first for the tournament.

Football

International media and entertainment company Discovery Communications unveiled a series of deals this (Thursday) morning covering the Olympic Games and European national team football qualifiers, as well as new strategic partnerships in Spain, Italy and Chile.

Rugby Union

International sports broadcaster Eurosport has agreed a global rights partnership with the French Rugby Federation (FFR) and has acquired rights in Russia to North American ice hockey league the NHL.

Biathlon

The European Broadcasting Union’s new, more hard-nosed and aggressive strategy was the main factor behind its renewal of International Biathlon Union rights this week, TV Sports Markets understands.

The takeover of the MP & Silva agency by Chinese investors Everbright Securities and Baofeng Technology will provide the agency with a platform for expansion to close the gap on its bigger rivals.

Football

The International Champions Cup increased rights fees for its 2016 edition in new deals in the UK and Russia last week.

FOOTBALL Football: Spanish commercial broadcaster Mediaset acquired rights to 23 matches from the Uefa Euro 2016 national team tournament
Multi-sport

Infront Italy president Marco Bogarelli has today (Friday) been appointed as strategic director for Wanda Sports Holding, the Chinese entity that incorporates the Infront Sports & Media agency, endurance brand Ironman and Wanda Sports China.

Multi-sport

Fox Networks Group will lose two senior sports rights executives as Simon Thomas and Andrew Guy are set to leave the global channel syndicator, TV Sports Markets understands.