Ireland

The Irish Government is to abandon plans to use listed-events legislation retrospectively to strike down BSkyB’s deal for the matches of the national football team.

Late kick-offs work, at least for broadcasters of the Six Nations tournament in France and the UK.  And they would like more of them.

The UK round of showjumping’s Samsung Super League will have no coverage on the country's terrestrial television.

Football: Irish pay-per-view broad-caster Setanta signed a four-year, £35m (€52m) deal with the Scottish Premier League.  The deal will run from 2004-05 to 2007-08.  Se

Football: UK commercial broadcaster ITV said that it was interested in acquiring a package of eight live Premier League matches a season from satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting as long as the…

The Gaelic Athletic Association is in advanced talks with several Irish broadcasters over the rights for the country’s top sports properties

Can Ireland support a dedicated sports channel?

Pan-Scandinavian pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus Nordic is planning to bid for the exclusive television rights across the region for Formula 1

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

Ireland’s recently-launched cable and satellite sports channel Setanta Sports acquired the Irish rights for Formula 1

Cricket: Indian public-service broadcaster Doordarshan agreed a deal for the terrestrial rights for select matches from International Cricket Council tournaments up until 2007, including 19 matches from the 2007 World Cup and nine from the Champions Trophy this year and in 2006

After a record-breaking 2007, television audiences for the 2008 Six Nations rugby union tournament fell in all four markets of the participating countries

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).

Rugby League: UK pay-broadcaster BSkyB and public-service broadcaster the BBC acquired the rights for the top-tier Super League, the second-tier National League, international matches and the Challenge…

Pay-broadcaster believed to have paid record £5m per match to beat off BSkyB and BBC

The Tour’s submission, written by chief executive George O’Grady, vigorously supports BSkyB’s arguments.