Italy

Mediaset’s recent acquisition of the exclusive rights to the Europa League could provide a shot in the arm for a competition that has almost disappeared from the schedules of major Italian broadcasters in recent years.

The decision to move the Australian and Malaysian Formula One grands prix to later timeslots for the benefit of European television audiences has paid off.

Basketball: Eurosport Deutschland acquired live rights for nine selected playoff matches from Germany’s top league, the Basketball Bundesliga, in a deal with the league and rights-holder Sportdigital.tv.

Ireland’s first Grand Slam victory since 1948 helped rugby union Six Nations broadcasters in Ireland and the UK post record television audiences for the 2009 championship.

Football: The Sportsman Media Group, which is distributing the rights for the German Bundesliga in 16 markets across Southern Europe and Asia, has agreed deals in 13 territories

An EC decision on the stringent conditions under which Sky Italia is forced to do business will go a long way to determining how the media rights for Serie A football are sold in the next round of deals and how much they are worth.

Rai wants to force a way back into coverage of club basketball after having been out of the picture several years.

Football: England’s Premier League generated £1.782bn (€2.05bn/$2.62bn) in the sale of its domestic live rights for the three-year period from 2010-11 to 2012-13. The deal is a 4.5-pe

Sky Italia’s acquisition of Six Nations rugby rights has prompted calls for Italy’s matches to be added to the list of sports events protected for free-to-air television.

Overall Champions League rights fees in Italy have fallen about 10 per cent, after the Team Marketing agency concluded its sales.

New domestic deals for two of Europe’s top five football leagues accounted for two of the three biggest television rights contracts signed in 2008.

Football: Japanese pay-broadcaster SkyPerfecTV acquired the communication-satellite (CS) rights for all 64 matches of the 2010 World Cup in a deal with the Dentsu agency

Football: Philippines commercial broadcaster ABS-CBN acquired the rights for the 2010 World Cup in a $1m (€750,000) deal with the Football Media Services agency.

Italian state broadcaster Rai has become the only real bidder for free-to-air rights to top sport in the country, forcing down the value of rights even for major football competitions like the Uefa Champions League.

Uefa has paid out an estimated €5 million ($6.4 million) to broadcasters in compensation for the signal blackouts during the Germany-Turkey semi-final in this summer’s Euro 2008 championship.

Spanish television audiences for the 2008 MotoGP season rose for the third year in succession, with young local riders Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo both contending for the championship.