Italy

Football

The European Commission has opened an investigation into the television rights deals which Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia signed with Italy’s top three football clubs
Football

Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio accept Bologna complaint that the annual €100 million payment by Serie A clubs to Serie B clubs is 'excessively onerous'
Football

Lega Calcio buys €3 million stake in ppv football channel
Cricket

Cricket: Indian broadcaster Zee Telefilms made a $308m (£174m/ €257m) bid for the worldwide television rights to Indian cricket for four years, from October 2004 to September 2008.

Rugby Union

Italian state broadcaster Rai has agreed a one-year deal with the Lega Italiana Rugby Eccellenza for the exclusive rights to the top division

The Athens Olympics attracted impressive ratings for Europe’s public-service broadcasters
Football

Sports agencies have had a busy fortnight negotiating deals for the opening round of 2006 World Cup
Sailing

The America’s Cup, sailing’s premier event, is on course for a huge increase in television coverage
Football

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is to ask the European Commission to reconsider the conditions under which it allowed the creation of pay-television operator Sky Italia
Football

Olympics: Indonesia’s six main free-to-air broadcasters will not cover the Athens Olympics despite the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union reducing its initial $1.35m (£730,000/€1.1m) asking price, working out at $225,000 for each broadcaster, to $400,000.

Football

Telecom Italia has taken the country by surprise in challenging for the digital-terrestrial rights for Serie A football.

Football

Italy’s football federation and football league are taking seriously detailed proposals for a major overhaul of professional football
Football

Giovanni Bruno, head of sport at Rupert Murdoch’s Italian pay-television platform Sky Italia, said this week that the company would fight to defend its dominance of the country’s pay-television market

Viewing rises in four out of the top five European television markets
Athletics

Channel set for December launch, once European Commission is assured that it has no links with News International or Sky Italia
Basketball

Talks for rights for Spanish league founder with five weeks of season already gone
Football

'Television Without Frontiers' directive does not permit advert while football match halves are underway

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