Italy

IMG set to win one, lose one as football talks close

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

Infront, and other suitors, did not like the rights guarantees ISPR had committed to

The TV Sports Markets monthly survey of European sports viewing in December shows Champions League second-phase matches topping the tables in six of 19 countries surveyed.

The European Commission has opened infringement proceedings against the Italian government over the use by the country’s broadcasters of mini-advertisements during the televising of football matches.

MP Web expects to wait up to three years before seeing any significant return on its investment in Italian football’s third-generation mobile phone rights.

Paolo Francia is coming under increasing pressure over his role in the rights negotiations for skiing’s alpine World Cup.

Olympics: CCTV.com, the new-media arm of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, acquired the new-media rights for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in a deal worth an estimated $7m (£3.5m/ €4.9m

Football: Spanish commercial broadcaster Cuatro and digital satellite operator Digital Plus, both owned by media group Sogecable, acquired the rights for Euro 2008 from Uefa, in a deal brokered by the…

Football: Greek public-service broadcaster ERT acquired the free-to-air rights for all 31 matches of Euro 2008 in a €9.5m (£6.5m) deal with the Sportfive agency.  It is the first deal done for the championship.  Italian public-service broadcaster Rai is also set to sign a deal for Euro 2008, paying €120m.

Football: African broadcasters acquired the rights for the African Cup of Nations in a series of last-minute deals with the LC2 agency.  In Ghana, state broadcaster GTV acquired the rights for €1m (£686,000).

Commercial broadcaster Telecom Italia buys rights to last-16 stage

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).

Two senior competition lawyers said that the legal basis of Sky’s attack on the law, which came into force in January, was “weak” and “inconsistent”.  They ar

Kirch shadow falls on Champions League rights Speculation that German media entrepreneur Leo Kirch may be planning a merger between German rights group EM

The media-rights sales for three of Europe’s top five leagues have come under fresh regulatory scrutiny