Italy

Skiing

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

Cricket

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

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

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.

Basketball

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).

Football

Commercial broadcaster Telecom Italia buys rights to last-16 stage
Football

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).

Football

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
Cricket

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

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

The climax of the football season in Europe attracted big audiences for free-to-air broadcasters across the continent.

Football

Olympics: Italian pay-operator Sky Italia acquired the exclusive media rights for all platforms for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Olympic Games in a deal worth €112m ($168m), with the International O…

The IOC this week warned that its deal with Sky Italia would prevent cable and satellite operator Eurosport from showing the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games in Italy

The Italian antitrust authority cleared Mediaset’s controversial acquisition of SportItalia’s free-to-air television operation.

The IOC’s deal with Sky Italia for Olympics rights was largely born out of increasing disillusionment with its longstanding Italian partner

Sky Italia’s Olympic deal will have to satisfy regulators on two issues

The Turin Winter Olympics attracted impressive audiences to European public-service broadcasters.

Football

The imminent deal between Italian state broadcaster Rai and the Sportfive agency for the rights to football’s European Championship in 2008 has angered Rai’s fellow broadcasters.