Japan

A collective of major broadcasters and Europe’s leading football organisations have joined forces to call on the G7 group of industrial nations to take action to tackle internet piracy.

DAZN chief executive James Rushton has apologised for the failings of the service during the opening round of the J.League football season in Japan, and said it will be “very aggressive” in pursuing key sports rights in Germany.

US media company NBCUniversal has expanded the global reach of its Golf Channel network by agreeing new distribution agreements in Japan with OTT digital platform AbemaTV and pay-television broadcaster Wowow.

Japanese pay-television broadcaster J Sports has acquired rights to motor-racing series the World Touring Car Championship.

Striking a digital rights deal is thought to have helped Tennis Australia earn a large increase in Japan for the 2017 Australian Open.

Japanese pay-television broadcaster J Sports has extended an agreement for rights to the Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) motorcycling series.

DAZN, the OTT sports subscription service operated by digital media specialist Perform, has agreed a new carriage deal in Japan with mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo.

The United States Tennis Association has extended its long-term rights deal with Japanese pay-television broadcaster Wowow.

Uefa, football’s European governing body, is targeting media and marketing revenue of €3.2bn ($3.43bn) from its next cycle of rights to the Champions League as the tender process commences today (Tuesday).

Media company CSI Sports, the owner of Fight Sports, has struck a distribution deal for the pay-television channel with DAZN, the recently-launched OTT service operated by digital-media company Perform.

Tennis Australia has extended and expanded its rights partnership with Japanese pay-television broadcaster Wowow.

World Rugby, the global governing body of rugby union, has appointed International Games Broadcast Services as host broadcaster for Japan’s 2019 World Cup, the first edition of the national team tournament to be staged in Asia.

The International Judo Federation has agreed a four-year extension to its partnership with Japanese agency Hakuhodo DY Media Partners.

DAZN, the OTT sports subscription service operated by digital media specialist Perform, has agreed a deal to begin streaming coverage of Professional Squash Association events to audiences in Japan.

DAZN, the new OTT sports subscription service operated by digital media specialist Perform, has agreed a multi-year content partnership for the Japanese market with mixed martial arts promotion the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The Perform Group believes the profitability of DAZN, is a realistic aim within three years in Germany, despite a current outlay of more than €45m ($50.9m) per year on sports rights.