Japan

The J.League, the top division of Japanese club football, is set to agree a new broadcast rights deal with entities including telecommunications company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp and digital sports media group Perform, according to Kyodo News.

Japanese pay-television broadcaster Wowow has agreed a multi-year deal with the Ligue Nationale de Rugby for rights to the Top 14, the top division of French rugby union.

North America’s Major League Soccer has agreed a two-season rights deal with Japanese commercial broadcaster Fuji TV and has expanded its existing partnership with Le Sports, which is operated by Chinese internet company LeEco.

Japanese public-service broadcaster NHK has acquired rights for the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s (IFSC) 2016 season.

Emerging competition in Japan’s digital sector helped the MP & Silva agency earn significant profit on its deals for England’s Premier League and Spain’s LaLiga.

Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank has agreed to become the main commercial partner of the B. League in a deal which grants it media rights to the new top division of domestic basketball.

US wrestling organisation the WWE has added another key market to WWE Network’s global footprint, with the pay-television channel set to launch in Japan on January 5.

World Rugby, the global governing body of rugby union, has launched the tender process for the appointment of host broadcast services for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

The MP & Silva agency has confirmed it has regained distribution rights for the English Premier League club football competition in Japan.

World Rugby, rugby union’s global governing body, has reported that Japan set a new Rugby World Cup national television audience record for the national team’s clash against Samoa on Saturday.

The Perform Group will next year launch two OTT subscription services – one in Japan and one across Germany, Austria and Switzerland – as part of a move which could transform how live sport is delivered to consumers.

The MP & Silva agency has acquired media rights to LaLiga, the top division of Spanish football, across a host of European markets and Japan.

The value of exclusivity and a home Games in 2020 helped the International Paralympic Committee strike its biggest-ever deal, with Japanese state broadcaster NHK, late last month.

Japanese commercial broadcasters Tokyo Broadcasting System and TV Asahi have been awarded the broadcasting rights to the inaugural edition of the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 national team baseball competition.

The IPC Swimming division of the International Paralympic Committee has said a record level of broadcast coverage has been secured for the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, which got underway today (Monday) in Glasgow, Scotland.

The International Paralympic Committee has agreed its latest Japanese partnership ahead of Tokyo’s staging of the 2020 Paralympic Games through a five-year deal with pay-television broadcaster Wowow.