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.

Japanese public-service broadcaster NHK has acquired exclusive broadcast and exhibition rights to four editions of the Paralympic Games from 2018 to 2024 in a deal the International Paralympic Committee has hailed as the biggest in Paralympic broadcasting history.

The Fox International Channels broadcast division of media company 21st Century Fox has linked up with several Asian media companies to make its Fox Sports content available on an OTT basis in the region.

Broadcast platforms from Italy, Canada, Japan, Russia and Germany have agreed deals to provide coverage of the International Paralympic Committee’s 2015 Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships A-Pool.

MotoGP commercial rights-holder, the Dorna Sports agency, has said the 2015 season of the motorcycling championship will receive record global broadcast coverage.

Fox International Channels’ decision to sublicense German Bundesliga rights in Japan to the MP & Silva agency surprised industry observers this week. Something seemed to be the wrong way round – agencies buy to sell to broadcasters, not vice versa.

The International Olympic Committee has said it holds no plans to drive an extended roll out of ultra high-definition 4K coverage for the 2016 summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The MP & Silva agency has extended a deal to continue distributing rights to the Bundesliga, the top division of German football, to broadcasters in Japan.

Uefa earned a decent increase in the value of its club tournaments in Japan this month despite the minimal level of competition in the market.

MP & Silva has paid a significant increase for the rights in Japan to Euro 2016 in a deal finalised last month. The agency now faces a challenge to turn a profit on the deal.

The MP & Silva agency has secured the exclusive rights to distribute the Uefa Euro 2016 national team football tournament in Japan.

The New Japan Pro Wrestling organisation has secured its first rights deal in the US by agreeing a partnership with digital cable and satellite television broadcaster AXS TV.