Latin America

The Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) has commenced a new process to find a broadcast rights partner for the Primera Categoría Serie A and Serie B club competitions, maintaining it is doing so “under protest”.

FC Diez Media, the joint venture between the IMG agency and digital media company Perform, is making radical changes to the way Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana media rights are sold, to drive competition in the marketplace and recoup their aggressive minimum guarantee.

Brazil’s Grupo Bandeirantes bolstered its tennis coverage with a pair of deals covering several properties with the IMG agency.

Perform and the IMG agency this week unveiled their new joint venture, FC Diez Media, for the commercialisation of marketing and media rights to the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. Perform’s Bruno Rocha talked to TV Sports Markets about the thinking behind the joint venture’s commercial strategy.

The Glory kickboxing league has agreed a multi-year rights deal with pay-television operator Fox Sports Latin America.

US telco Verizon has agreed a wide-ranging media-rights partnership with the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf).

The IMG agency and digital media company Perform have formed FC Diez Media, a joint venture which will advise the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) on the commercial rights to its club competitions.

World football’s governing body Fifa is reportedly in line for bonuses of $302m (€243.3m) from its North American broadcast partners should it decide to award hosting rights for the 2026 World Cup to the ‘United 2026’ joint proposal from the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Brazilian broadcaster Rede Bandeirantes has declined to strike a sublicensing deal for rights to the 2018 Fifa World Cup, stating the national team football tournament does not fit in with its strategic plans.

Telco Altice has acquired rights to North American basketball league the NBA in the Dominican Republic, while multichannel television streaming service Sling TV has claimed a first with a carriage deal for out-of-market live game subscription service NBA League Pass.

Pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports Latin America has extended its commitment to touring car racing by agreeing a rights deal for the newly-formed World Touring Car Cup (WTCR).

Colombian commercial broadcaster Caracol has renewed a rights deal to show coverage of the country’s national football team.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) has launched a tender process to secure a new agency partner to market rights for the 2019 edition of national team tournament the Copa América.

International sports broadcaster ESPN has enhanced its tennis coverage in Latin America and the Caribbean by agreeing a new rights deal with men’s tour the ATP.

Social media platform Facebook has secured rights to the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games in Latin America through a partnership with Marca Claro, the joint digital media venture between the Spanish media group and the subsidiary of Latin American telco América Móvil.

Pan-regional pay-television broadcaster GolTV will retain its rights deal with the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) after an offer from rival DirecTV under a new bidding contest was rejected.