Middle East

The IMG agency has expanded the reach of its action sports and lifestyle channel Edgesport by agreeing a carriage deal with multi-platform media and entertainment organisation Abu Dhabi Media Company.

The IEC in Sports agency has agreed a deal to market the media rights to the 2015 Asian Judo Championships.

Filipino commercial broadcaster ABS-CBN has struck a deal to distribute media rights across the Middle East for the upcoming world welterweight boxing clash between Manny Pacquiao from the Philippines and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The Qatar Football Association has appointed the AspireInfront agency as its exclusive media and marketing partner for the men’s national team matches.

SRO Motorsports Group, promoter of the GT Series, has sealed a number of new rights deals ahead of the start of the 2015 season of the motor racing championship.

Abu Dhabi Media Company has reached an agreement for the pay-television and free-to-air rights to North America’s Major League Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa.

Sports broadcaster ESPN will show live and on-demand coverage of the 2015 IndyCar motor racing series in Europe, the Middle East and Africa via a new channel on its digital subscription service ESPN Player.

UK horse racing pay-television broadcaster Racing UK has acquired rights for the finale of Qatar’s International Equestrian Sword Festival.

Free-to-air and pay-television broadcaster Abu Dhabi Media has launched a new sports channel dedicated to increasing the exposure for traditional Emirati sports in the Arab region.

State-owned television channel Dubai Sports has acquired rights in the UAE for the Omantel Professional League, the top division of football in Oman.

Pay-television broadcaster OSN has struck a deal to distribute WWE Network, the pay-television channel operated by the WWE wrestling organisation, to subscribers in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Rugby league’s Super League, which comprises clubs from England and France, has agreed new broadcast deals in Australia, New Zealand, France, North America and the Middle East.

The IEC in Sports agency has agreed a four-year deal to distribute the global media rights for the Dubai Marathon on an exclusive basis with immediate effect.

British Eurosport, the UK division of pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport, and UK free-to-air channel Quest will broadcast live coverage of the 2014 Dubai Challenge Cup one-off exhibition football match.

Sports content company Aurora Media Worldwide has signed a two-year agreement with the Falcon and Associates agency to support host broadcaster, state-owned Dubai Sports, in its coverage of badminton’s World Superseries Finals event, which will be held in Dubai next month.

All UAE-based sports broadcasters have united to boycott the acquisition of rights to the forthcoming 2014 Gulf Cup of Nations national team football tournament amid a dispute over the sales process, according to the Gulf News website.