Middle East

Rights are top sports property in SE Asia, and crucial to ESS carriage deals

New channels face competition from satellite operators ADD, Showtime, Orbit, and free-to-air MBC

Carriage deal with ADD guarantees an immediate source of revenue and minimum fee per subscriber

Channel to be broadcast free via satellite throughout Middle East

The international badminton federation said this week that it has brought in higher television-rights fees and better worldwide exposure for its top events this year.

Football:  German pay-television broadcaster Premiere acquired the rights for German football’s Bundesliga for the next two seasons paying €355m (£235 million) – €175m for 2004-05 and €180m for 2005-06…

Football:  The Japan Consortium, consisting of public-service broadcaster NHK and commercial networks Fuji TV, NTV, TBS, TV Asahi and TV Tokyo, acquired the rights to football’s 2006 World Cup, paying ¥1…

The Octagon agency, favourites to win the English Premier League’s international rights in the Middle East, was thrown into gloom late last month when parent company Interpublic refused to guarantee i…

JCS Sports is challenging Charlton’s $4.5 million deal with Israeli basketball’s Premier League.

A series of legal battles and other bitter disputes between the top players in television sport in Israel is creating uncertainty and confusion for Israeli television,

Cricket: Indian state broadcaster Doordarshan said that it would look to share the rights to Indian cricket if it failed to retain its exclusive contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India

Next question: Can leagues and federations manage without the agencies?

Ice Hockey: The US National Hockey League signed a two-year deal with the NBC network, with an option to renew for a further two years

Football: German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF acquired the rights for up to 49 matches in football’s 2006 World Cup from Swiss agency Infront Sports & Media.

JCS Sports, which owns Israel’s two sports channels, has acquired the rights for top Israeli football and basketball matches

Horseracing: Two rival dedicated cable and satellite horseracing channels could be launched in the UK within the next month with the country’s racecourses split evenly between the two new ventures.