Nordics

Abu Dhabi Sports Channel gave the English Premier League the spectacular start to its international rights sales it was looking for with a staggering deal, beating strong favourite Al Jazeera Sport and incumbent Showtime.

Football: Sports broadcaster ESPN acquired the UK rights previously held by Setanta for 46 Premier League matches from the 2009-10 season and 23 matches a season for the three years from 2010-11 to 2012-13,…

Football: Portuguese commercial broadcaster SIC sublicensed the rights for 18 of the 56 matches from next year’s Fifa World Cup from public-service broadcaster RTP.

The Danish government is considering reintroducing listed events legislation after a key national team World Cup qualifier was sold to pay-television.

Renewed competition between Scandinavian media companies TV4 and Modern Times Group’s Viasat has led to major rights-fee increases for Swedish domestic ice-hockey.

American Football: The National Football League extended its television rights deals with US networks Fox and CBS for a further two years, up until the end of the 2012-13 season

The decision by Team to delay Europa League sales in Scandinavia until after the completion of Swedish broadcaster TV4’s merger with the pan-regional Canal Plus premium channels appears to have paid off.

Football: German sports channel DSF acquired the rights for the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup in June. DSF will show 14 games live including the final and the third-place playoff match

The EBU has renewed television rights deals for gymnastics, weightlifting and Greco-Roman wrestling, but pulled out of broadcasting judo, as part of a “reshaping” of its sports portfolio.

Basketball: Eurosport Deutschland acquired live rights for nine selected playoff matches from Germany’s top league, the Basketball Bundesliga, in a deal with the league and rights-holder Sportdigital.tv.

Canal Plus is to challenge the dominance of rival Viasat in the Danish market with the launch of a new basic-tier channel showing premium sports content.

TV2 said that its acquisition of the last remaining package of domestic Tippeliga football rights has secured the future of its premium sports channel, TV2 Sport, for the next two years.

Football: Pan-African pay-broadcaster Supersport acquired the sub-Saharan pay-television rights for all Fifa events in 2009 and 2010, including the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2009 Confederations…

Olympics: The Sportfive agency acquired the rights in 40 European countries for the 2014 Winter Games at Sochi and the 2016 Summer Games in a deal worth €250m ($315m) with the International Olympic Committee.

The IAAF has begun a second round of talks for its European television rights after a cut-price opening offer from its incumbent partner, the EBU.

Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4, renewed its deal for La Liga rights in the Nordic countries and Iceland after making an aggressive pre-emptive bid.