Nordics

Television viewing for the 2006 World Cup in Germany smashed viewing records in several countries in Europe and elsewhere.

Football: Japanese pay-operator Wowow and commercial broadcaster TBS acquired the rights for all 31 matches of Euro 2008 in a deal brokered by the Sportfive agency on behalf of Uefa

Finnish viewing figures for ski-jumping’s blue-riband Four Hills tournament soared

The expansion this season of Sweden’s top-flight football league, the Allsvenskan, from 14 to 16 clubs, has caused friction between the existing television-rights holders and the Kentaro agency

Danish football clubs will thank the country’s competition authority after its intervention led directly to the signing of new television rights deals

Olympics, international football, ice hockey, skiing and athletics protected

MTV3 offers double current domestic ice-hockey rights fee

Motorsport: US motor racing series Nascar finalised a series of eight-year deals worth an overall $4.5bn (£2.6bn/€3.8bn), a 40-per-cent increase on its present deals.

The Danish, Norwegian and Swedish national football associations are considering selling their international television rights jointly from next year

Talks over the sale of Swedish football’s television rights have stalled

Formula One: Formula One Management signed new deals in four of the sport’s major markets, renewing deals in Italy with public-service broadcaster Rai, in Brazil with TV Globo, in Australia with Channel Ten and in Russia signing a deal with a new partner, the RTL-owned Ren TV

Television audiences of the drivers and manufacturers’ home markets reflect rise and fall

Football: African pay-television broadcaster Supersport acquired the rights for the South African Premier Soccer League, the country’s top-tier football league, in a five-year deal, 2007-08 to 2011-12, w…

Price forced up by competition from TV4, who buy the rights in Sweden for two seasons

American Football: Canadian commercial broadcaster CTV and cable sports broadcaster Rogers Sportsnet acquired the Canadian rights to NFL football for the three years from 2008 to 2010, paying a combined…

Formula One: French commercial broadcaster TF1 renewed its deal for Formula One, paying a significant increase.