North America

ESPN+, the US sports broadcaster’s subscription streaming service, has further bolstered its college sports lineup through a new, multi-year agreement with Conference USA.

Bell Media-owned Canadian pay-television broadcasters TSN and RDS have launched new OTT platforms ahead of their coverage of national team football tournament the Fifa World Cup.

SportBusiness International spoke to leaders representing Europe's top three courses about how they are staying ahead of their rivals from across the continent.

Telemundo, the holder of Spanish-language rights to the Fifa World Cup in the US, has agreed deals with internet company Google and its video-sharing website YouTube to share its coverage of the national team football tournament.

Doubling up with ESPN will earn the Ultimate Fighting Championship $300m (€258m) per year from media-rights sales from 2019 to 2023 – a good result given the absence of aggressive bidding from incumbent Fox.

Uefa has earned a decent increase in the value of its club competition rights in Canada via a deal with Perform-owned streaming platform DAZN.

US golf organisation the PGA Tour has taken on a new strategy for its international rights by striking a “pioneering” strategic alliance with media company Discovery.

US college sports organisation the Atlantic 10 Conference has expanded its partnership with ESPN by striking a new multi-year rights deal focusing on the sports broadcaster’s subscription streaming service, ESPN+.

Pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports Latin America has further enhanced its portfolio of clubs from Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican club football, by agreeing a five-year rights deal with Club Rayados Monterrey.

Sports-streaming service FloSports has sealed a deal to acquire the Rugby Channel from Rugby International Marketing, the commercial arm of USA Rugby.

DAZN, the OTT service operated by digital sports media company Perform, has acquired exclusive rights in Canada for football’s Uefa Champions League and Europa League.

The ‘$1bn’ joint venture between the Perform Group and Matchroom Boxing does not guarantee either company that amount in revenue. But the headline number does signal how much the joint venture is willing to spend on attracting top-level fighters

ESPN has confirmed that it has struck a deal to acquire exclusive rights to all UFC mixed martial arts programming in the US from 2019, dislodging the Fox network as a rights-holder and building on an initial agreement announced earlier this month.

Comcast confirmed today (Wednesday) that it is “in the advanced stages of preparing” an all-cash offer for a significant share of rival US media company 21st Century Fox’s business assets, challenging a deal struck in December between the latter and media giant Walt Disney.

Spanish-language sports broadcaster ESPN Deportes has struck a deal to show next season’s NFL American football Super Bowl in the US.

Horse racing powerhouses Victoria Racing Club, Ascot and Goodwood Racecourses and the Breeders’ Cup have signed up as founding partners of a new media company that has launched today (Tuesday) and is designed to drive exposure for the sport across digital platforms.