North America

US pay-television broadcaster CBS Sports Network has acquired rights for motor-racing’s 2014 GT Series.

The International Olympic Committee has robustly defended last week’s long-term deal with US media group NBCUniversal on the three key areas in which it has come under scrutiny.

The top US football league, Major League Soccer, and the country’s national football association, US Soccer, enjoyed a five-fold increase in the value of their domestic media rights at the end of a long and complex set of negotiations with broadcasters ESPN, Fox and Univision Deportes.

US broadcaster Univision has been named as the Spanish-language rights holder in the United States for the Copa América Centenario national team football tournament, which will take place in the country in June 2016.

US media company NBCUniversal has struck a multi-year extension to its media rights deal with the WWE wrestling organisation.

Interview with Timo Lumme, the IOC’s managing director of television and marketing, about its new deal with NBCUniversal.

NHL ice hockey team Chicago Blackhawks has agreed a three-year extension to its partnership with local broadcast rights-holder WGN-TV.

Pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports Canada has struck carriage deals to increase its reach in the country.

ESPN president John Skipper has said the US sports broadcaster will bid for the next set of rights to football’s English Premier League, but added it would seek to partner with another media company.

The NBC Sports Group division of media company NBCUniversal has reached an agreement with the US Ski and Snowboard Association to broadcast the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) 2015 Alpine World Championships in Vail/Beaver Creek.

US telecommunications company AT&T is in “active talks” to acquire satellite television provider DirecTV in a deal that could be worth close to $50bn (€36bn), according to Reuters.

US pay-television broadcasters ESPN, Fox Sports and Univision Deportes have acquired rights for Major League Soccer, North America’s top football league, and the US men’s and women’s national teams.

US media company NBCUniversal has extended its media rights deal for the Olympic Games through to 2032 in a deal that the International Olympic Committee said would secure the long-term financial security of the Olympic Movement.

Canadian pay-television sports broadcaster TSN is to expand its service from two to five national channels.

Organisers of the Gavitt Tipoff Games have announced that broadcast coverage of the new US collegiate sports competition will be split between international sports broadcaster ESPN, the Fox Sports division of US network Fox and the Big Ten Network (BTN) cable television broadcaster.

ESPN president John Skipper has said the US sports broadcaster is “on the precipice” of agreeing a new rights deal with Major League Soccer, the top division of football in North America.