North America

Football

The fight between WBC heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis and Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko was watched by 4
Boxing

German agency Infront Sports agreed a one-year deal for Bundesliga rights with a group comrising EM
Boxing

Satellite pay-television operator BSkyB renewed four important golf deals: (1) exclusive live rights for two Ryder Cups (in 2006 and 2008) with European Tour Productions; (2) live rights for 34 events…
Football

Major League Soccer has signed a second broadcast deal, the first for which is has not had to buy airtime.
Australian Rules Football

A rematch between boxers Oscar de la Hoya and Shane Mosley for the WBC and WBA super welterweight world titles is set to go ahead after US pay-television network HBO offered Mosley a greater share of pay-per-view…
Athletics

The poor economic climate has led to a big increase in sports federations buying airtime to show their top events.
Football

French commercial broadcaster TF1 acquired the free-to-air rights to football’s Champions League in a deal reported to be worth about €33m (£22.6m) a year.  It will have the first choice of live matches each Champions League week.

Audiences for the first round of the Formula 1 World Championship plummeted in three of the top four European markets.
Football

American Football

Audiovisual Sport, the football rights-holding company for Spain’s two main pay-television companies, said it valued the rights of all 20 clubs in the Primera Liga at €200m a season, 25 per cent less tha…
Golf

David Ciclitira, former Chairman of World Sport Group, talked this week about how the financially-troubled agency split into two.

Tennis

US network NBC acquired the rights for tennis’s French Open and is close to signing a new deal for the Wimbledon rights.

US network NBC’s plan for a huge increase in its coverage of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was welcomed by the IOC.
Baseball

Spanish Primera Liga football club Atletico Madrid opted out of its collective-selling deal with other clubs to sign a €52m (£34m) deal with Audiovisual Sport, the rights-pooling company for pay-opera-ors So…
Football

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…
Boxing

US Senate votes to establish boxing commission with power to designate broadcasters as promoters
Curling

Curling: Canadian public-service broadcaster CBC has reportedly agreed a six-year deal with the Canadian Curling Association.

Football

Olympics: The International Olympic Committee confirmed its deal with the European Broadcasting Union, the umbrella body representing Europe’s public-service broadcasters, for the media rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games.