Portugal

Football

Football: Bulgarian free-to-air broadcaster TV2 acquired the rights for Bulgaria’s domestic top-tier A league in a five-year deal, from 2009-10 to 2013-14, worth a reported €30m (£23m). Fo

Commercial channels across Europe are challenging state broadcasters’ acquisition of major sports rights, as part of wider lobbying for stricter controls and limits on the financing of the public-service sector.
Basketball

Cricket: Pan-Asian broadcaster ESPN Star Sports acquired the rights for Twenty20’s cricket’s Champions League.

Basketball

News in Brief

Football

Football: Spanish pay-television operator Sogecable acquired the television rights for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in a deal with Fifa worth just over €90m (£71m). 

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games attracted the country’s largest-ever television audience.
Football

Portuguese commercial broadcaster TVI is considering taking legal action
Cycling

Football: Pan-Asian broadcaster ESPN Star Sports acquired the exclusive television rights in the Indian sub-continent for Fifa events in 2009 and 2010, including the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Football

Football: German commercial broadcaster RTL sublicensed a package of nine 2010 Fifa World Cup matches from pay-television operator Premiere, with an option to purchase a further nine matches.

Cycling

Football: German commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 acquired the free-to-air rights for the Uefa Champions League.

Football

Football: Portuguese mobile operator Optimus acquired exclusive mobile rights in Portugal to Uefa’s Euro 2008 championships, in a sublicensing deal worth close to €1.2m
Football

Football: Portuguese public service broadcaster RTP agreed to sub-license 20 matches of football’s European Championship in Portugal next year to commercial channels SIC and TVI.
Football

Public service broadcaster will recoup €4m of its €6.5m rights fee spend

Proposed changes would lead to non-members being able to acquire substantial Olympics coverage from EBU members on fair and reasonable terms
Football

EBU facing crucial decision from European Commission on exemption from competition law
Football

How national football team matches are protected in different European territories
Football

Formula 1, ice hockey’s World Championships dominated the May charts in TV Sports Markets monthly survey of European sports viewing.
Baseball

Sportinveste and PT Multimedia likely to buy