Russia

Russian broadcasters Channel One, VGTRK and Match TV have submitted a joint bid for the rights to football’s 2018 Fifa World Cup, which will take place in the country.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will use the Telesport agency to sell its rights in Russia after sports media platform Match TV failed to agree terms on a renewal for the mixed martial arts series.

Russian sports media platform Match TV has acquired rights to the 2016-17 season of International Ski Federation (FIS) competition the Cross-Country World Cup.

Vitaly Mutko, the president of the Russian Football Union, will hold talks with Fifa over the sale of media rights for the 2018 World Cup in the country after the proposed fee rocketed, according to the Tass news agency.

Euroleague Basketball has increased its media-rights income in the 2016-17 season by 36 per cent compared to 2015-16, and this will rise further in 2017-18 thanks mainly to a blockbuster deal in Greece.

Russian state-run broadcaster Channel One has acquired rights for the highly-anticipated boxing world title bout between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward this weekend.

World football’s governing body Fifa has opened invitation to tender proceedings in Russia and sub-Saharan Africa for the 2017 Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup.

The national federations of 10 countries have signed up to the International Basketball Federation’s (Fiba) new multi-cast initiative, with the sport’s global governing body keen on securing further partners before the end of the year.

Independent pay-television broadcaster Football TV has ridden out the country’s tough media market since the rouble crashed in late 2014, and believes it could be in a position to thrive over the next three years.

International sports broadcaster Eurosport has acquired rights in Russia for Italy’s Coppa Italia club knockout football competition, according to the Sports.ru news website.

The second-tier of English football will be shown in Russia once more after the Pitch International agency struck a one-season deal covering 2016-17 with pay-television broadcaster Eurosport worth about $100,000 (€91,000).

The English Premier League this week finalised a deal with Russian broadcaster Match TV which will see its value in the country fall by about 57 per cent.

VTB United League honorary president Sergey Ivanov has said the pan-European club basketball competition has agreed its first-ever deal for overseas and betting broadcast rights.

Russian sports media platform Match TV has acquired rights to the Premier League, the top division of English club football.

International sports broadcaster Eurosport has acquired rights in Russia to the English Championship and League Cup club football competitions, according to Television-Sport.com.

Russian sports media platform Match TV will provide coverage of the Rio 2016 summer Olympic Games on six channels, according to the sport.ru website.