Scandinavia

US sports broadcaster ESPN, which organises the X Games, has agreed multi-year rights deals for the action sports franchise in Denmark, Sweden and Finland which include coverage of the new X Games Oslo event in Norway.

FIDE, the global governing body of chess, has secured its first long-term media rights deal through a new partnership with Norwegian public-service broadcaster NRK.

Specialist equestrian sports and lifestyle television channel Horse & Country has acquired the OTT subscription business of Swedish channel Horse1.

The Discovery Networks Norway division of international media company Discovery Communications has acquired domestic rights for the Tippeligaen, the top division of Norwegian football.

Pan-Nordic pay-television broadcaster C More has confirmed it will launch a new golf channel in Sweden on January 1, 2016.

Norwegian public-service broadcaster NRK renewed two vital skiing rights deals last month, agreeing to pay decent increases for both.

Media and entertainment company Discovery Communications, which operates the Eurosport Norge pay-television channel, would consider an alliance over Norwegian football league rights in the country with public-service broadcaster NRK, according to the Kampanje news website.

The Fotball Media agency, which distributes the rights for the Tippeligaen on behalf of the Norwegian Football Federation, has opened a tender process for the rights to the top division of the domestic game, along with the second-tier 1. Divisjon.

Swedish public-service broadcaster SVT has acquired rights for motor-racing’s World Rallycross Championship.

Norwegian public-service broadcaster NRK has extended rights deals with the country’s national ski association and Fis, skiing’s global governing body.

Media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has acquired rights in Denmark for the top divisions of football in England, Spain and Italy in a sublicensing deal with commercial and pay-television broadcaster Modern Times Group.

Commercial and pay-television broadcaster Modern Times Group has acquired rights in the Nordic region for North America’s Major League Baseball World Series.

Strong competition in the Nordics between established media groups and an as-yet unidentified player helped the Premier League double its income in the region – continuing the remarkable start to its new international sales cycle.

Norwegian commercial broadcaster TV2 has struck a production and rights deal with the International Cycling Union (UCI) for the 2017 UCI Road World Championships.

Pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport has acquired rights in seven countries for the 2015-16 Formula E Championship electric car-racing series.

Norway became the latest Scandinavian country to be afforded free live streaming of the top divisions of Spanish and Italian football, LaLiga and Serie A, over the weekend.