United Kingdom

Football

Analysts are reining in their forecasts of the value of the next English Premier League live rights deal, on the basis that regulatory intervention and the economic downturn will limit competition.

Football

The efforts of sports rights holders to protect the exclusivity of their broadcast deals from ‘pirate’ live transmissions were given a boost last week by the UK’s High Court.

Football

Olympics: Turkish commercial network Fox Turkey acquired the rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games.

Cricket

The Premier League may offer overseas broadcasters a ready-made Premier League channel in the next three-year rights cycle, as it looks to maintain the steep increase in its international rights revenue in a softening market.

The IOC’s preference for direct relationships in key markets looks set to further loosen the grip of the pan-regional broadcast unions that have traditionally acquired Olympic television rights.

Rugby Union

UK pay-operator BSkyB’s new five-year deal with the Rugby Football Union was a classic smash-and-grab move that will strengthen its position in the ongoing negotiations for English rugby union’s top-tier domestic league.

Cricket

Forthcoming negotiations for the domestic rights for English rugby union’s Guinness Premiership will act as an interesting barometer of the state of the UK sports rights market, three months before the start of football’s Premier League rights talks.

Cycling

English football’s Premier League has blocked its Greek licensee Nova from showing its Saturday 3pm matches.
Basketball

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

Boxing

UK pay-operator Setanta looks to hit ambitious subscriber targets.

Basketball

Basketball: Greek pay-operator NetMed acquired the rights for A1 league club PAOK in a three-year deal from 2008-09 to 2010-11
Football

Football: Greek commercial broadcaster Antenna acquired the rights for top Greek club Olympiacos’ home first round match in the Uefa Cup and its two home group stage matches, paying €1.605m (£1.25m)
Basketball

Cricket: UK pay-broadcaster BSkyB extended its deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board for a further four years, from 2010 to 2013, paying about £260m (€330m). 
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.
Cricket

ECB tough negotiations with public-service broadcaster the BBC for radio rights.
Football

WinTV in losing battle to convert China to pay-TV

The early signs are not good for the European Broadcasting Union