United Kingdom

Cricket
Europe

The England and Wales Cricket Board’s new-media rights, which it put out to tender last week, could be worth more than £10 million
Football
Europe

English football’s Premier League will be at the heart of the battle for subscribers to third-generation mobile telephony
Basketball
Denmark

Football/Basketball: JCS Sports, owner of Israel’s two Sport 5 cable and satellite channels, acquired the rights for top Israeli football and basketball matches in a three-year sublicensing deal with pay-per-view company Charlton

Football
Czech Republic

Football: The Latin American broadcasting union, Organización de Telecomunicaciones Ibero-americanas, acquired the rights for the 2006 World Cup in 15 countries, excluding Brazil, from the Infront Sports & Media agency.

Football
Europe

Six Premier League teams, including Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, increased their live-coverage television viewing

Basketball
Albania

Football: German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF acquired the rights for up to 49 matches in football’s 2006 World Cup from Swiss agency Infront Sports & Media.

Cricket
Europe

Pay-television operator British Sky Broadcasting, at present locked in talks for the rights to domestic English Test cricket, is mopping up the rights for the England team’s overseas tours
Triathlon
Europe

UK television viewing of triathlon’s annual world championships fell by over a million viewers this year.
Hockey
Argentina

The revival of the India-Pakistan hockey test series after an interval of five years has attracted high television interest.

Athletics
Europe

Rugby league’s Challenge Cup final, in which St Helens beat Wigan 32-16, drew 1.66 million viewers and a 25-per-cent audience share to BBC1.
Football
Europe

The Premier League and British Sky Broadcasting have given the BBC a sharp reminder of the risks inherent in its decision to transmit its programmes via satellite unencrypted.
Football
Europe

The European Commission admitted that it was “naïve” in its attempt to break up BSkyB's monopoly over the Premier League’s television rights.
Boxing
Europe

There is considerable pressure on UK boxing promoter Frank Warren and his biggest fight asset, Ricky Hatton, to come up with a top-ranking US opponent in the next few months.
Football
Europe

The 66 Premier League matches broadcast by British Sky Broadcasting in the season just ended attracted an average audience of 1.356 million.
Basketball
Europe

Horseracing: Two rival dedicated cable and satellite horseracing channels could be launched in the UK within the next month with the country’s racecourses split evenly between the two new ventures. 
Athletics
Australia

Football: Fifa, world football’s governing body, rejected a minimum offer of $2.8bn (£1.6bn/€2.3bn)
Europe

Commercial broadcaster ITV was unopposed when it won the UK television rights for motorsport’s Formula 1 championship.

Bobsleigh/skeleton
France

Rugby union: Pay-television operator British Sky Broadcasting acquired the live rights for English international and domestic rugby in a five-year deal, 2005-06 to 2009-10, with the Rugby Football Union, the sport’s national governing body, and Premier Rugby, the umbrella body of the country’s top-tier clubs.