United Kingdom

American Football

Cycling: Italian public-service broadcaster Rai agreed a four-year deal with the European Broadcasting Union, from 2005 to 2008, for coverage of the Tour de France. 

Cricket

Rugby league’s inaugural Tri-Nations tournament between Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand, though generally regarded as a success, failed to attract UK viewers like rugby league’s previous international series

Football

Football: Sports agency Sportfive acquired the worldwide international television rights for the German Bundesliga in a two-year deal, from 2004-05 to 2005-06, paying over €15m (£10m) per season.
Snooker

The UK division of Korean company LG Electronics is quitting the sponsor-ship of snooker.
Cycling

SweetSpot, a sports marketing and events company, beat two contenders to win the right to set up cycling’s new Tour of Britain.
Football

Commercial broadcasters have questioned the effectiveness of the rights sublicensing scheme drawn up to placate the European Commission by the EBU.

American Football

Ice Hockey: The US National Hockey League signed a two-year deal with the NBC network, with an option to renew for a further two years
Basketball

Handball: Danish public-service broadcaster Danmarks Radio acquired the rights to both men’s and women’s Champions League competitions from the European Handball Federation in a five-year deal, from 2006-07 to 2010-11.

Pay-television operators in the UK, Germany and Italy reported growing numbers of subscribers
Cricket

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

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

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

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

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

Basketball

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

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

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

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