USA

American football’s NFL has invited broadcasters to bid for a new package of rights comprising Thursday night games.

The WWE wrestling organisation has confirmed that it will launch WWE Network, a new 24-hour pay-television streaming channel in the US, on February 24.

The Houston Rockets NBA basketball franchise has been granted additional time by a federal bankruptcy judge to negotiate on behalf of financially-troubled Comcast SportsNet Houston, the exclusive home of Rockets and Houston Astros MLB baseball games, according to the Houston Chronicle.

North American basketball league the NBA is close to agreeing a conditional deal that will end the payment of a share of national television revenues to the owners of the Spirits of St. Louis franchise in the defunct American Basketball Association, according to the New York Times newspaper.

NFL American football teams the Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals avoided local television blackouts of their weekend play-off games after businesses stepped in to purchase remaining blocks of tickets to ensure stadia were sold out.

US media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has extended the contract of its president and chief executive David Zaslav through to the end of the decade.

US pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports will stream live coverage of the Super Bowl NFL American football championship game on February 2 for free, but will restrict online coverage of the National Football Conference (NFC) post-season to subscribers of selected pay-television operators, according to media news publication Variety.

US network CBS has announced it will live stream its coverage of the NFL’s American Football Conference play-offs through its CBSSports.com website for the first time.

US pay-television broadcaster Comcast SportsNet has extended a media rights deal with the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball franchise.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts organisation has launched a new digital subscription service which plans to offer a minimum of 10 exclusive live events per year.

Murdoch pays Champions League premium in US and Germany

American football’s NFL “will strongly oppose” a proposal by US regulators to scrap the so-called ‘blackout’ rule that blocks sports events from being shown live on television in their local market if they fail to meet a specified level of ticket sales.

North America’s NHL ice hockey league has agreed a US rights deal for the 2014 World Junior Championship, with games being broadcast through league-owned cable and satellite television channel NHL Network and official website NHL.com.

US sports broadcaster ESPN has agreed a multi-year deal, commencing in 2014, for the rights to indoor American football competition the Arena Football League.

US satellite television provider DirecTV and American football league the NFL have agreed on a framework for negotiations to renew the company’s Sunday Ticket package of programming, according to the Reuters news agency.

EBU deal with US ski federation will increase exposure for ski events in the country