News

Two packages will be put up for auction: the weekly live Monday night top-pick Premier League match, now held by commercial broadcaster Channel 10 in a deal worth $6.5 million a year; and the rights for the State Cup, the Toto Cup and National League Games, Premier League highlights and radio rights, presently held by pay-broadcaster The Sports Channel.

ESPN is the present rights-holder in the US, where it shares rights with Setanta, and Canada, where it shares with TSN and French-language RDS. Commercial broadcaster Rede Record is the rights-holder in Brazil. Bids are due in on March 3.

The deal consolidates Record’s partnership with the event, having six months ago signed the Brazil rights for the 2011 Games. For more details see the latest TV Sports Markets newsletter.

Canal Plus has since sold the Nigerian rights to Daar Communications. Canal Plus subisidiary Canal Horizons, which already had French-language rights, picked up the sub-Saharan English-language rights.

Sportfive said that the matches, against Ivory Coast, Guinea and Burkina Faso, are not “marketable” and that it will not increase its offer.

In August, I-Cable reported a 78 per cent decline in post-tax profit to HK$26 million for the six months to end-June. I-Cable said that “deteriorating economic conditions and intense competition since then continued to make a negative impact on the Group's business, resulting in further revenue and margin erosion.