BeIN Sport (France)

Football

Strong competition is expected between France’s main pay-television broadcasters for Uefa Champions League, Formula One and European rugby rights, with all three properties currently on the market.

France’s competition authority, l'Autorité de la Concurrence, has blocked an exclusive carriage deal between Canal Plus and pay-television rival beIN Sports.

Baseball

North America’s Major League Baseball has confirmed renewals of a swathe of rights deals for the new 2016 season.

Canal Plus has confirmed that it has agreed a five-year deal, from 2016 to 2020, to become the exclusive carriage partner in France for rival pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports’ channels.

Vivendi-owned Canal Plus has signed an exclusive distribution deal with rival pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports France, according to daily newspaper Le Monde.

Football

Fifa secured only a small increase in the value of the men’s World Cup in France last month, signing deals with TF1 and beIN Sports for its 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Vincent Bolloré, chief executive of media company Vivendi, has held talks about agreeing a carriage deal with, and acquiring a stake in, pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports France – according to a report in French newspaper Libération.

Football

Telco Altice last week blindsided French broadcasters to acquire Premier League rights in the country with a knockout first-round bid.

Tennis

The Perform Group is in advanced talks over a deal for Women’s Tennis Association rights in France from 2017, TV Sports Markets understands.

Rugby League

International pay-television broadcaster beIN Media Group has agreed a two-year rights deal in France with the Rugby League European Federation.

Gymnastics

The closure of Canal Plus-owned sports channel Sport Plus has provided French basic-tier broadcaster Ma Chaîne Sport with another opportunity to boost its portfolio, after last month’s deal for domestic basketball rights.

American Football

The National Football League has endured mixed fortunes in its early deals in Europe, earning increases in Germany and France but seeing the value of its rights fall in the Netherlands.

Handball

The beIN Media Group has acquired rights for a number of competitions operated by the European Handball Federation.

Rugby League

Rugby league’s Super League, which comprises clubs from England and France, has agreed new broadcast deals in Australia, New Zealand, France, North America and the Middle East.

Rugby League

French pay-television broadcaster beIN Media Group has agreed a three-year extension to its rights deal for rugby league’s Super League, which comprises clubs from England and France, and will also continue to broadcast Australian competition the NRL, according to Mediasportif.fr.

Football

French basic-tier sports broadcaster Ma Chaîne Sport has acquired rights for the Copa Libertadores football club cup tournament in Latin America, while beIN Media Group has snapped up rights for this year’s Copa America national team competition, according to the Media Sportif news website.

Football

French pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports has agreed a two-year deal for the exclusive rights to football’s German Bundesliga, according to L'Équipe.

Handball

French pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports is seeking bids from free-to-air broadcasters in the country for rights to the finals of the men’s and women’s World Handball Championships next year.