ESPN Inc.

Southern hemisphere rugby rights have increased significantly in global value, driven by explosive growth in the UK, France and the Middle East, and supported by strong returns in difficult core markets.

Uefa opened its international competition rights to the US market early in its sales cycle to take advantage of the competitive environment, and was rewarded with a significant uplift.

Strong competition in the Nordics between established media groups and an as-yet unidentified player helped the Premier League double its income in the region – continuing the remarkable start to its new international sales cycle.

NBCUniversal blew its rivals out of the water to retain Premier League rights in the US earlier this month – the league’s first deal in its new international sales cycle.

Spain’s LaLiga has leapfrogged Italy’s Serie A in media rights income to become Europe’s second most valuable league following deals agreed in recent weeks.

NBC Sports is understood to have paid a significant increase to prise rights to golf’s British Open from its long-term American home on ESPN.

World Rugby, rugby union’s global governing body, has earned a strong increase in the value of its Rugby World Cup media rights in Latin America.

Major League Soccer will enjoy a substantial increase in exposure in Brazil in the 2015 season, which got under way at the end of March.

Fifa avoided the prospect of going back into a US court by agreeing to extend its World Cup rights deal with Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Sports last month. But getting off the legal hook comes at a price, in terms of questions about Fifa’s governance and also, possibly, in having sold the rights at well below market value.

US pay-television network ESPN beat commercial networks NBC and Fox to win rights to the revived World Cup of Hockey in 2016.

ESPN’s desire for football content after losing out on the Champions League has helped Uefa achieve a significant rise in the value of the Europa League in Brazil.

The acquisition of the Champions League rights earlier this month paves the way for Brazilian commercial channel Esporte Interativo to enter the pay-television market, while simultaneously damaging its future rival ESPN.

Mike Kiernan, Analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, looks at television audiences in the major European markets and America for the 2014 Fifa World Cup

The renewal of the National Basketball Association’s domestic media-rights deal, expected later this year, is the most eagerly awaited in US sport and will no doubt be the biggest of the year.

The centenary version of the Copa América, which will take place in the US in June 2016, looks likely to earn at least twice as much in media rights income as the 2015 Copa América.

The IMG Media agency today (June 13, 2014) confirmed a deal to distribute global media rights to European club rugby's new elite tournaments, run by European Professional Club Rugby.

Read here TV Sports Markets' report from two weeks ago on how IMG won the bidding war with rival agencies to land the rights.