HRT (Croatia)

Uefa and Team Marketing’s latest deals across the Balkans with Telekom Srbija, HRT and broadcasters in Kosovo have produced total income very close to the current cycle, signalling a sudden lack of competition from United Media Group.

The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) has moved fast to resell rights to the Croatian First Football League, agreeing a lucrative deal with Hrvatski Telekom less than a week after the termination of its agreement with Endorphin Magine earlier this month.

Uefa’s national-team tournament rights tender across the Balkans is coming to a close after a process dominated by strong competition between United Media, Telekom Srbija and public broadcasters.

Uefa has more than doubled the value of its club competition media rights across five Balkan countries, awarding almost all rights to aggressive bidder Telekom Srbija, as the telco’s battle with rival United Media intensified.

Croatian public-service broadcaster HRT will cover next summer’s Uefa European Championships after striking a sublicensing deal with United Group, the rights-holder in the Balkan region.

International media and entertainment company Discovery Communications unveiled a series of deals this (Thursday) morning covering the Olympic Games and European national team football qualifiers, as well as new strategic partnerships in Spain, Italy and Chile.

The aggressiveness of telco Telekom Srbija was a driving factor in increases in the value of the rights to the Uefa Champions League and Europa League in the Balkans.