IMG

Qualifier matches for the 2019 Asian Cup begin on June 11 with about a dozen Asian football federations yet to sell second- and third-party media rights to their home matches to an agency.

Pan-regional sports broadcaster Eurosport took advantage of a lack of competition to secure live rights for the Diamond League athletics series in the key German and UK markets ahead of the 2015 season.

Interview with Petr Stastny, general coordinator and chief financial officer of the Diamond League, about the recent broadcast deal with Eurosport for the athletics series in the UK and Germany.

The IMG agency has expanded the reach of its action sports and lifestyle channel Edgesport by agreeing a carriage deal with multi-platform media and entertainment organisation Abu Dhabi Media Company.

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.

Strong commitments – in both financial and attention terms – offered by the RDA Television and IEC in Sports agencies persuaded World Rugby to eschew larger players in its search for a new distribution partner for its second-tier properties.

The rights-trading subsidiaries of sports marketing company Lagardère Unlimited look set for a double boost. World Sport Group is close to renewing its contract with the Asian confederation, while Sportfive remains favourite to renew its deal for African confederation rights.

The International Olympic Committee expects to increase the value of its European media rights despite the gloomy economic outlook across much of the continent.

Interview with Timo Lumme, the IOC’s managing director of television and marketing, about the launch of its European tender for the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games, and its advisory deal with IMG Events & Media.

US pay-television channel GolTV has signed a multi-year deal with the IMG agency to broadcast the Scottish Cup club football knockout competition.

The International Olympic Committee has appointed the IMG agency for consultancy services related to the European broadcast rights tender for the 2018 winter Olympic Games and 2020 summer Games, with the process set to launch on May 11.

Pan-regional sports broadcaster Eurosport is thought to be paying a strong rights fee for Major League Soccer rights across Europe, excluding the UK, in its four-year deal agreed last week.

The IMG Events & Media agency maintained its commitment to US sports properties in renewing its deal to advise on the sale of global US Open tennis rights last week.

Pay-television network Ten Sports’s desire for exclusivity pushed up the value of MotoGP rights in the Indian subcontinent in last month’s deal.

The IMG agency has agreed a multi-year deal to represent the global media rights of the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation’s World Cup Series.

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), the country’s top financial watchdog, has issued a show cause notice against the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Indian Premier League, broadcasters and agencies in relation to a media-rights deal agreed in the founding years of the Twenty20 tournament.