Infront

Multi-sport

Another public-service broadcasting union lost its grip on Olympic Games rights following deals signed by the International Olympic Committee late last month.

Ice Hockey

Multi-territory broadcaster Modern Times Group renewed National Hockey League rights across the Nordics late last month, but missed out on the sport’s World Championship rights in Sweden.

Chinese electronics company Ledman Optoelectronic has said its owner, Man Tie Li, is set to become the latest investor from the country in the Infront Sports & Media agency.

Football

Lega Serie A and the Infront Sports & Media agency will launch a new IPTV platform on August 22 broadcasting games from the top division of Italian football, according to il Fatto Quotidiano.

Shanghai Oriental Pearl and China Media Capital will jointly acquire a five-per-cent stake in Infront Sports & Media following the completion of the agency’s takeover by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda.

Olympics

Tanzania-based pay-television operator Azam Media has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to the 2016 Olympic Games in its home country.

Handball

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

Ice Hockey

Swedish public-service broadcaster SVT has secured a rights agreement for International Ice Hockey Federation events including the annual IIHF World Championship.

Football

Sportfive is taking a colossal risk in signing a 12-year, $1bn (€888m) renewal with the Confédération Africaine de Football, according to local experts.

Biathlon

The Infront Sports & Media agency has said it will reorganise its Nordic business operations by the end of this year, with a new company being formed.

Horse Racing

Norwegian commercial and pay-television broadcaster TV2 has struck a deal to acquire rights for the next two editions of the International Cycling Union (UCI) Road World Championships, according to the Procycling.no news website.

Football

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.

Football

Interview with Ian Mathie, managing director of Infront Pan-Asia, on the agency’s recent deals with Asian football federations and its regional strategy.

Football

Italian media company Mediaset and pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia have defended their positions after their offices were searched as part of an investigation by regulators into the sale of media rights for Serie A, the top division of football in the country.

Football

The Confédération Africaine de Football could be set for a huge increase in the value of its global media and marketing rights, as negotiations with incumbent rights-holder Sportfive and rival agency Infront Sports & Media near a conclusion.

Football

All of the industry’s major rights agencies were present in Bahrain this week at the Asian Football Confederation annual congress to try to agree media-rights deals with Asian federations.

Ice Hockey

The Infront Sports & Media agency has said the International Ice Hockey Federation’s 2015 World Championship will be broadcast in close to 160 territories and is expected to surpass the audience figures for last year’s event.

The Infront Sports & Media agency has appointed Anne Zhao as the new managing director of its Infront China division with immediate effect.