Infront
Agencies head to Bahrain to snap up federation business
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.
One big deal down, one to go for Lagardère
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.
Infront enjoys jump in skiing fees
The Infront Sports & Media agency has secured fee increases in skiing deals with public-service broadcasters in both Austria and Norway.
ARD/ZDF reduce fee for World Ski Championships
German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF will pay a smaller rights fee for the Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships in 2019 and 2021 than they did for 2015 and 2017, following a deal agreed last week.
Infront must shape its own destiny
The €1.05bn ($1.19bn) acquisition by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda of the Infront Sports & Media agency this week is expected to make the agency even more aggressive in the rights market than it has been in the last two years, when it was being fattened up for sale.
Q&A with Infront Sports & Media
Responses supplied by Infront Sports & Media regarding the recent acquisition of the agency by the Dalian Wanda Group.
Infront set to challenge Sportfive
The Infront Sports & Media agency is understood to be the strongest challenger to the Sportfive agency for the rights to the events of the Confédération Africaine de Football, including the flagship Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament.
Eurosport renews ski rights as Infront sale draws closer
Pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport last week renewed a host of top skiing rights, with expanded exclusivity and at slight fee increases, in a deal with the Infront Sports & Media agency.
Centralisation takes back seat as UCI focuses on calendar and production
The Union Cycliste Internationale’s long-standing goal of centralising the media rights to the UCI World Tour looks set to be put on the back burner under new president Brian Cookson in favour of more achievable objectives: creating a coherent calendar and improving cycling as a television product.
Infront strategy paying off for UCI championships
The Union Cycliste Internationale’s decision to move away from pan-regional deals for its world championship events and appoint the Infront Sports & Media agency to sell the rights on a market-by-market basis appears to be paying off.
SVT goes it alone to strengthen grip on Infront skiing rights
The Infront Sports & Media agency’s deals last week for World Championship and World Cup skiing events with Swedish public-service broadcaster SVT are thought to represent a decent increase on the current value of the rights.
Adam Mason, director of summer sports, Infront Sports & Media
Interview with Adam Mason, director of summer sports at Infront Sports & Media, on expanded coverage for the UCI world championships.
Indonesian football deal will open door to Asia, Infront says
Infront Sports & Media’s deal to distribute international rights to the Indonesian Super League (ISL) is “a flag in the ground” in the market for the agency, its managing director in Asia, Ian Mathie, told TV Sports Markets.
Adviser deals will work for ‘weak’ football leagues
The adviser model for football leagues operated by the Infront Sports & Media and MP & Silva agencies could be rolled out in more European markets than the three where it already exists, rights experts say. But it is unlikely to be adopted by leagues which are confident about their growth prospects.
Ian Mathie, managing director, Infront Pan-Asia
Interview with Ian Mathie, managing director of Infront Pan-Asia, on why the agency moved to acquire the international media rights to the Indonesian Super League.