Finance & Law
Disney targets $5.5bn in cost savings, Iger ‘not considering’ ESPN spin-off
Walt Disney Company chief executive Bob Iger has said that the company is "not considering a spin-off" of its flagship sports broadcaster ESPN during the question and answer portion of Disney's first-quarter…
Sixth Street ‘enters talks’ over new DFL commercial subsidiary
US-based investment firm Sixth Street Partners is reportedly among the firms preparing a bid for a share of the Bundesliga broadcast and commercial rights business as the German Football League (DFL),…
RTL, Talpa end merger plan after regulator opposition
European media conglomerate RTL Group and Dutch commercial broadcaster Talpa Network have dropped their merger plans after the proposal failed to gain the backing of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers…
JP Morgan Chase ‘interested’ in Serie A financing deal ahead of new rights cycle
US financial services company JP Morgan Chase is reportedly interested in financing Lega Serie A’s media business, as the organising body of the top division of Italian club football met yesterday (Thursday) t…
Mediapro claims latest RFEF legal win over Copa de la Reina final
Mediapro, the broadcast production group and rights agency, has claimed another legal win over the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) following the latter’s refusal to allow coverage of the 2019 Copa d…
World Cup rights take Abema to big quarterly loss, but wider deal impact hailed
Japanese digital media company CyberAgent reported a rare quarterly loss in its 2023 Q1 financial results, caused by the costly acquisition of 2022 Fifa World Cup rights by its streaming platform Abema
Sky ad revenues and programming costs fall amid World Cup impact
Sky, the Comcast-owned European pay-TV broadcaster, has reported revenue reductions of 13 per cent and 11
Kosmos ‘takes case to CAS’ over Davis Cup contract termination
Kosmos Tennis, a subsidiary of the Kosmos investment group, claims to have taken its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne following the termination of its 25-year agreement with the International…
Sinclair’s Diamond Sports Group ‘heads towards $8.6bn debt restructure’
Diamond Sports Group, the Sinclair Broadcast Group entity that operates the Bally Sports group of regional sports networks in the United States, is reportedly heading towards a $8.6bn (€7.8
Learfield extends deal with University of Alabama, adds NIL center
The University of Alabama's athletics department has extended its multimedia rights deal with Learfield in a 15-year agreement, marking one of the longest deals of its kind in American collegiate athletics
BeIN ends Atalanta Serie A broadcasts in France over Plus500 ruling
Pay-TV broadcaster beIN Sports has been forced to cease broadcasts in France of Italian Serie A football matches featuring Atalanta owing to regulatory concerns over the club’s main sponsor, financial t…
Pac-12 fires two executives over failure to disclose distribution partner overpayments
The Pac-12 Conference has fired two senior executives after an independent investigation found that they failed to disclose overpayments by a distribution partner dating back to 2016
Next League to buy services, product businesses from Infront X
Deal brings a full-circle moment for former Omnigon founders
DAZN reports $1.36bn operating loss in 2021, revenues reach $2.3bn in 2022
DAZN Group made an overall loss of $2.33bn (€2.17bn) in 2021, bringing the company's total losses over the past three reported financial years to $5bn, SportBusiness can reveal.
Japan’s Rugby League One reports financial surplus in first year
Japan's revamped rugby union league, Rugby League One, has reported revenue of 3.3bn yen ($25m/€23m) and a surplus of 270m yen ($2m/€1.9m) in its first financial year.
Sponsorship revenue generated 2.1bn
Conmebol boosts prize money payments as new rights cycle starts
The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) has detailed plans for a 23-per-cent increase in payments to clubs across its competitions for the 2023 season
Channel 4 hails scrapping of government privatisation plan
UK free-to-air broadcaster Channel 4 has welcomed the confirmation today (Thursday) that the government will pursue reform rather than privatisation of the organisation
UK Culture Secretary advises against Channel 4 privatisation
UK Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak advising against the privatisation of free-to-air broadcaster Channel 4