Basketball

Germany’s Bundesliga and martial arts’ Ultimate Fighting Championship are among only a handful of sports rights properties to have avoided major rights-fee cuts in the UK following Setanta’s collapse.

Basketball: PCTV-owned Mexican pay-broadcaster TVC Deportes extended it deal for the live rights to the ACB Spanish Basketball League in a three-year deal from 2009-10 to 2011-12

The Lega Basket was forced to accept a very small increase in the value of its media rights for the next two seasons after expected rival bids failed to materialise.

Basketball: Italian pay-broadcaster Sky Italia acquired the exclusive live rights for the top-tier domestic Serie A league in a two-year deal with Lega Basket, paying €5.4m ($7.6m).

American Football: The National Football League extended its television rights deals with US networks Fox and CBS for a further two years, up until the end of the 2012-13 season

The European basketball league managed a 24-per-cent increase in television revenues this season and is optimistic of further growth next season.

The Lega Basket has started private talks with five broadcasters after failing to elicit bids for its media rights in an auction last month.

Basketball: Eurosport Deutschland acquired live rights for nine selected playoff matches from Germany’s top league, the Basketball Bundesliga, in a deal with the league and rights-holder Sportdigital.tv.

Athletics: The IMG agency acquired the international television rights for the newly-created Diamond League in a five-year deal, 2010 to 2014, guaranteeing around $6m (€4.7m) a year.

Rai wants to force a way back into coverage of club basketball after having been out of the picture several years.

Olympics: The Sportfive agency acquired the rights in 40 European countries for the 2014 Winter Games at Sochi and the 2016 Summer Games in a deal worth €250m ($315m) with the International Olympic Committee.

Spain’s top-flight basketball league has tripled its distribution deals and rights fee revenue only one year after launching an in-house marketing drive to increase international exposure.

Athletics: The Organización de Telecomunicaciones Iberoamericanas, the Latin American broadcasting union, acquired the rights for the 2009 World Championship for member broadcasters in Argentina (cable …

UK pay-broadcaster Setanta’s audiences for Premier League football are up 56 per cent on last season, according to the latest figures.

Athletics: French pay-television operator Canal Plus will broadcast the new six-meeting Ligue national d’athlétisme after nuclear energy company Aveva stepped in with a new sponsorship deal.

Basketball: Brazilian commercial broadcaster Globo is to acquire the rights for the new, top-flight domestic basketball league, Novo Basquete Brasil, for R$1.5m (€474,000/ $633,710) a season.