Football

Mexican pay-television operator Televisa and Brazilian media group Globo were part of a $15m (€12.9m) bribery scheme for media rights to the 2026 and 2030 editions of national team football tournament the Fifa World Cup, according to a prosecution witness in the ongoing US trial into corruption in world football.

French pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus is set to offer free-to-air coverage of the top divisions of domestic football and rugby union, Ligue 1 and the Top 14, by utilising its general entertainment channel C8.

The English Football Association has entered into a partnership with Cognizant, through which the professional services company will support the organisation’s new digital engagement programme.

A series of leading media companies paid bribes to secure multi-year rights deals for football matches, according to the testimony of a prosecution witness in the ongoing US football corruption trial of three of the sport’s former administrators.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has said the organisation which oversees the top two divisions of Spanish club football expects to earn €2.3bn ($2.66bn) per year from its broadcast rights within three seasons, adding that the organisation can now look to take its rights to market as the political situation in Catalonia has improved.

The French Football Federation has awarded commercial broadcaster M6 and pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus rights for the country’s leading women’s football and youth-level football properties.

USA

Spanish-language sports broadcaster Telemundo Deportes has picked up rights in the United States to the 2017 Fifa Club World Cup and has agreed a deal to show the second leg of the Fifa World Cup play-off between Peru and New Zealand.

Sportsfix, an OTT service serving Southeast Asia, has acquired rights in Malaysia for Serie A, the top division of Italian football.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) has today (Friday) announced that it has sent notice to the Datisa joint venture company of its decision to terminate an acquisition contract signed in 2013 for the marketing of broadcast and sponsorship rights to the 2019 and 2023 editions of the Copa America national team tournament.

Russian state-controlled commercial broadcaster Channel One has acquired rights to the national football team’s forthcoming friendly games, which will also be live streamed by social media platforms VKontakte and Odnoklassnik.

Online streaming service Netflix has sealed its latest content partnership with a football club through a deal with Argentinian Superliga outfit Boca Juniors.

USA

ESPN Plus will be the name of the international sports broadcaster’s new video-streaming service that will launch in spring 2018, Bob Iger, the chief executive of parent company Disney, confirmed yesterday (Thursday).

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has said the organisation which oversees the top two divisions of Spanish club football needs to step up its engagement with OTT and other digital media platforms, adding it has received interest from the likes of streaming service Netflix and Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten.

USA

US pay-television broadcaster Univision Deportes has acquired rights for the Bundesliga, the top tier of German club football, through a sublicensing deal with the Fox Deportes division of the Fox network.

English Premier League football club Manchester City has today (Thursday) signed a content partnership with internet company Amazon which will result in the production of a behind-the-scenes series for its Prime subscription service.

Robert Klein will succeed Jörg Daubitzer as the chief executive of the Bundesliga International division of the German football league (DFL) on January 1.

The Austrian Bundesliga, the top division of football in the country, has maintained its tender process for its latest domestic rights deal was completely valid amid reports public-service broadcaster ORF is considering legal action over the agreement.

European football’s governing body Uefa has today (Tuesday) launched a tender process for broadcast rights to its Champions League and Europa League club competitions in Greece.