Football
FSG abandons Bordeaux bid, citing Ligue 1 woes
Fenway Sports Group (FSG) has blamed the “general economic context of French football” for ending its discussions to buy Ligue 2 club Girondins de Bordeaux.
Fifa starts over with Club World Cup rights tender
Fifa is inviting bids for broadcast rights to its revamped Club World Cup in different international markets after negotiations over a global streaming deal with Apple broke down
EFL steps up content push with documentary RFP
The English Football League has issued an RFP for a documentary series as it builds on its latest international media rights deals and turns to content creation to boost the profile of its clubs in the US market.
Albania’s TV Klan lands 2026 Fifa World Cup rights
TV Klan, the private television channel in Albania, has acquired exclusive rights to the Fifa World Cup in 2026.
Ligue 1 clubs accept DAZN-beIN bids, kill off channel plan
Clubs from France’s Ligue 1 finally have oversight of domestic broadcast rights revenues after they voted to approve five-year deals with DAZN and beIN Sports but remain in talks over escape clauses.
Tournament bests for ITV, NOS in Euro 2024 semi
A UK television audience record could be set on Sunday when England take on Spain in the final of Euro 2024, after another round of stellar ratings in the country last night (Wednesday)
Market slump and weak yen shrink Euro rights value in Japan
Japanese pay-television broadcaster Wowow and streaming platform Abema secured non-exclusive rights for the ongoing Uefa European Championship at a fraction of the fee for the previous tournament.
Euro 2024 semi-final reels in year’s top audience in France
France's narrow defeat in the semi-finals of Uefa Euro 2024 drew the strongest television audience of the year to date in the country
Portuguese FA challenger queries league rights centralisation target
Nuno Lobo, a candidate for the presidency of the Portuguese FA, has described the move to centralisation of media rights in the top division as "essential" but questioned the lofty €300m per year financial targets being set by the league.
LFP mulls last-minute Ligue 1 rights bids in crunch meeting
The board at France’s Professional Football League (LFP) met today (Friday) to evaluate last-minute rights offers in a bid to finally settle broadcast plans for the 2024-25 season, which begins in just s…
Bundesliga returns to Eleven in Poland amid Viaplay retreat
Viaplay's impending exit from Poland as part of a wider international retrenchment will result in a new Bundesliga broadcaster in the country as rights return to Eleven Sports.
ServusTV breaks all-time record for Austrian football audience
Austria’s performances at Euro 2024 have broken audience records in the country for ServusTV, seemingly vindicating the commercial broadcaster’s decision to invest heavily in the exclusive rights back in 2021.
NOS ties down Euro 2028, Nations League rights
Dutch public broadcaster NOS, which last night netted its highest Euro 2024 audience so far, has renewed its rights to cover Euro 2028 as well as other national team matches.
European leagues stumble towards D2C as market hardens
Direct-to-consumer services will soon be an integral part of the international media strategies of Europe’s top five football leagues, with Serie A and the Bundesliga rolling out D2C offerings in multiple markets and the Premier League developing its product.
Optus bolsters football dominance with FA Cup acquisition
Telco Optus has secured exclusive rights in Australia to the FA Cup from 2024-25 to 2027-28, complementing its Premier League rights in the country, which it also holds till 2028
Ligue 1 becomes latest CazéTV capture in Brazil
France’s Ligue 1 will have a new broadcaster in Brazil next season after fast-growing streamer CazéTV acquired rights in an exclusive three-year deal.
Euro 2024 audience shares exceed 60 per cent in major markets
ZDF delivered a huge audience share of 76.8 per cent for its live coverage of Germany’s clash with Denmark on Saturday evening during a weekend in which teams from four of Europe’s ‘big five’ markets were in action.
Barcelona terminates Mountain deal, drops plans to list media arm
Barcelona has terminated an agreement with Mountain & Co, a special purpose acquisition vehicle tasked with handling the Nasdaq flotation of the LaLiga club’s Barça Media business, to focus on “near-term” business opportunities.