Football

The collapse of a sublicensing deal designed to boost the English Premier League’s exposure in China has highlighted the difficulties facing the league as it attempts to get both good coverage and high revenues in its next television rights deal.

MP&Silva was the only agency to succeed in picking up any Premier League rights with deals in Vietnam and Japan.

No UK broadcasters were willing to show England’s final 2010 World Cup qualifier against the Ukraine but national team matches are still a sure-fire guarantee of big television audiences.

Football: The English Premier League agreed deals across most of Asia for the next three-year period, from 2010-11 to 2012-13

The EBU's deal for Euro 2012 rights is the most flexible it has ever agreed for a top-tier international sports rights property and marks a further step in its evolution as it continues to adapt to a different market reality.

Next week’s bidding deadline for English Premier League rights in most of Asia will kick off a frenzied period of activity for the league, with tenders being issued shortly afterwards in Greater China, Africa, Australasia and Europe.

Uefa’s decision this month to spin off its commercial activities into a separate company was an inevitable extension of the overhaul by Michel Platini – the latest step in his campaign to reassert the primacy of football over commerce.

Kentaro is confident that a record internet pay-per-view audience will justify its decision to reject offers from mainstream UK broadcasters for the rights to England’s final 2010 World Cup qualifier.

A study of ESPN’s most watched programmes since its August launch shows its reliance on Premier League content.

Recent growth in the pay-television market has helped Finland’s top-tier domestic football league gain its first significant rights-fee.

Polsat launched a premium football channel last week as part of wider plans to grow its digital platform.

Football: The European Broadcasting Union acquired the rights for Euro 2012 in 36 countries in a deal with Uefa, European football’s governing body.

NRK has been forced to offload its 2010 football World Cup rights to pay-broadcaster Viasat in the face of mounting costs for next year.

The Premier League has made a number of small but significant modifications to its Asian rights invitation to tender in response to how the media landscape has changed since it last went to market .

The international rights for Italy’s Serie A will be split into three territories – Europe, Asia and the Middle East and the rest of the world.

Uefa’s decision to centralise the television rights of the Europa League, has been more than justified by major increases in revenue and exposure.