Football
FASTRACK
Sony is facing a massive loss on its coverage of India’s cricket tour to New Zealand, which started this week.
ITV asks sport: Can we pay you later?
ITV is trying to renegotiate payment schedules for its key football rights contracts as part of a company-wide drive to battle cashflow problems.
New law is lifeline for Mediapro in TV market crunch
A new Spanish broadcasting law published next month is expected to throw a lifeline to sports rights agency Mediapro.
Orange Sport strategy under threat
A court decision ruling that Orange’s exclusive carriage of its Orange Sport pay-television channel is anti-competitive could prompt a review of its sports rights strategy.
WPP to wind up Global Sportnet
WPP is to wind up German-based sports rights agency Global Sportnet, following the departure of agency founder Thomas Martens, who resigned late last year.
TV Rights Deals 1: Football World Cup, European, African and Brazilian deals
Football: The Sportfive agency acquired the fixed-media rights to Fifa events in a four-year deal with international football’s governing body from 2009 to 2012, including the 2010 World Cup in South A…
Setanta feeling the heat as cut-price strategy backfires
The ability of Setanta to successfully adjust its business model will arguably be the single biggest factor determining the shape of the UK sports rights landscape over the next five years.
Singapore planning to halt Premier League bandwagon
The Singapore government is considering legislation to prevent further escalation in the cost of English Premier League football rights when they come on the market later this year.
FASTRACK
The IAAF has begun a second round of talks for its European television rights after a cut-price opening offer from its incumbent partner, the EBU.
Mediapro takes Asia plunge after agencies say no
The Mediapro agency is set to sell the Asian rights for Spanish football’s La Liga directly to broadcasters across the region after failing to find an agency buyer.
Big-bidding TV4 takes no chances
Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4, renewed its deal for La Liga rights in the Nordic countries and Iceland after making an aggressive pre-emptive bid.
TV Rights Deals 1: Football: Premier League gets £1.78bn, La Liga, Serie A sales
Football: England’s Premier League generated £1.782bn (€2.05bn/$2.62bn) in the sale of its domestic live rights for the three-year period from 2010-11 to 2012-13. The deal is a 4.5-pe
African boom busted as GTV dream dies in the downturn
The collapse of GTV this week has raised fears that the African sports rights boom of the last two years is destined to be short-lived.
Steady start for Scudamore
The BBC’s deal for free-to-air highlights has got Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore off to a solid start in his latest set of media rights negotiations.
FASTRACK
The lack of government legislation in India over news access to sports events is provoking further tension between the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Nimbus Communications agency.
SABC ‘wants cake and icing for free’ in listed-events claim
South Africa’s state broadcaster, SABC, was slammed last week over its request for extensive additions to the country’s list of events of national importance that must be aired on free-to-air television.
Mediapro hopes early start will help keep Liga fees high
Talks for the next three-year tranche of international television rights for Spanish football are now in full swing, with the Mediapro agency hopeful of good revenue increases.
TV Rights Deals 1: Football: Premier League highlights deal and more
Football: UK public-service broadcaster the BBC extended its deal for Premier League highlights for a further three years, from 2010-11 to 2012-13, paying £173m (€185m/ $237m).