Football
FASTRACK
News in Brief
Regulator’s attack suggests loophole in collective-selling law
Attack by Italy’s antitrust authority could lead to a reform of the recent collective-selling law and potentially allow a return to individual selling by the back door.
Antenna moves into sport as RTL enters Greek market
Greek commercial channel Antenna 1 is set to snatch Formula One rights
TV rights 2: English cricket, football, US college sport and more
Cricket: UK pay-broadcaster BSkyB extended its deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board for a further four years, from 2010 to 2013, paying about £260m (€330m).
TV rights 1: World Cup, national team, European football
Football: Spanish pay-television operator Sogecable acquired the television rights for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in a deal with Fifa worth just over €90m (£71m).
World Cup boost for Sogecable sports portfolio
Acquiring the 2010 football World Cup rights was crucial for Spanish pay-television operator Sogecable
No Liga for launching Mediapro channel
Spanish rights agency Mediapro will launch its new football channel, Canal de Fútbol, later this month but will have to do so without any domestic La Liga football.
New season, new crisis: same old story for Serie A
Italian football appears to be heading for its annual last-minute television-rights crisis
TVI threatens legal action over bartered EBU rights
Portuguese commercial broadcaster TVI is considering taking legal action
Trend emerges in African boom
This week’s sale of African rights for French Ligue 1 domestic football provides further evidence of the continent’s booming sports rights market
TV rights 1: Olympics, football, volleyball, athletics and more
Olympics: The Asia-Pacific Broad-casting Union acquired the free-to-air terrestrial and radio rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics for $10m (£5.1m/€6.4m) in a deal with the International Olympic Committee.
UAE league goes local in ART blow
A planned media auction for the live broadcast rights for the United Arab Emirates’ newly-formed top-tier domestic football league, the Pro League, never got off the ground
Domestic football needs bundling to survive, says FA
The Football Association of Ireland hit back this week at suggestions that it has undervalued the media rights for the domestic football league
Compromise ‘won’t save Kirch deal’
The compromise on highlights coverage offered to the Bundeskartellamt
Cartel office: Kirch late highlights plan against consumer interest
Dr. Bernhard Heitzer, president of the Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s federal cartel office, last week delivered the following ruling on the media-rights arrangements of the Deutsche Fussball Liga
League has strong case to overturn ‘bizarre’ ruling
A legal challenge to last week’s ruling by the German cartel office on the collective selling of the Bundesliga media rights would stand a high chance of success, say lawyers.
Lega’s ambitious €250m target
The Italian football league’s target of €250 million (£198 million) for its centrally-sold media rights looks extremely ambitious