Football

Czech Television acquired the rights for the Gambrinus Liga, but it is threatening to pull out of the deal unless the football association tackles new corruption accusations.

The decision of Greek league champions Olympiacos to sell its television rights to public-service broadcaster ERT has led to a radical re-alignment of the rights for the country’s top football league.

Greek monopoly pay-operator NetMed Hellas is facing a challenge from the launch of digital-terrestrial and internet television.

Mobile-phone operators across Europe are pinning their hopes on the World Cup in Germany to give a badly-needed kick-start for the advanced third-generation content they have been marketing for so long.

Basketball: Spanish commercial broadcaster La Sexta acquired the rights to this year’s basketball World Championships in a deal with Fiba, the international basketball federation.

Football: Spanish Primera Liga champions FC Barcelona agreed a long-term deal with the Mediapro agency which guarantees the club at least €1bn (£685m) for its domestic and international television rights for the seven years from 2006-07 to 2012-13.

The Belgian Football Association is threatening to sell the home matches of the national team on a match-by-match basis in Flanders.

German broadcasters could be forced to pay much more for the Euro 2008 rights because of strong competition.