Multiple Sports

Global sports and entertainment investment company Bruin Capital has made a significant investment in Box to Box Films, the UK production company behind the array of popular Netflix sports docuseries

Iris Sport Media, the company set up by Ioris Francini and his former IMG colleagues Floris Weisz and Luca Baldanza, has recruited Graham Wallace as chief corporate and financial officer

EMG and Gravity Media have announced a merger deal which they state will create one of the world’s largest and most significant broadcast technology and production companies.

Roger Lodewick, president of sports games at esports’ ESL FACEIT Group and previously of Team Marketing, has been recruited by Viaplay to lead its operations in the Netherlands.

The proposed merger between Disney Star and Reliance is being driven to a great extent by the wish to avoid a repeat of the 2023 IPL, in which the two entities undercut each other, resulting in reduced advertising revenues.

DAZN has recruited Walker Jacobs from Twitch to the newly created position of global chief revenue officer and president of DAZN’s US operation.
USA

US-based cable and satellite broadcasters the YES Network and MSG Networks are to form a 50/50 joint venture called Gotham Advanced Media and Entertainment (GAME) to work on the networks' streaming services
USA

Marie Donoghue, who played an integral role in growing Amazon's sports rights portfolio in the United States, is to leave the online retail giant

Movistar Plus, the Spanish pay-television broadcaster operated by telco Telefónica, has renewed an agreement to carry content offered by OTT subscription broadcaster DAZN.

Viaplay Group has instigated price increases in two of its core markets as it bids to turn the tide after a turbulent 2023 dominated by huge financial losses, share sales and workforce cuts

A new commercial television channel is to launch in Germany at the start of 2024 offering sports output until now showcased by ServusTV and also on the back of a content agreement with DAZN
USA

Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav and Paramount Global chief executive Bob Bakish have met to discuss a potential merger between the two media giants, according to multiple reports

German media group RTL has secured rights to Formula 1, the German 2. Bundesliga and the English Premier League as part of a wide-ranging content sharing agreement with pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland

The Spanish government has agreed a deal to acquire up to a 10-per-cent stake in Telefónica, in a move that will counterbalance investment in the telecoms operator from Saudi Arabia’s STC Group.

DAZN recorded an operating loss of $1.06bn (€969m) in 2022 on the back of increased rights fee commitments but higher direct-to-consumer revenues helped to reduce the figure by 22 per cent year-over-year, SportBusiness understands.
USA

Technology company Amazon is in talks with Diamond Sports Group over a potential investment and streaming partnership deal with the regional-sports broadcaster.

Bluestone Equity Partners, the private equity fund founded by Bobby Sharma, a former executive at IMG and the National Basketball League, has invested in Magnifi, an AI-powered video editing technology…

European media conglomerate RTL Group has reached an agreement for the sale of Dutch broadcaster RTL to DPG Media, a multimedia company with operations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.