K League launches dual-language OTT channel with eye on global markets
February 23 – Korea’s K League is launching a dedicated OTT platform for its top two leagues ahead of the start of the 2021 season that kicks off February 27.
Broadcast
Beko sticks with Barca sponsorship but drops sleeve position
February 17 – Barcelona and Beko have extended their partnership by a year, but the parties have dropped the sleeve sponsorship rights in a re-worked sponsorship agreement.
Mediapro returns to Concacaf fold with international sales deal
February 15 – The Mediapro Group have picked up the international rights to Concacaf’s club and national team competitions outside of the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region.
beIN Sports steps up as LFP’s Ligue2 broadcast lifeline to end of season
February 12 – French professional football has been thrown a lifeline by broadcaster beIN SPORTS France who have done a deal with Canal+ for the domestic rights to Ligue 2 in France until the end of the season.
LaLigaTV breaks new ground in UK with Amazon Prime channel deal
February 12 – LaLiga has added its 24/7 English-language tv channel to the Amazon platform as one of the Prime Video Channels in the UK only.
Serie A TV deals reach crucial point as CVC shows signs of cold feet
February 10 – The new Serie A deals for domestic and international broadcast rights – revenue that will underpin the league and its clubs – have reached crucial and sensitive stages at the same time.
AFC adds new broadcasters in Asia and Europe for 2021-24 rights cycle
February 9 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has increased the pace of its broadcast rights sales with two new partners announced for its 2021 to 2024 rights cycle, one in Europe and one Asia.
Ozil’s new club Fenerbahce pushes beIN to limit, sparking fear over next SuperLig deal
By Paul Nicholson
February 8 – Mesut Ozil, no stranger to conflict and controversy in recent years, may not find Fenerbahce the calm and safe haven club he was looking for.
Canal+ throw LFP a €35m lifeline for more TV rights to end of season
February 5 – France’s professional leagues have been handed a badly needed lifeline to help them over their broadcast rights crisis after Ligue 1 reached an agreement with Canal Plus to screen the remainder of matches this season following the spectacular collapse of a record contract with Mediapro.
French club crisis deepens as TV rights tender falls flat
By Samindra Kunti
February 2 – The TV rights crisis in French football is deepening after a new tender for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 looks to have flopped with bids below what the league and clubs had expected.
Portuguese to centralise media sales; Italians talk up €1.1bn target for domestic deal
February 1 – Portugal’s Primeira Liga is to centralise its domestic broadcast rights from 2027/28, forming a company with the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) to sell media rights.
NBC Sports closure raises questions over $1.3bn Premier League deal
January 27 – Premier League broadcast rights partner NBC, is shutting its Sports Network in the US and is expected to close operations by the end of 2021.
Chinese TV channel countersues Premier League for $116m over broken contract
January 20 – In an escalation of a Covid-19 dispute, Chinese broadcaster PPLive Sports International has countersued the English Premier League for failing to live up to the terms of its contract.
Serie A hedges its bets as it hunts for funds with Middle East broadcast tender
By Paul Nicholson
January 15 – Serie A, who are in the final stages of hiving off their commercial rights to venture capitalist CVC for $1.7 billion, will have an early test of that value with the league having issued a tender for the broadcast rights for the Middle East and Africa.
LFP to issue new domestic TV tender as it frantically looks to replace Canal+ deal
January 18 – The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) is to issue a new tender for French domestic TV rights after broadcaster Canal+ returned its Ligue 1 media rights to the LFP.