October 19 – Barcelona are the latest of Europe’s giant clubs to announce a behind-the-scenes TV show with a media partner. The club and US streaming service Verizon go90 have announced the launch of Inside Barça which will air weekly.
October 16 – Facebook have one, Netflix announced they are making one, and now Amazon Prime are joining the US OTT broadcast entry into fly-on-the-wall football docuseries with a Manchester City biopic.
October 13 – Viewing figures for Premier League football in the UK are showing a rebound in interest from the start of the season, after summer data showed that viewing figures for Sky’s Premier League coverage had slumped to their lowest point in seven years last season.
October 12 – Sports agency IMG has won the international TV sales rights to Italy’s Serie A in a three-year deal reportedly worth €371 million per season. The price marks a doubling of the value of the Italian overseas rights as well as a switch in agency.
October 11 – Netflix have entered the European football documentary market announcing a fly-on-the-wall series with Italian champions Juventus that will debut on the streaming service in 2018.
By Paul Nicholson
October 9 – Expectations that Facebook will be the next premium tier sports rights buyer that pushes broadcast fees into the next level financial stratosphere are likely premature. While the global social media giant has plenty of cash and bandwidth, it is its bandwidth it is selling and not its cash it is spending.
October 5 – English Premier League clubs have rejected a proposal to end equal distribution of overseas TV money and replace it with handing a greater share to those who finish highest in the table.
October 2 – The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has defended its tender for the rights of the Mexican national team after a controversial extension with broadcaster Televisa and TV Azteca.
September 29 – In what is perhaps a sign of the times in football’s monied circles, the Premier League’s big six clubs are demanding a larger share of the new international television deals that will start in 2019. In the current three-year cycle clubs earn an equal £39 million annually from the aggregate £3 billion deal.
September 25 – UEFA has wasted no time securing its first media deals for its newly announced Nations League competition with China’s Super Sports Media stepping up to acquire exclusive digital media rights to the competition in China for the 2018-19 and 2020-21 editions of the competition.
By Paul Nicholson
September 13 – Sky and the English Football League (EFL) have agreed a five-year £600 million broadcasting deal starting with the 2019/20 season.
September 1 – Real Madrid has teamed up with GoPro to produce an eight-part behind the scenes documentary – Hala Madrid – that will broadcast on Facebook’s new Watch video platform in the US.
August 23 – Facebook Live has acquired the Indian digital streaming rights from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the remaining fixtures of the AFC Cup, the continent’s second tier club competition.
August 10 – Anyone expecting the football bubble to burst for premium broadcast rights will have a long wait. A survey by broadband and TV comparison website Broadband Genie found that 78% of sports subscribers would consider leaving or switching their TV provider if they lost the rights to their favourite sports.
July 24 – The Saudi Arabian-led boycott of Qatari-owned beIn Sport as part of the diplomatic dispute in the region has not prevented the channel being awarded Middle Eastern and North African broadcasting rights for the Champions League and Europa League.