French league crisis deepens as Canal+ hands rights back saying league is ‘devalued’
January 13 – In another major blow to French football, broadcaster Canal+ will return the Ligue 1 media rights to the LFP, demanding a new tender is issued.
Broadcast
Failed Mediapro partnership strikes financial fear into hearts of French club football
December 21 – French football is still counting the cost of the loss of the Mediapro broadcast deal that has plunged a raft of clubs, already hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, into further financial disarray.
beIN holds on to Premier League rights with reported $500m 3-year renewal
By Paul Nicholson
December 18 – The Premier League has renewed its broadcast rights partnership with beIN SPORTS for the Middle East and North Africa region for a new three-year terms running through to 2025.
Spurs follow Barca and turn on to Twitch with official channel
December 18 – Twitch is rapidly becoming the newest must-have ‘broadcast’ channel for clubs, with Premier League Tottenham Hotspur launching their service on Wednesday. LaLiga’s Barcelona announced they were migrating new content to a Twitch last week.
Mediapro cuts LFP ties with €100m pay-off and closes Teléfoot channel
December 14 – The Professional Football League (LFP) and Mediapro have reached an agreement to part ways with the Spanish agency paying €100 million in compensation.
Eleven Sports takes a deep dive into football live streaming with MyCujoo acquisition
November 10 – Sports broadcast platform Eleven has acquired live streaming company MyCujoo and its Live Services streaming technology for an undisclosed sum.
Premier League set to suspend PPV experiment as lockdown and fan pressure rejigs TV game
November 6 – The English Premier League’s controversial pay-per-view model that has caused outrage amongst fans’ groups has moved a step closer to being scrapped after this weekend.
Amazon expands football output with Juventus TV channel debut on Prime Video
November 5 – Serie A giant Juventus has increased its club TV channel distribution making it available via Prime Video, the first club in Europe to TV channel available on the Amazon service.
Premier League keeps price at £14.95 as PPV debut generates £5.24m from 9 games
October 28 – The Premier League are not moving on its controversial pay-per-view (PPV) broadcast arrangements for the next two rounds of matches but clubs have agreed to review the pricing after that point.
NWSL breaks all broadcast records with revamped season
October 26 – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) completed its rearranged 2020 schedule reporting record breaking broadcast numbers with its new CBS TV deal.
Mediapro seeks rights fee rebate on €172m demanded by LFP
October 22 – Spanish media rights agency Mediapro is seeking a negotiated solution with the LFP after the French league issued a €172 million demand for unpaid rights fees.
Premier League accelerates into PPV but fan backlash at £14.95 price tag
October 12 – The English Premier League faces a backlash from fans after agreeing a deal with domestic broadcasters Sky and BT Sport for games not already being shown live to be offered via pay-per-view.
Tencent steps in as Premier League’s broadcast replacement in China
September 18 – The English Premier League has agreed a new broadcast deal in China to cover the rest of the 2020-21 season after terminating its £564 million contract with PPTV earlier this month.
Premier League u-turn opens up September matches to live TV
September 9 – All 28 English Premier League fixtures that take place in September will be televised live following pressure from the government and fans groups to maintain last season’s arrangement of wall-to-wall games when the campaign resumed behind closed doors.
EFL and Sky agree streaming deal to let fans in for non-TV games
August 27 – The English Football League (EFL) has agreed a streaming deal for non-TV matches with its anchor UK broadcaster Sky Sports to give fans access to games while stadium attendance is restricted during the Covid-19 crisis.