By Paul Nicholson
June 18 – The pictures flashed around the world of FIFA president Gianni Infantino sitting majestically between his two new best friends, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia on his right and Valdimir Putin on his left at the opening match of the 2018 World Cup, will have left FIFA’s high paying rightsholders wondering if there is another game in play that they are not part of.
By Paul Nicholson
June 18 – The controversial on-off sale of Italy’s Serie A TV rights have taken a new technology turn with Perform’s streaming service DAZN picking up a package of 114 matches a season in a three-year deal.
By Paul Nicholson
June 14 – Egyptian and Saudi Arabian fans will be able to watch their teams play at the World Cup after a last minute announcement by broadcast rightsholder beIN Sport that 22 matches will be broadcast on their free-to-air channels. The dispute over beIN’s distribution in both countries has been bitter with the Qataris having distribution issues and the Saudis even pirating rights on newly launched broadcast-spoiler station BeoutQ.
By Paul Nicholson
June 7 – The final Premier League TV rights packages for the UK have been awarded with Amazon swooping in with a groundbreaking deal that breaks Sky and BT’s grip on the broadcast of live games in the UK.
May 30 – Spain’s Mediapro has gatecrashed the TV rights party in France by snapping up key broadcast packages for Ligue 1 as total fees for the rights sale hit €1.15 billion. Canal Plus ended up with no rights in this round of bidding, in what is a major setback for the broadcaster.
May 30 – The Qatar-based beIN Media Group, the biggest sports broadcaster in the region, has urged FIFA to take legal action against what it called pirate broadcasters in Saudi Arabia ahead of the World Cup.
May 16 – ESPN has signed a content deal with German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich to bring club content to the broadcaster’s digital and linear networks in the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.
March 5 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) now has 28 of its member associations using its streaming platform that debuted in July 2016 in Bhutan.
February 21 – Agent Trump will be delighted, US broadcaster FOX Sports has unveiled a World Cup 2018 schedule of more live broadcasts than ever before and including studio coverage from the heart of the iron fist of democracy in Moscow’s Red Square.
February 7 – Italy’s Serie A has accepted Spanish’s MediaPro offer for rights to broadcast matches for the 2018-21 seasons at just above €1.05 billion.
January 31 – The first of the Premier League’s new domestic TV deals has been announced with the BBC agreeing a £211.5 million deal, securing its iconic Match of the Day highlights show.
January 29 – Italy’s Serie A is in talks with Spain’s Mediapro on a €950 million deal for the 2018-2021 seasons. This follows a breakdown in discussion with Sky Italia who had not met the €1.05 billion minimum set by the league’s advisor Infront.
January 24 – Sports broadcaster Eleven Sports secured exclusive TV rights in Belgium for a host of major international matches, reasserting its market position in the Belgian TV landscape.
December 11 – The Premier League’s tender for its domestic broadcast rights package for 2019-22 has seen the league boost the number of packages available to seven with a total of 200 live games (up from 168).
By Samindra Kunti
November 11 – Argentinian giants Boca Juniors have agreed a content partnership with Netflix. The online streaming service will make a four-part documentary series which will be released in 2018.