Suning Corp takes La Liga deep in Chinese TV market
August 6 – The growing importance and wealth of the Chinese market has been underlined by a deal to broadcast Spanish matches in some 300 cities from this season.
Broadcast
Sky wins 3-year renewal for La Liga rights in UK
August 6 – The TV bidding war between Sky Sports and BT Sport has been ratcheted up a notch with the former announcing it has renewed live coverage of Spain’s La Liga for the next three seasons.
IMG picks up Barca TV for renewed international push
By Paul Nicholson
July 15 – The Spanish TV market is hotting up as the country’s power clubs and La Liga push the Spanish brand harder in international broadcast markets. Global sports marketing agency IMG has picked up the sales and distribution rights to Barcelona’s TV channel in a three-year deal licensed to them by Spain’s telecommunications giant Telefónica.
CSKA holds value as broadcasters battle for amateur league rights
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 9 – Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia may have been dropped to the amateur divisions of the country’s football structure, but the club is still in demand. Four Bulgarian broadcasters are fighting over TV rights for the club’s matches in the amateur V league.
EBU picks up EURO2016 broadcast rights for 26 countries
By Samindra Kunti
June 26 – The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the alliance of free-to-air European broadcasters, has struck an agreement with UEFA for the exclusive broadcast rights for EURO2016 across 26 European territories.
Collective TV sales to boost Spanish clubs by extra €600m
By David Owen
June 7 – Spain’s La Liga may overhaul the Bundesliga as the second-highest revenue-generating football league by the season after next, as the long-awaited switch to a collective sales model for TV rights provides a substantial boost to broadcasting income.
NTV Plus poised to extend Russian Premier League pay TV deal
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 25 – Russian broadcaster NTV Plus has reportedly agreed the terms for extending its current broadcasting deal with Russia’s Premier League (RPL). The new contract is for a three-year period, and it is estimated to be worth at least RUB 5.6 billion (€101 million).
Deltatre and Vizrt roll out enhanced TV graphics package to broadcast market
April 13 – Sports media services company delatratre has teamed up with TV graphics producer Vizrt to launch a new virtual sports graphics solution for broadcasters.
Brazil World Tour kicks off on Copa90 opening new channel for rightsholders
March 26 – Copa90, the digital football network, will showcase a new broadcast distribtuion option for rightsholders and sports-sponsor brands at the Stade de France tonight when the Brazil World Tour kicks off.
Spanish clubs demand bigger share of TV cash but hold off on strike
March 26 – Spain’s 42 professional clubs have put strike plans on hold in order to give authorities more time to draw up proposals for a collective bargaining agreement for TV rights.
Spurs innovate as they tune up their global digital Cup Final package
February 25 – Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur will become the first club to produce and broadcast on their own platforms their own Cup Final show this Sunday. The matchday show will be streamed by Spurs TV on Facebook and tottenhamshotspur.com before the kick-off of the League Cup Final against Chelsea.
CSKA and Levski threaten to pull out in bid for more TV money
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 23 – A serious row is brewing in the Bulgarian A group over the distribution of TV rights money with two of the country’s biggest clubs – CSKA Sofia and Levski – threatening to boycott the league unless they receive the lion’s share of the TV cash.
ESPN and Univision anger at 2026 World Cup rights staying with Fox and Telemundo
By Mark Baber
February 19 – The award of the US broadcasting rights for the 2026 World Cup to Fox and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo – they also hold rights to 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar – has raised a storm in US media circles.
Barca ditch Mediapro for TV powerplay with Telefónica
By Mark Baber
February 18 – The FC Barcelona board has agreed to sell their audiovisual rights for 2015/16 to Madrid-based multinational Telefónica, ditching long-standing partner Mediapro, in a strategic move ahead of legislation in the Spanish parliament expected to impose collective bargaining for television income on Spanish clubs.
FIFA sells 2026 World Cup TV rights for US and Canada
By David Owen
February 12 – FIFA has completed deals selling media rights for the 2026 World Cup in the key United States and Canadian markets. The deals give exclusive broadcast rights to FIFA competitions between 2023 and 2026 in the US to Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo, and in Canada to CTV/TSN.