By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – US data company Gracenote, which earlier this year debuted in the sports data business with the acquisition of Infostrada Sports and SportsDirect, has launched its ‘DVR Extend’ feature for cable and satellite broadcasters in the US that will mean viewers who record games need never miss extra time or a penalty shoot-out.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – The pre-season march of English Premier League clubs through the US has paid off with American broadcaster NBC announcing it has struck a deal to show live Premier League games for the next six years, extending its current contract until 2022.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.