TV Sports Markets Newslines
A round-up of the major headlines and TV rights news from TV Sports Markets and the world of televised sport. TV Sport Markets is the highly acclaimed industry reference tool for the main players in the broadcast and sport industry worldwide.
- Greek football club Olympiacos’ third-round Europa League qualifying match away to Maccabi Tel Aviv was shown by commercial broadcaster Skai, after IPTV broadcaster Conn-X experienced technical problems in the run-up to the game because of the high demand on its network.
- TV Sports Markets publications will not be published in the next two weeks, as we take our annual summer break.
- Ligue 2, the second division of the French football league, the Ligue de Football Professionnel, gets under way this Friday but unless a last-minute broadcasting deal can be struck none of the nine matches played will be televised. The league has failed to reach an agreement with previous rights-holder Ma Chaîne Sport (MCS) despite weeks of negotiations.
- German IPTV operator Deutsche Telekom has had talks with the rights-holders of Formula One motor-racing, European Tour golf, and Serie A football about potential deals, in an apparent broadening of its sports broadcasting ambitions.
- Imtiaz Patel, chief executive of pan-African sports broadcaster Supersport, has said the days of huge rights-fee increases in Africa are over, in the wake of his company taking over English Premier League rights in Nigeria from HiTV.
- The CSI agency, which is selling the UK free-to-air highlights for cricket’s Australia-England Ashes series this winter, is hoping that a revival of the UK’s commercial television market and strong viewing figures for the previous Ashes tour will generate some competition for the rights.