By Paul Nicholson
June 29 – Serie A returned to beIN Sport TV schedules at the weekend following the last-minute conclusion of a deal between the broadcaster and the league over a reduction in the rights fees to be paid.
June 23 – BeIN Sports went dark on the broadcast of the return of Serie A from the coronavirus shutdown this weekend as tensions mount over the league’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and the kingdom’s support of pirate channel beoutQ.
June 22 – The Bundesliga has become the first major European league to negotiate a new TV rights deal in the coronavirus age. While the new deal shows a reduction on the previous broadcast money achieved, it nevertheless suggests that there is still some life left in the market.
June 19 – With the row over the Saudi-based BeoutQ pirate broadcaster and the takeover of Newcastle United still hot news, an international coalition has managed to shut down another illegal streaming network
June 12 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has issued an RFP (request for proposals) covering broadcast rights for 10 Middle Eastern territories.
June 10 – The standout performances of Bayern Munich’s Canadian sensation Alphonso Davies has prompted OneSoccer, Mediapro Canada’s dedicated soccer service, to acquire the live rights to the semi-finals and final of Germany’s DFB-Pokal, the country’s top cup competition.
June 8 – The English Football League has agreed a £10 million rebate with its domestic broadcast partner Sky, in a revamped TV deal that will see all 108 remaining matches broadcast live across linear and digital platforms.
June 4 – The Premier League clubs meeting today are expected to rubberstamp a domestic TV schedule that will see 33 of the remaining 92 fixtures broadcast free to air.
June 2 – French professional football will return in August with a large bulk of matches broadcast on a dedicated football channel – Telefoot – as Mediapro Group makes its debut in France in a joint venture with TF1 Group.
June 1 – Amid growing scrutiny over the French decision to cancel the season, the LFP and rights-holding broadcaster beIN Sports have reached a compromise over the outstanding international broadcast rights fee payments.
May 27 – Live football video streaming platform MyCujoo has opened up its streaming platform with a tech toolbox that will allow use users to take greater control of the video streaming output and create their own video experiences beyond just the streaming of games.
May 26 – The Champions League broadcast bubble took a pin prick at the end of last week when French telecoms giant Altice said it was demanding a rebate on its broadcast rights.
By Paul Nicholson
May 21 – Manchester United’s third quarter financial release has revealed that the loss of broadcast revenue due to a broadcaster rebate following failure to complete fixtures is about £15 million, putting the overall Premier League rebate at about £300 million.
May 20 – The gentle trend towards longer term broadcast rights agreements in international broadcast markets has been continued with the Bundesliga announcing a five-year extension to its SkyPerfecTV! (SPTV) deal in Japan.
April 28 – LaLiga will have more flexibility in negotiating its broadcast deals following the Spanish government’s scrapping of a three-year licensing restriction on TV rights contracts.