February 25 – Australian club Western United’s decision to not incorporate ‘Melbourne’ in its name could cost Football Federation Australia (FFA) A$5 million in annual TV rights as Fox Sports seeks to challenge its obligation to increase future payments for the broadcasting deal.
February 15 – Concacaf has taken a deeper step in live streaming with the announcement that 2019 Champions League matches will be broadcast in English on Yahoo Sports platforms, a part of the confederation’s multi-platform media-rights deal with Verizon.
February 14 – Already in the wars over financial fair play, Paris Saint-Germain have been left embarrassed again after part of their Champions League last-16 game against Manchester United was accidentally illegally streamed live to a global audience on social media platform Facebook
February 12 – Nice work if you can get it. Jose Mourinho may be out of a management job at club level but he is rarely out of the limelight. The former Real Madrid and Manchester United boss has landed a plum mega-million role with English-language Russian broadcaster RT.
February 12 – European Champions League football will be broadcast via football website Goal’s Twitter account in six markets in Asia with a mix of live matches and highlights packages.
February 11 – LaLiga has won a battle against pirate TV operators stealing live broadcast of matches in brazil with the closure of three IPTV platforms who were getting more than 1.5 million visits a month and had over 8,000 illegal subscribers.
February 8 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin confirmed that the governing body’s over-the-top streaming service should be complete in the next six months in time for the the 2019/2020 season.
February 6 – Sports broadcaster beIN SPORTS is to take further legal action in its dispute with US cable operator Comcast over its rights to have carriage on the Comacast platform.
January 30 – Concacaf have agreed an exclusive broadcast rights deal with digital streaming service FloSports for the new Concacaf Nations League which will start in March.
By Samindra Kunti and Paul Nicholson
January 22 – FIFA, UEFA, AFC, La Liga, the Premier League and the Bundesliga have today issued a joint statement condemning “clear and flagrant” pirating of games by satellite channel beoutQ, but refrained from naming Saudi Arabia as culpable for the infringements though the channel broadcasts from the country.
By Paul Nicholson
January 22 – Following the launch of a website detailing the broadcast piracy of Saudi Arabia-based beoutQ, the Premier League has issued a statement saying it has appointed legal counsel to fight the copyright theft and reassuring rightsholders it will work with them to stop the illegal broadcast.
By Paul Nicholson
January 15 – The issue of broadcast piracy has arisen at the Asian Cup in the UAE where the AFC has issued a statement condemning Tele Liban for rebroadcasting matches without having paid for the rights.
By Paul Nicholson
January 13 – Broadcaster Eleven Sports has added its voice to media rights holder calls for Serie A to reverse its decision to play its Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, saying the decision has “considerable implications for Eleven Sports and for the longer term value of Italian football rights.”
By Paul Nicholson
January 11- Qatar-based pan-regional broadcaster beIN Sport has written a second letter to Serie A urging new CEO Luigi De Siervo to change the venue of the Italian Super Cup final that will be played in Jeddah next week to a location outside of Saudi Arabia.
January 11 – Forget legal letters, World Trade Organisation petitions, and multi-stakeholder pressure groups, beIN Sport may have at last found the killer application to end beoutQ’s rampant piracy of their TV output – Jose Mourinho.