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.
April 27 – Canal+ and beIN SPORTS and have reached an agreement outside their existing broadcast rights contract that will see them accelerate much needed payments to France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) and its clubs regarding the rights to matches already aired.