Sports TV 2016: Digital explosion, player consolidation & confusion
2016 was a roller-coaster for Indian sports in the truest sense.
MUMBAI: Zee Network-owned Ten Network, South Asia?s leading sports content provider, has secured live and exclusive rights to broadcast The Football League and The League Cup from 2012-15 for the South Asian market.
As part of the agreement with MP & Silva, a leading international sports rights agency, Ten Network will be showcasing approximately 145 matches live and exclusive throughout the year through Ten Action and Ten HD.
ZEEL CEO Sports Business Atul Pande said, "Acquisition of The Football League and The League Cup till 2015 underlines Ten Network?s commitment to football fans in the region to bring best of football action. This latest acquisition gives us an excellent promotional platform for our advertisers and partners. We have established a strong tradition in building and strengthening top-class football properties on our channels with the reach of our networks, multiple media platforms and world-class match presentation."
The Football League is the world?s oldest league football competition, consisting of the npower Football League Championship, League One and League Two. Each league consists of 24 teams, including Cardiff City, Bolton, Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday.
The Championship itself is the fourth most-watched league in Europe and the Championship final is the world?s most lucrative football match - with the winner standing to earn an estimated ?90 million from promotion to the Premier League.
The League Cup (known as Capital One Cup for sponsorship reasons) is part of the English football treble and one of the most prestigious titles in England. A knockout competition that features all 20 clubs of the Premier League and 72 clubs of The Football League, the match calendar runs from August to February and it is the first major football title to be crowned during the season.
Ten?s football roster includes Uefa Champions League, Europa League, and French Football League.
MUMBAI: Swiss pay television operator Teleclub has been awarded the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League media rights starting 2012 on a platform-neutral basis running till 2015.
For the Uefa Champions League, the commercial operator will broadcast all live matches across the Teleclub Sport pay channels, as well as a highlights programme each match night.
Each matchweek, Teleclub will also screen at least two Uefa Europa League live matches per kick-off slot as well as a highlights programme.
All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights being exploited on the Internet ? via tdm.com.mo and on mobile.
For Croatia, the media rights for Uefa Europa League has been awarded to Hrvatski Telekom till 2015. Hrvatski Telekom has been awarded all rights in Croatia for the Uefa Europa League, except for the best live match each match week.
One live match per kick-off slot as well as a weekly highlights programme will be broadcast on basic tier channel Arena Sport 1. In addition, three live matches per kick-off slot will be shown on the Arena Sport family of channels each match week.
All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis with Hrvatski Telekom also exploiting on the Internet, via tportal.hr, and on mobiles.
This announcement follows the recent award of the rights for the best match and highlights each match week to Hrvatska Radiotelevizija and concludes the sale of the Uefa Europa League media rights in the territory.
Team Marketing is the exclusive marketing agency of Uefa for the exploitation of certain media and commercial rights relating to the Uefa Champions League, Uefa Super Cup and Uefa Europa League.
MUMBAI: UEFA has awarded the media rights for the 2012-15 Uefa Champions League rights and 2012-15 Uefa Europa League in several markets.
In Greece, ERT and Nova have bagged the rights. Nova has also secured certain rights for the 2012-15 Uefa Europa League.
ERT has renewed its right to broadcast the best Uefa Champions League match each Wednesday, as well as highlights coverage of each match week on NET. This award of rights includes coverage of the Uefa Champions League Final and the Uefa Super Cup.
Pay-television operator Nova has acquired the remaining Uefa Champions League live matches and will broadcast six matches each night including the best Tuesday match on the novasports branded family of channels.
New for the 2012-15 rights cycle, Nova will broadcast live coverage - co-exclusively with ERT - of the Uefa Champions League Final. Nova will also ensure match night and match week highlights coverage throughout the season.
In addition, Nova was awarded the right to broadcast live coverage of all matches of the Uefa Europa League except the first pick of the match week. Showing five live matches each kick-off slot, Nova will allow Greek football fans to enjoy an increased choice of matches. Nova will also show highlights programmes each match night.
All above-mentioned rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis, with the rights being broadcast via television, mobile and on Internet - on ert.gr and novasports.gr respectively.
In Portugal the 2012-15 Uefa Champions League media rights have gone to TVI and Sport TV. Commercial broadcaster TVI joins the Uefa Champions League family of broadcasters and will broadcast the best Tuesday match each match week. Should there be only one or no Portuguese team in the competition, TVI will broadcast the best match of the match week, in order to provide Portuguese football fans with the most relevant UEFA Champions League programming.
Pay television operator Sport TV has secured the rights to all remaining matches and will broadcast at least four live matches each match night across the Sport TV family of channels.
Both broadcasters will show the Uefa Champions League Final, the Uefa Super Cup as well as highlights on both nights. RTP was the incumbent rights holder.
Meanwhile in the UK, ITV and ESPN have got the 2012-15 Uefa Europa League media rights. ITV has acquired the right to broadcast the top two live matches each match week on ITV4 followed by a round-up of the match night?s key action. In addition, ITV4 will broadcast a full weekly highlights programme on Fridays each match week. Certain matches in the latter stages of the competition featuring local participation may be broadcast on ITV1.
ESPN has secured the rights to all remaining Uefa Europa League matches. ESPN will show at least one match per kick-off slot each match week as well as highlights on ESPN?s premium UK television channel.
All rights have been awarded on a platform neutral basis, allowing for ITV and ESPN to provide coverage across television, mobile and internet on itv.com and espn.co.uk respectively.
Uefa said, "Uefa is happy to renew its partnership with ITV and ESPN in the United Kingdom. These deals will further develop and promote the competition in the region by providing football fans throughout the UK with an extensive choice of coverage not only on television but also via online and mobile services."
ESPN has acquired all rights for the Uefa Champions League for exploitation across the three ESPN branded channels ESPN, ESPN Brasil and ESPN HD. As a minimum, ESPN will broadcast two live matches per matchnight on ESPN and ESPN Brasil, both on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the Final and the Uefa Super Cup. In addition to the live matches, one Wednesday highlights programme and four delayed matches will also be broadcast each match week.
All rights have been granted on a platform-neutral basis. Both broadcast partners will, therefore, exploit the rights via television, Internet - on esporteinterativo.com.br and espn.com.br - and on mobile.
Commenting on the award of these media rights in Brazil, Uefa said, "Uefa is happy to renew its partnerships with Esporte Interativo and ESPN. Both partners have proven their dedication and the extent of their commitment to Europe?s top tier football competition during this cycle and Uefa looks forward to continuing these successful relationships through to 2015."
This announcement concludes the sale of Uefa Champions League rights in Brazil.
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