The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has once again reduced its broadcasting portfolio after securing a deal with pay-TV broadcaster ESPN to jointly air the 2012 British Darts Organisation (BDO) World Professional Darts Championships in January.

ESPN has reached an agreement with BDO, the sport’s governing body, and BBC Sport to split coverage, with former BBC presenter Ray Stubbs lined up to anchor its output.

The sports broadcaster has secured the live and exclusive rights to the evening darts sessions of the tournament running from 9-13 January.

ESPN got its first taste of darts last month with the broadcasting of the 2011 Winmau World Masters. At the World Champs they will air one semi-final exclusively and highlights of the final, which take place on 14 and 15 January respectively.

The BBC will hold on to live and exclusive coverage of afternoon sessions on the opening weekend – 7 and 8 January – and run extended afternoon highlights on the four days following that, as well as a late-night highlights show on BBC2.

Come finals weekend the BBC, which uses presenter Colin Murray and former darts player Bobby George, will air one semi final and the final exclusively.

Commentary for both broadcasters will come from David Croft and Tony Green.

ESPN has also struck its first deals to air live golf and tennis programming in a bid to move into weekday daytime sports and build its sport portfolio beyond predominantly football and rugby.

The US broadcaster will air eight days of live coverage from the Australian PGA Championship and the Emirates Australian Open, both of which are held later this month.

ESPN will also broadcast the BNP Paribas Showdown next March, live from Madison Square Garden in New York, which is due to feature players including Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer.

This will be considered another blow for the BBC who last week had the French Open tennis rights taken away from them by ITV as their cost cutting continued. They also now will jointly broadcast the Formula One with Sky until 2018.

The only bright spot in the last few weeks for the corporation is their deal to keep the exclusive rights of grand slam tennis tournament Wimbledon until 2017.

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR have acquired the Swiss media rights for the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship 2012 to 2017 through Infront Sports & Media.

Infront Sports & Media, longtime marketing partner of the IIHF licensed the rights to SRG SSR. The IIHF World Championship is the annual highlight in international ice hockey and one of the biggest winter sports events worldwide.

The extended agreement between Infront and the SRG includes all IIHF World Championships until 2017, including the tournaments in Finland and Sweden (co-hosts for 2012 and 2013), Belarus (2014), Czech Republic (2015) and Russia (2016). SRG has been the national television partner of the IIHF World Championship for more than 20 years, starting with the 1989 tournament in Sweden. Since then, the corporation has transmitted every edition of the championship on its media channels, including this year’s tournament in Slovakia.

The contract with Infront includes the exclusive rights to broadcast all 64 games of the IIHF World Championship and allows the SRG to distribute the licensed content via free-TV, radio, internet and mobile networks in Switzerland. Infront, in close cooperation with the IIHF will continue to provide high-quality TV pictures and media services for the SRG coverage. Since 2009, the IIHF World Championship has been produced in full HD quality with 20 cameras per game guaranteeing in-depth sports coverage and dynamic reporting from every angle.

Urs Leutert, Head of Sport SRG / SRF, added: “As a longstanding partner of the IIHF World Championship, the SRG will offer ice hockey a media platform through to 2017, which accounts for the sport’s importance in Switzerland. Thanks to the high standards Infront attaches to the production of the TV signal, and the in-depth coverage of the SRG editors, Swiss viewers can look forward to first-class ice hockey pictures, great action and all the excitement of the sporting experience.”

Bruno Marty, Infront’s Executive Director Winter Sports added: “Switzerland is a proven hockey nation, the agreement with SRG guarantees that the many Swiss fans will continue to receive comprehensive coverage of this top annual event over the next six years. We are delighted to have once again secured the national free-to-air broadcaster to work with us in Switzerland, the IIHF and Infront home-land. The SRG will provide a diverse range of coverage for the IIHF World Championship across a full range of media platforms.”

US-based media company, therapy Media World, unhealthy have acquired the exclusive rights of television and radio for the next matches of the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) team in their qualifying attempt for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, allergist  

FHF announced that the media and national bodies will not broadcast any live or the next matches of the national team at Sylvio Cator Stadium without prior agreement with Media World. In return the international firm will cover travel expenses of the national team of Haiti.

The contract, which amount to $125,000 dollars, covering the first phase of the qualifications of Haiti for the Football World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

The Federation states that “Radio and TV rights for the World Cup belongs to FIFA, which in turn yields to the national associations that can negotiate with production companies.”

Haitian Football Federation recalled the mission of the federations and FIFA have a duty and obligation to ensure respect for and protection of official broadcasters.

November 11 on the road and at home on November 15, Haiti will face in Antigua and Barbuda to seek qualification for the next round of qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup in 2014 in Brazil.

After awarding the US media rights last week, FIFA has continued to sell rights after agreeing three deals which has secured more than $1.85 billion for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Soccer’s ruling body extended agreements with SBS in Australia and IMC in the Caribbean region, while Bell Media was selected in Canada, the Zurich-based organization said in a statement today.

The World Cup is FIFA’s main source of income, with last year’s tournament in South Africa bringing in about $4 billion.

Secretary General Jerome Valcke said in the statement: “FIFA is delighted with the progress of our media rights sales to date which, coming amid austere economic times, more than confirm the strength and appeal of our competitions.” .

Last week, News Corp’s Fox was awarded the English-language rights in the U.S. to the tournaments scheduled for Russia and Qatar and other events between 2015 and 2022. Telemundo, part of Comcast Corp.’s NBC Universal unit, has the Spanish-language rights.

Business Daily said Fox is paying $450 million to $500 million, as much as five times more than Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN paid for the current cycle which culminates with the 2014

English TV network, ITV have won the rights to broadcast the French Open in the UK taking away the rights from rival network BBC.

ITV’s first ever live coverage of one of the big four grand slam tennis tournaments will be broadcast from 2012, as part of a three-year deal.

ITV1 will show the men’s and women’s finals from the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, along with live coverage of two other matches during the two-week tournament.

Digital channel ITV4 and ITV.com will broadcast about six hours’ coverage of each day’s play along with highlights.

ITV has secured the UK free-to-air rights to the tournament. Eurosport previously held UK pay-TV rights, with a new deal pending.

The ITV controller of sport, Niall Sloane, said: “It’s the first time that a grand slam has been shown live on ITV and with around six hours of coverage over each day of the tournament we’ll be offering viewers more free-to-air coverage of the tournament than ever before.”

The BBC may not be too aggrieved with the loss of the French Open having renewed a deal for the broadcast rights to Wimbledon yesterday.

The BBC have had to cut back after their budget was reduced. This has led to the BBC only showing half the F1 races live, with Sky broadcasting every grand prix plus qualifying sessions.

The BBC has also lost live TV rights to the Paralympics and IAAF World Athletics Championships (both to Channel 4) and the US Masters golf tournament (to Sky).

Basketball’s Euroleague will have expanded coverage in the UK after they agreed a deal with ESPN for more coverage in the UK and Ireland including a weekly game.

The channel will broadcast an ESPN Game of the Week during the opening round, plus the Top 16, the play-offs and the 2012 Turkish Airlines Final Four in Istanbul next May.

Jeroen Oerlemans, Vice-President TV Channels, ESPN EMEA, said: “The Euroleague on ESPN is set to bring basketball fans in Europe some of the biggest names in the sport this season. By bringing UK-based fans this season’s competition, we’re continuing to broaden the range of our line-up of sports from around the world.”

The Euroleague has gained a higher profile world-wide this season with NBA exports such as Andrei Kirikenko and Serge Ibaka switching overseas during the lockout. While British star Joel Freeland is taking a major role for Malaga.

Andrea Bassani, Euroleague Basketball’s Chief of Television, added: “By expanding our relationship with ESPN UK, we are confident that basketball fans throughout the UK will get the best service possible when it comes to seeing the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.”

American speciality station,Tennis Channel and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have extended their TV rights deal though the 2016 season.

The deal,  encompasses at least a dozen Premier-level tournaments annually, as well as the WTA’s year-end championship event, which is currently taking place in Istanbul and will be served in the Turkish city in 2012 and 2013 as well.

The rights extension represents 170-to-190 live or first-run match hours per year on the network. Tennis, which has been televising WTA matches since 2004, also gains “TV Everywhere” rights under the renewal.

The dedicated racquet sport service’s deal — Tennis’ current contract with the women’s tour expires after this season — follows the agreement ESPN reached with the WTA earlier this week, largely for broadband rights for its ESPN3.com service through 2016.

In addition to the year-end championships, the WTA Premiere tournaments that are part of the agreement and slated to air on Tennis Channel in 2012: Brisbane International (Brisbane, Australia) Medibank International (Sydney), Open GDF Suez (Paris), Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), Qatar Ladies Open (Doha, Qatar), Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart, Germany), Internationali BNL d’Italia (Rome), Mutua Madrid Open (Madrid, Spain), Brussels Open (Brussels), AEGON Classic (Eastbourne, England), Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo), China Open (Beijing) and Kremlin Cup (Moscow).

WTA CEO Stacey Allaster in a statement: “Tennis Channel has been a fantastic partner for the WTA. The extensive coverage and promotion that they provide for our WTA events has been a key ingredient in the growth and popularity of women’s tennis in the United States.”

Noted Tennis chairman and CEO Ken Solomon: “Women’s tennis is uniquely valuable in the world of major professional sports, with star power, sponsorships, prize money, ratings and ticket sales that are the envy of so many others. Stacey and the WTA have built the foremost brand in women’s sports today, and a critical component of our on-air schedule. Year-round women’s competition is one of the most important things that set Tennis Channel apart from any other network.”

The WTA pact follows the recent long-term agreements Tennis Channel has made to continue as the primary rights-holder of the French Open through 2022 and for its Wimbledon Prime telecasts through 2023.

The British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) have retained the rights to broadcast Tennis’s Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon, until 2017.

BBC Sport has agreed a three-year extension to its current contract as host broadcaster and UK rights holder, extending its relationship with the All England Lawn Tennis Club to 90 years.

The new deal, which reaffirms the BBC’s long term commitment to delivering the best sporting events to licence fee payers, will continue to give audiences unprecedented access to the tournament across all platforms including TV, radio, online, red button, mobile and tablet.

Ian Ritchie, chief executive of the All England Club, said: “Wimbledon fans have been enjoying the BBC’s broadcast coverage of The Championships since 1927 and we are delighted to be extending this enduring and successful partnership for a further three years.”

Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, added: “The BBC’s first-ever live sport broadcast was from Wimbledon and we are proud that our new deal means the longest partnership in sports broadcasting continues.

“We know that Wimbledon fortnight has a very special place in the hearts of the UK public. We are delighted that our new agreement ensures coverage of The Championships remains free to air and available to licence fee payers.”

The has been a turbulent year for the BBC financially who had to reduce their deal over Formula One coverage.

From next year, Sky Sports will screen all practice, qualifying and grands prix live, while the BBC will now show 50 per cent of the races, with the remainder aired via a deferred highlights package.

The BBC made no secret of the fact that the deal was struck to save money on the remaining two seasons of its £40 million ($64.2m) per-year contract with Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management.

 

American-based company Gol TV have extended their deal with DFL Sports Enterprises for rights to Germany’s top soccer league, the Bundesliga, for three more seasons.

The deal gives Gol TV multimedia Bundesliga rights in the U.S. and Canada for the 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.

The extension comes as the league’s current contract with the bilingual network, which presents its expansive soccer coverage in both Spanish and English, is set to expire in mid-2012, following the conclusion of the current campaign.

The agreement is for one of Gol’s four cornerstone leagues: the network also presents match and shoulder programming around Spain’s La Liga and top circuits in Brazil and Colombia.

Rodrigo Lombello, COO of Gol TV, said: “This is our third renewal with the Bundesliga. They’ve been with Gol TV almost from the beginning,.”

Lombello notes the Bundesliga’s appeal among its non-Hispanic viewers is also an important component for Gol.

“Naturally, there is some overlap. But, the Bundesliga draws mostly a different audience for us,” he said.

Under the current deal, Gol TV has been airing three matches per weekend, and sublicenses two others to ESPN Deportes and ESPN3.com. Lombello. It also airs ancillary fare like Hallo Bundesliga and Goal! The Bundesliga Magazine, which are produced by DFL.

Joerg Daubitzer, managing director of DFL Sports Enterprises, said: “We selected GolTV because of its large and loyal viewership. Our partnership with GolTV ensures that Bundesliga maintains high exposure in these top markets with matches, as well as special programming such as Hallo Bundesliga and Goal! The Bundesliga Magazine.”

Lombello said the Bundesliga ratings have improved substantially this campaign, a combination of increased distribution — Gol TV now counts some 15 million Spanish- and English-language subscribers — and heightened interest in the world’s game in the U.S.

“Our Bundesliga impressions are up 85% this season and La Liga is up 60%. Yes, some of it has do with being in more homes.I think you’ll hear the same thing, though, from ESPN and Fox Soccer, soccer ratings are up,” he said.

British public service TV Network ITV is expected to renew their rights deals for live FA Cup games and home England internationals, according to the Guardian. 

The network’s current deal expires at the end of this season and they appear to be the only credible bidder for the new rights deal, which will last until 2014.

The BBC facing major cuts to its sports budget while both Channel 4 and Channel 5 are reluctant to bid, this means any deal with ITV would likely be around 20% less than the current £65 million ($104m) agreement.

ESPN’s contract will be unaffected and runs until the summer of 2014, from this point competitive England internationals will be sold centrally through UEFA.