European soccer’s governing body UEFA have announced today, July 6, that they have awarded the media rights to the 2012-15 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League in Poland to ITI Neovision, a subsidiary of TVN Group SA.

Under the terms of the deal, ITI’s N Sport branded channels will ensure comprehensive coverage of both competitions, including a minimum of four UEFA Champions League matches live on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights and two UEFA Europa League games live per kick-off slot each matchweek. In addition, a highlights programme will also be broadcast every matchnight.

ITI Neovision will exploit the rights to all games on the internet and on mobile in line with UEFA’s platform neutral approach. The Polish brodcaster will be hoping a representative from the nation’s soccer clubs can emulate the success of Lech Poznan last season, who qualified for the latter stages of the tournament after coming out of a group including Manchester City and Juventus.

Commenting on the award of these rights, UEFA said: “As the current broadcast partner of the UEFA Champions League, ITI Neovision has proven its dedication both in terms of programming commitments and broadcast technology. UEFA is pleased to renew its agreement with ITI Neovision for the UEFA Champions League and is delighted to extend its partnership with ITI Neovision for the UEFA Europa League.”

UEFA concluded its release by thanking incumbent rights holder Polsat for its continued and valued commitment to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

The international media rights for the National Hockey League (NHL) in Europe, Africa and the Middle East have been awarded to a partnership formed by Medge Consulting and Advisers Media International (AMI) over the next five years.

The long-term package includes live HD broadcasting rights for up to 480 games per season including the playoffs, Stanley Cup Final and the NHL Winter Classic, as well as the rights to highlights packages and supplementary programming.

Peter Liljestrand from Medge Consulting, stated: “This as a long term partnership to further develop the NHL’s presence and products in Europe and beyond.”

Robert Pickles of AMI added: “We look forward to working with the NHL to increase their distribution and popularity internationally.”

NHL chief operating officer, John Collins said: ”Reconnecting the NHL and its many star international players with their home country fan base is the first important step in a renewed strategy for growing the game and business outside of North America. Working closely with Medge/AMI we will deliver more NHL games and highlights to our international fans across more platforms and devices than ever before.”

The deal will include a strategic focus on promoting ice hockey in Europe and other parts of the world as part of NHL’s strategy to increase its status across the globe.

Both AMI and Medge have had recent successes with the distribution of rights tenders such as the English Barclays Premier League in various countries.

UEFA has awarded the Scandinavian media rights to the Europa League in Denmark, cheap Sweden and Norway to the TV4/Canal+ Group for the 2012-15 seasons.

European soccer’s governing body revealed that the Group had committed to airing a significant amount of live match programming. Under the terms of the deal, free-to-air Canal 9 will carry the first pick match live followed by highlights each match week in Denmark, while at least two additional matches per kick-off slot will be aired on the Canal+ channels.

In Norway, Canal+ will broadcast the first pick match and highlights while TV4 sport will carry action in Sweden. All of the rights offer the opportunity for broadcasts via the internet through TV4/Canal+ Group’s websites and mobile platforms.

The deal means that Modern Times Group’s (MTG) coverage of the Europa League in Denmark and Norway will come to an end following next season. MTG were recently awarded the same package for the UEFA Champions League but will relinquish their Europa League rights to TV4/Canal+.

A statement from UEFA read: “UEFA is delighted to have TV4/Canal+ as a broadcast partner for the UEFA Europa League in 2012-15. Their extensive broadcast knowledge, strong programming commitments and expertise will ensure significant exposure of the competition across the Scandinavian region.”

NBC were outbid by cable network ESPN to lose out in the US broadcast rights for the Wimbledon tennis championships, effectively ending their 43-year association with The All England Club as rights holder for the event.

Although terms of the deal were not disclosed it is known that ESPN has signed on to a 12-year deal, beginning 2012 to showcase the championships. The announcement made yesterday, July 5, was somewhat expected with regards to the long-term rights holder missing out after NBC said in a statement on Sunday, July 3, that “while we would have liked to have continued our relationship, we were simply outbid.”

ESPN already held the rights to air the early rounds of Wimbledon, though the newly obtained, comprehensive coverage from start to finish across a variety of platforms will result in more tennis for fans and all of it live, an official release states.

ESPN will present Wimbledon on its array of multimedia platforms, including both ESPN and ESPN2 simultaneously the second Monday-Wednesday. This will allow for expanded coverage of the Round of 16 and live telecasts of all quarterfinals, something NBC had been criticized for not doing.

ESPN will televise the semi-finals and finals, as well as broadcasting a highlights show on the “middle Sunday” of the tournament on ABC. In addition to the newly acquired rights, all of ESPN’s existing coverage will continue – television, broadband, mobile, and other rights in the US, Latin America and Canada.

Through 2023, the television schedule will increase to more than 140 hours, up from 100 hours since 2003, including full live national coverage of the semi-finals and finals. ESPN3.com’s schedule will expand to 750 hours from 650 hours, also with the semi-finals and finals presented live.

Ian Ritchie, chief executive of The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), said: “We are delighted to be extending our partnership with ESPN, in a move which will consolidate our U.S. media rights under the auspices of a single partner. This new agreement will bring increased live coverage of The Championships and ensure that the huge international audience for Wimbledon can now enjoy all the drama and colour of the Fortnight through a sustained narrative delivered with clarity, continuity and consistency across a wide range of platforms.”

George Bodenheimer, president, ESPN and ABC Sports, added: “We are proud to have been a partner of The All England Club the past nine years and are thrilled to be given continuing responsibility for honoring Wimbledon’s rich tradition. Over the next 12 years, we’ll work closely together to move coverage of this great event forward with live coverage on television and using all the latest technologies and screens.”

A ruling will be made today on the request of Serie A club Juventus for an injunction to block the distribution of around US$289.5m of media rights income among the 20 Serie A clubs.

According to TV Sports Markets, the deals have been struck against the wishes of the league’s top five clubs – Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Napoli and AS Roma. With the former calling for the “immediate suspension of the contracts with three research institutes that were agreed in an illegitimate manner” by 15 small and medium-sized Serie A clubs.

The league commissioned the research from Sport+Markt, Doxa and Crespi, however the complaint of the Turin club is that the criteria used is at odds with the definition of “supporter” in the 2008 Melandri law on collective selling. The big clubs say that only one club per supporter should be taken into account, but the smaller clubs have insisted that second preferences should also be considered.

Using the wider definition increases the share of the money which would go to the smaller clubs. Under the proposed criteria, the total media rights income for Juventus would fall to $109m for the 2010-11 season from $127.5m in 2009-10, when the rights were sold individually by each club.

Ahead of the kick off of this year’s Copa America soccer tournament which began on Saturday, July 2, Neo Sports acquired the broadcast rights for the competition, Latin America’s biggest soccer event, for the Indian market.

The tournament is being hosted by Argentina, running until July 24, with 12 teams competing for the top gong. Of these, seven were in the 2010 World Cup’s last eight: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, and Japan. 

To further heighten consumer interest, Neo Sports has also deployed a multi-media campaign using TV, print, internet and social media platforms to promote the league.

NEO Sports Broadcast EVP-Programming Mautik Tolia said: “Copa America reiterates our commitment to showcase the best premium sporting action to the Indian viewer. The Copa America promises to fulfill the Indian football fan’s legendary romance with Latin American football. It offers a not to be missed spectacular carnival over the next one month with the world’s best footballers – the likes of Messi, Kaka, Robinho etc competing against each other.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded free-to-air television and radio broadcast rights for the London 2012 Olympic Games to the Corporación Medcom Panama (Medcom), in Panama.

IOC President Jacques Rogge stated: “Panama has a long Olympic tradition, with a Panamanian athlete first appearing at the Amsterdam 1928 Olympic Games.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership to make the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games available on free television and radio to sports fans in Panama.”

David Samudio Garay, sports director of the Panamanian media organisation, whose assets include Telemetro Canal 13, RPC Canal 4, Tele 7 and RPC Radio and Caliente 97.1, said: “Medcom Panama is very happy to continue its partnership with the IOC and the Olympic Movement.

“Since the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, RPC Canal 4 has been covering and broadcasting the games on free TV in Panama so we are very excited in keeping up with the tradition.”

IOC Executive Board member Richard Carrión, who led the negotiations, said: “I would like to thank our friends at the Corporación Medcom Panama for their role in making this agreement possible and I look forward to working closely with them.”

The inaugural Dublin Super Cup pre-season soccer tournament has secured major exposure across Asia after rights holder Endemol Sport agreed a deal with Total Sports Asia (TSA).

This year’s competition will feature Barclays Premier League club Manchester City, Serie A giant Inter Milan, Clydesdale Bank Premier League outfit Celtic and a League of Ireland XI. It will be staged at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on July 30 and 31.

TSA will market the tournament’s broadcast rights into Asia, with the exception of Middle Eastern territories. The deal with Total Sport follows the recent announcements that Endemol Sport has entered into three-year partnerships for the Super Cup with Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, Fox Soccer for North America and the Caribbean and SuperSport Africa for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Julian Jackson, executive vice-president of media for Total Sports Asia, stated: “This is great football content and Asian viewers will be as eager as the rest of the world to preview the newest signings, team dynamics and vaunted strike forces that clubs painstakingly put together before the start of a brand new season.”

Gregg Oldfield, managing director of Endemol Sport, added: “The region has a massive football following who will love seeing the world class players in action. The Dublin Super Cup is now set to broadcast across 130 territories and has become a truly global event.”

The BBC has once again acquired the broadcast rights to the Commonwealth Games, with the next event to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2014.

The agreement will see the corporation air events on television and radio, providing online coverage for the UK home nations. The BBC will also work with the organisers in appointing a host production broadcaster for the event. As well as carrying all the sporting action from the Games, BBC Scotland will additionally show support programming to preview the event.

BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie stated: “BBC Scotland will have a special role at the heart of our coverage in giving the games extensive exposure in Scotland across our dedicated TV, radio and online services – all of which will help make the 2014 Games a truly momentous occasion in Scotland.”

Glasgow 2014 chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin added: “I am delighted that the BBC has taken up the domestic rights for the Commonwealth Games and I believe this deal represents a huge vote of confidence in Glasgow 2014 as well as the Commonwealth Games movement in general. The BBC’s reach will help us to generate a huge level of excitement and anticipation in the lead-up to the biggest event Scotland will ever have hosted.”