Canal Plus, the leading French Pay-TV channel has secured a five-year renewal of its contract with the French National Rugby League (LNR) to keep the broadcast rights of nation’s elite club rugby competition, the Top 14, in a deal worth up to US$228m.

Canal Plus will show at least three pre-recorded matches in each Top 14 gameweek – one on Canal + and two on Canal + Sport – with the remaining four games shown on the Rugby + channel and two highlights shows featuring all the action permitted in a continuation of their existing agreement.

Canal Plus will pay the LNR a minimum initial fee of US$39m a year under the terms of the contract, however, this could rise to as much as US$45.5m depending on viewership and subscriber numbers. The agreement runs for five years, commencing from the 2011/12 season.

Despite these high figures, the new deal marks a slight decrease on the current Top 14 broadcast rights package in terms of maximum revenue potential. The broadcaster are believed to be paying approximately US$42.6m under the current contract, supplemented by Orange, who pay US$4.7m for the mobile and video on demand rights, totaling US$47.7m.

After Orange decided not to renew its contract with the league, the most significant change to the current rights package will see Canal Plus given the right to provide video on demand and mobile coverage.

The tender for the broadcast rights has encountered a measure of controversy since its launch on December 27, when Canal Plus initially offered an annual fee of around US$25.5m for two games, something the LNR quickly rejected.

Jean-Louis Dutaret, head of acquisitions at Canal Plus, welcomed the new deal, stating: “The variable depending on the audience and the number of subscribers is a very good thing for us. The audience for the prime-time games varies between 800 and 850,000 viewers for the three games, and 700,000 for the afternoon matches.”

The Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL) has reached a new multi-year sponsorship agreement with Nivea Men.

Nivea joins Adidas as the initial corporate sponsors of the FXFL and will serve as the presenting sponsor for the league.

“Landing a partner like Nivea is a great start for us,” said Commissioner Brian Woods.

Nivea Men will have its branding placed on the field of play, the goalposts, jerseys, helmets, and towels. Nivea Men will headline FXFL halftime shows, sample their products during games, and all FXFL players will receive Nivea products.

Nivea Men will also sponsor the league’s MVP award, place advertisements on FXFL broadcasts, and will be part of a planned reality show about the league.

The deal follows FXFL signing a broadcast deal with ESPN. 

One World Sports has secured the exclusive North American rights to the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL) soccer under terms of an agreement signed with World Sport Group.

One World Sports will carry weekly games on television, look broadband and mobile having secured deals recently with both the Japanese J-League and Korean K-League on similar basis.

Mark Hardess, President, ASEAN and Australia, World Sport Group, said: “We are pleased to have One World Sports providing live coverage of China’s top professional football competition, the Chinese Super League in North America on TV, broadband and mobile devices.  This is part of our commitment to extend coverage of the league to wider audiences around the world.”

Preston Bornman, President, One Media Corp, parent company of One World Sports, added: “The Chinese Super League rights secures our dominant and exclusive position in delivering the three best soccer leagues in Asia to US audiences. As with our other great soccer and sport products, the CSL will be available live on TV, broadband and mobile to U.S. sports fans.”

Richard Childress Racing has extended its partnership with South Point Hotel & Casino for the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series season with driver Brendan Gaughan.

“The South Point Hotel & Casino is pleased to return as primary sponsor of the Richard Childress Racing No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro in the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series season.” said Michael Gaughan, owner of the South Point Hotel & Casino. “Watching Brendan and the RCR team in victory lane this season has been a lot of fun for South Point and the Gaughan family. We are looking forward to more great accomplishments next season.”

South Point Hotel & Casino’s partnership with Richard Childress Racing began in 2012 with Gaughan running a limited Nationwide Series schedule and eight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. The partnership continued in 2013 with a full time Camping World Truck Series schedule where the team finished seventh in the driver championship point standings. South Point Hotel & Casino made the full time move to the Nationwide Series for the 2014 season.

“Returning to victory lane this season has been a big morale booster for not only me but for my team as well,” said Brendan Gaughan. “For the remainder of the year we will continue to learn and find things that work to get us a leg up on the competition for next season. I can’t wait for next year with the No. 62 RCR team and to contend for the XFINITY Series championship.”

Gaughan’s two wins add to RCR’s 2014 Nationwide Series overall accomplishments, which include four victories and four pole awards.

“Michael, Brendan and the entire Gaughan family have been great to work with and I am very pleased we can continue our winning ways with them next season,” said Richard Childress, chairman and CEO of Richard Childress Racing. “Brendan is an asset to RCR and his wins this year show what hard work and dedication can achieve.”

Global sports broadcaster ESPN’s UK department has snatched British rights to the Copa America and Emirates Cup summer soccer tournaments from domestic pay television giants Sky.

This year’s Copa América and Emirates Cup will be shown on the ESPN UK channel, having both been staples of Sky Sports’ output during previous British summers.

On top of the Emirates Cup, ESPN UK has also purchased rights to all matches from the pre-season tours involving Arsenal (who will be playing in Asia), Everton (USA) and Tottenham Hotspur (South Africa).

Sky Sports has held television rights to every edition of the four team Emirates Cup to be played at Arsenal’s home stadium since its inception in 2007. This year the tournament features French Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain, Argentinean Primera División team Boca Juniors and the New York Red Bulls from Major League Soccer, alongside the English Premier League club.

The Copa América has been affiliated with Sky Sports for even longer having began their relationship in 1997. Since then, the past five editions of the South American national team tournament, equivalent to the European Championship in Europe, have been broadcast live by the British pay television network.

This year’s Copa América, Argentina 2011, will take place between Friday 1st and Sunday 24th July. The Emirates Cup will be held over the weekend of Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July.

In other news, ESPN has defined new roles for top digital media executives within the company. ESPN Executive Vice President of Content John Skipper announced that ESPN’s digital and print media operations have been consolidated under John Kosner, who will oversee ESPN The Magazine, the ESPN RISE high school publications and women’s sports content initiative espnW, as Senior Vice President of ESPN Digital and Print Media.

As part of the change, Rob King, most recently Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, Digital Media, will assume the role of Vice President, Editorial, Digital and Print Media, and will lead the editorial content of those initiatives while continuing to report to Kosner. Patrick Stiegman, formerly ESPN.com Executive Editor, is now Editor-in-Chief of ESPN.com. Stiegman and Chad Millman, who was recently named Editor-in-Chief of ESPN The Magazine, will both report to King.

Arqiva has renewed a three-year deal with ATP Media, the broadcast rights and production arm of the ATP World Tour, to supply live global distribution of a number of ATP World Tour properties – including the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, and the ATP World Tour 500 series – in high definition

According to an official press release the communications and media services company will provide “the satellite capacity an teleport services to bring the live feeds from the tournaments, which take place in venues all around th world, and turn them around onto a range of satellites for global distribution to Europe, Asia and the Americas.”

Steve Plasto, ATP Media chief executive, stated: “ATP Media is now the world’s largest producer and distributor of high definition tennis and, having worked closely with Arqiva for the past three years, I am delighted that they will be continuing to support our coverage. High definition distribution takes the fans’ enjoyment of the tour to the next level and Arqiva has provided us with all the capacity and flexibility to support this move.”

Arqiva commercial director, Malcolm Campbell added: “The ATP World Tour has a huge following and Arqiva is proud to play a central role in ensuring that fans all around the world can enjoy the matches as they happen. Broadcasters like ATP Media demand robust teleport infrastructure and access to extensive global satellite coverage to simplify the successful distribution of these high-profile events from multiple locations.”

Team Penske has reached a multi-year extension agreement with the Wurth Group to continue as a key partner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS).

Under the terms of the new agreement, for sale Wurth will be a primary sponsor of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Fusion for three 2015 NSCS races and Wurth will once again serve as an associate sponsor for the balance of the season on the No. 2 Ford.

After initially joining forces for the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series season, stuff Wurth and Team Penske took their partnership to a new level this year with Wurth stepping up as a primary sponsor of the No. 2 Ford driven by 2012 NSCS champion Brad Keselowski for select races. A leading supplier of high-quality automotive and industrial parts, pills cabinet supplies and fasteners that includes more than 40,000 customers across the nation, The Wurth Group will continue to support Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske Ford team moving forward.

“We are proud of the relationship that Team Penske has built with Wurth over the last three seasons,” said Roger Penske. “Wurth has experienced great success with our teams and we will work with them to build on our accomplishments with Brad and the No. 2 Ford.”

The Wurth Group first became involved in NASCAR racing through its partnership with Team Penske, but the company has been involved in motorsports since 1982, serving as a partner in both the DTM and Formula One racing series.

“Our business has enjoyed the association with Team Penske,” said Robert Stolz, CEO of Wurth Line North America. “From our events at the race track to our products used in the team’s state-of-the-art racing facility – Wurth has been truly integrated with Team Penske and our partnership has exceeded expectations. We look forward to growing our business and the relationship even further over the coming years.”

The No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion has produced a pair of top-two finishes among four starts in 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition and Keselowski continues the pursuit of his second series championship in the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup with a series-leading six victories.

“It has been great to have Wurth on board the No. 2 Ford this year,” said Keselowski. “One of the things that stands out about our relationship with Wurth is that not only do I see their name and colors on our cars – I see their products being put to good use in our race shop. I think that says a lot about our relationship and they have been a big part of our success this season.”