UEFA "has pledged to investigate the problem of signal overspilling after German broadcaster ZDF aired the Champions League qualifier between Bayer Leverkusen and Lazio on its free to air channel, accessible to Italian viewers, even though Mediaset has exclusive rights to broadcast Champions League games in Italy." The game "proved to be a double blow to Mediaset, because not only did Lazio fail to qualify for the tournament but ZDF pledged to continue offering live coverage of the Champions League via its FTA satellite channel, available to Sky Italia viewers on channel 546" (TELECOM PAPER, 8/31). ... The Modern Times Group "has finalised a deal for Turtle Entertainment, the Cologne-based e-sports specialist."
Turtle "owns the ESL online games league, which is popular with online viewers." Its diet of online games leagues and competitions includes the ESL One and Intel Extreme Masters "has attracted over 70 million unique viewers over the last 12 months."
MTG announced "it was buying Turtle in July." Its majority stake "is being acquired from financial investors and the company’s founders" for €78M ($86.8M) in cash (DIGITAL TV EUROPE, 9/1). ... PPTV Sports, an online sports streaming platform based in Shanghai, has reportedly secured a three-year deal "for the rights to live broadcast UEFA Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Super Cup within China." Under the deal, PPTV Sports will live screen matches of the European football competitions via its various channels from '15-16 until '17-18, "including 145 UEFA Champions League matches alongside 205 Europa League matches" each season (YUTANG SPORTS, 9/2).
