Chinese sports agency Shankai Sports "secured the new media rights to Euro 2020 for mainland China, with just under four years to go until the tournament kicks off." According to Yutang Sports, the agency, which was granted UEFA's exclusive Chinese hospitality rights for Euro 2016, "also operated the Chinese version of the Euro 2016 website and the official Sina Weibo account." Shankai also announced that it was granted sponsorship sales rights to int'l football tournaments through two cycles from '15-22, "and sales rights for digital media from 2019 through to 2022" (GB TIMES, 8/1).
MAKING A TRANSFER: Middle East broadcaster MBC Group "is transferring its channels to the Arabsat satellite platform through a strategic partnership with the satellite operator." MBC and Arabsat said that "some channels would be exclusive to Arabsat." MBC Pro Sports, which airs coverage of Saudi Arabian League football, "will start broadcasting on Arabsat" as of Monday with the live broadcast of the Saudi Super Cup (DIGITAL TV EUROPE, 8/2).
YOUKU WINS RIGHTS: Alibaba's wholly-owned video platform Youku announced that it "acquired the internet media rights to the 2016 Rio Olympics." This news "follows Tencent's announcement of acquiring similar rights, distributed by CCTV 5, the media rights holder of the Rio Olympics in China." Though the financial terms of the deals "have not been disclosed," it is thought to be worth 100M yuan ($15M) each (YUTANG SPORTS, 8/2).
SPECIAL OFFER: Scottish Premiership side Celtic’s "crucial second leg encounter with Astana will be broadcast exclusively live through Celtic TV." Rather than sell the match to a TV broadcaster, Celtic "decided to offer the game to fans" as part of its online subscription service.
Typically, Celtic TV streams live coverage of matches for supporters outside of the U.K. and Ireland. However, this match "will be available to all subscribers regardless of location" (SCOTSMAN, 8/2).
MEDIA BRIEFS ...
Lagardère Sports signed an exclusive deal with the VTB United League to sell the media broadcasting rights for the annual European basketball league worldwide (excluding participating countries). The multi-year deal will run for three seasons from '16-17 to '18-19.
VTB United League was established in '08 under the umbrella of the Russian Basketball Federation and has been sponsored by VTB Bank (Vneshtorgbank) since its beginning (Lagardère).
LeSports HK officially launched in Hong Kong Monday. The new sports channel is in collaboration with OTT services and produces comprehensive and diversified sports content especially for Hong Kongers. The new sports channels under LeSports HK will feature a 24-hour sports news channel, a sports variety channel and a Chinese Super League channel (LeSports).
