French channel SFR Sport announced on Monday that it “acquired the French broadcast rights for the Portuguese Cup and the Portuguese League Cup for this season.” SFR Sport 1 and 2 will broadcast three live matches per matchday of Portugal’s Primeira Liga (L’ÉQUIPE, 11/28).
L’Équipe’s broadcast of the first day of the ’16-17 Biathlon World Cup in Östersund, Sweden, drew an average audience of 482,000 viewers. The single mixed relay event was won by Marie Dorin-Habert and Martin Fourcade, both of France. The event drew a peak audience of 564,000 for the channel (L’Équipe).
Eurosport 1 HD will "become available on German DTH platform HD+ via Astra (19.2° East) on December 1, 2016." The HD version of the sports channel has "so far been carried exclusively by Sky Deutschland for DTH households." Eurosport 1 HD will remain available on Sky Deutschland. By dropping its exclusive carriage on Sky Deutschland, Eurosport 1 HD further expands its reach. The channel earlier "announced its decision to drop exclusive cable carriage on the Sky platform" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 11/28).
A draft law that will "limit the level of foreign ownership in Russian OTT services to 20% is now with the country's State Duma." Kommersant reported "it will impact services" whose daily audience in a month exceeds 100,000, or 20,000 in any one region of the country. It will therefore affect Ivi, Okko and Megogo, three of Russia's leading OTT platforms, which have market shares of 31%, 19% and 10%, respectively (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 11/28).
Motors TV founder Jean-Lu Roy said that it is "business as usual with benefits" for both audiences and suppliers. It follows last week’s announcement that "the channel was being acquired by Miami-based Motorsport Network." There had been suggestions that the channel "might drop its linear channels in favor of OTT delivery alone." Roy said, "Our linear output is the heart of our business and will remain so, all that will change is that we will upscale to HD in early 2017." However, a new OTT platform will launch "early" in '17 and the company's name will change to Motorsport.tv in the first quarter of '17 (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 11/25).
The European Broadcasting Union confirmed additional free-to-air coverage agreements for the inaugural multi-sport European Championships in Berlin and Glasgow in '18. In an update to the recent European Championships Board in Rome, the EBU, which holds the broadcast rights on all platforms, said over 35 of its members have now signed up to show the first edition in Aug. '18 (European Athletics).
Mexico's Federal Bureau of Consumer Interests (PROFECO) fined Chivas TV 5.68M Mexican pesos ($275,000) "due to failures in service and changes in its contract without notifying subscribers." PROFECO said in a statement that the fine "follows a process initiated on Aug. 12 after reports of broadcast issues" during the July 23 Liga MX game between Chivas and Monterrey (LA AFICIÓN, 11/28).
