Eleven Sports signed an agreement to bring the World Baseball Classic to fans in Taiwan. The 2017 World Baseball Classic -- the fourth edition of the tournament -- takes place from March 6-22 in Japan, Mexico, South Korea and the U.S., with the finals hosted at Dodger Stadium in L.A. from March 20-22. Eleven Sports acquired exclusive media rights in Taiwan for the '17 event, and will show up to 45 live tournament games on its Eleven Sports platform (Eleven Sports).
Lagardère Sports has been reappointed as the host broadcaster for the Scottish Open Badminton Grand Prix which takes place at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow. The agency also renewed its contract for the worldwide media distribution, with both deals covering the '17-19 editions (Lagardère Sports).
France's Vivendi "denied on Saturday it was discussing a cross-ownership deal with telecom operator Orange, insisting that any potential talks between the two groups were focused on its pay-TV unit Canal Plus." Earlier reports in French newsletter Lettre de l'Expansion and newspaper Le Figaro described the scenario of a cross-ownership deal between Orange and Vivendi. A Vivendi spokesperson said, "If talks are taking place, it's between Orange and Canal Plus." Talks between Orange and Canal Plus so far "have concerned a potential acquisition by Orange of a stake in Vivendi's pay-TV group, but no deal has been reached yet" (REUTERS, 12/10).
The Altice Group has “decided to end its tennis-dedicated channel MCS Tennis.” The channel was launched in ’13 after acquiring the rights to the women’s circuit WTA, and “also shows several ATP tournaments.” The decision to end the channel “was taken after losing the rights to the top women’s tournaments” to beIN Sports (MEDIA SPORTIF, 12/9).
With a 1.5% market share, L’Équipe’s TV channel “recorded its best-rated weekend of the season.” The record “was made possible with the help” of the Biathlon World Cup drawing a peak audience of 737,000 viewers on Saturday (L’ÉQUIPE, 12/12).