German public broadcaster ARD "is negotiating about the free-to-air TV rights" for Formula 1 from the '18 season. ARD is competing with commercial broadcaster RTL, which has been showing F1 since '91, according to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. RTL's contract "ends after the current season." ARD did not "want to comment on the issue, arguing that the rights tender was still running" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 7/20).
The "epic" quarterfinal between Briton Johanna Konta and Romanian Simona Halep "drew a record peak audience for a Wimbledon women's match on BBC television." Some 7.4 million, 1 million more than the peak audience for the men's final, watched Konta win and "become the first British woman to reach the last four in nearly 40 years" (REUTERS, 7/20).
Saturday's Liga MX game between Lobos BUAP and Santos Laguna was not broadcast on TV "as no deal was reached with any of the broadcasters capable of airing the match." This had not occurred in Mexico since five years ago, "when León did not sign a deal with TV Azteca" (MARCA, 7/22).
BeIN Media Group extended its rights deal in the Middle East and North Africa region for the Champions League and Europa League "for a further three years." BeIN "will continue to be the region’s exclusive broadcaster" for the competitions through the '20-21 season. The matches will be broadcast on the group’s 20 channels, which offer commentary in Arabic, English, French and Spanish (SOCCEREX, 7/21).
Eleven Sports agreed to a deal with esports company Gfinity to bring live and exclusive action from the Elite Series to fans across all seven of its markets. Gfinity’s Elite Series brings together eight professional franchises competing across three games: Street Fighter V, Counterstrike:GO and Rocket League (Eleven Sports).
German media and technology company Wige Media will change its name to Sporttotal, the name of the sports streaming portal it launched in January (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 7/20).
ASEAN-focused OTT live streaming sports platform Sportsfix acquired the rights to the Chinese Super League in Malaysia. Owned by SF Media Holdings, Sportsfix is ASEAN's first and only live and VOD sports content OTT platform (RAPID TV NEWS, 7/22).