Fox Sports Asia renewed its broadcast deal with Tennis Australia for the Australian Open for another four years until '21. The renewal of linear TV and OTT/digital rights "covers 17 countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the Philippines." The agreement also includes tournaments in the Australian Open Series -- Sydney Int'l (ATP), Brisbane Int'l (ATP), the Hopman Cup, the World Tennis Challenge and the Laver Cup (MARKETING INTERACTIVE, 1/10).
Lagardère "wants to launch a streaming service for sports fans in Germany." Lagardère Sports Germany applied for a license for a "nationwide thematic channel at local media authority MA HSH for this purpose." Anti-media concentration commission KEK "approved the project carrying the working title Lagardère Sports at its latest assembly in Berlin." The streaming service will "solely contain" live streams of sports events, according to KEK (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 1/10).
Discovery Channel announced plans to move its global HQ to New York. It plans to leave its current HQ in Silver Spring, Maryland, in favor of New York City in '19, "subject to the completion of the company’s acquisition of Scripps." Discovery will also establish a national operations HQ at Scripps’ current campus in Knoxville, Tennessee, "while maintaining its Maryland Network Hub and Northern Virginia Technology Hub" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 1/10).
Twitter launched its #BlueRoomSG live question and answer series, which "aims to bring more conversation fodder for sports fans in the Asia Pacific region." This is in line with the social media platform's push "to become the live sports content provider of choice" in APAC before Amazon "sinks its teeth fully into the region." The inaugural #BlueRoom session for the '18 series in Singapore will kick off with MMA organization ONE Championship Founder & CEO Chatri Sityodtong (THE DRUM, 1/9).
