US sports broadcast market heats up

21st Century Fox’s new national US sports channel FOX Sports 1 (launching August 17) has secured a 12-year broadcast rights deal to bring major golf to FOX Sports from 2015. The new agreement will see the FOX network and FOX Sports 1 become the principal domestic media partner of the USGA and the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s… Continue reading US sports broadcast market heats up

Olympics to drive 21st Century Fox in the sub-continent

21st Century Fox’s subscription-TV business STAR India has been awarded the broadcast rights by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games and the Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing next year. While 21st Century Fox’s US business FOX missed out on the last… Continue reading Olympics to drive 21st Century Fox in the sub-continent

Foxtel-Austar merger makes sense

Foxtel’s proposed merger with Austar took another step in the right direction last week when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions (ACCC) commenced market consultations over Foxtel’s draft undertakings. Foxtel has provided the ACCC with undertakings in order to allay ACCC concerns that a merged company would hamper competition in the IPTV market. Foxtel and Austar, along… Continue reading Foxtel-Austar merger makes sense

Sky Sports renews English Cricket rights until 2017

The English Cricket Board (ECB) today announced that the UK’s Sky Sports has been awarded the rights to continue broadcasting live international and county cricket in the UK exclusively until the end of the 2017 English summer. There is also an option for Sky Sports to extend the deal for an additional two years, which would cover Australia’s… Continue reading Sky Sports renews English Cricket rights until 2017

A Local Version of Hulu is Needed

We reported earlier in the year that leading US online catch-up TV service HULU had applied for registration of its trademark in Australia, fuelling speculation of an Australian launch of the service some time in the near future. HULU is jointly owned by US media companies NBC Universal (Comcast), News Corporation & The Walt Disney Company and has around 260 partners… Continue reading A Local Version of Hulu is Needed

Aussie TV needs Hulu to stop pirates

The digital content distribution market in Australia is hopefully about to become a lot more interesting. According to a report by Asher Moses in Fairfax Newspapers, the US online catch-up TV service Hulu is preparing to launch in Australia with or without the support of Seven, Nine and Ten. This is good news for content owners… Continue reading Aussie TV needs Hulu to stop pirates

Disney Dances with CASPA!

Yesterday’s deal between Hybrid TV and Disney Media Distribution confirmed that the next decade is the decade of choice for the consumer. The agreement, Disney’s first foray into a Video on Demand in the Southern Hemisphere, will lift Hybrid TV’s CASPA On-Demand offering to over 200 programs and 2000 hours of TV viewing on-demand. CASPA… Continue reading Disney Dances with CASPA!