Latest in TV Rights

This could come as a helmet to the ribs of the uber-lucrative NFL broadcasting-streaming game and the notion of sponsorship vs. rights deals. Not to mention possibly expanding the broader sports world's ever-growing "TV everywhere" game plan. Verizon today finalized a $1B extension of its deal with America's dominant…

A U.S. Bankruptcy judge today set December 7 to kick off a two-day hearing about whether the Los Angeles Dodgers can begin marketing the team’s lucrative future local TV rights, which Fox Sports holds through the end of the 2013 baseball season. Fox already has sued the Dodgers to block any early rights sale. The…

If Frank McCourt’s fight to remain owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers seemed long and arduous, it was — after all, he had to fight his ex-wife Jamie with one hand and baseball commissioner Bud Selig with the other. If the end of that fight seemed to come fast and easy, well, it kinda did. Here’s the release from Major Le…

UPDATE: 12:45 PM: The Sports Business Daily is reporting that Fox will pay $450 million-$500 million for rights to the next two World Cups, and Telemundo will pay $600 million. If true, those are massive markups from the last U.S. rights deal in 2005, when ESPN paid $100 million and Univision $325 million. PREVIOUS, 9…

The Los Angeles Dodgers today asked the judge in their bankruptcy case to let them auction off their local TV rights for the 2014 season and beyond. The team said the sports rights market was “vibrant” now and they wanted to try to cut a deal “to avoid any risk of deterioration in value.” Prior to their bankruptcy…

Fox Sports and mixed-martial arts league UFC have just finalized a multi-year deal that will put at least four primetime MMA cards on the Fox network each year and weekly programming on cable sibling FX. The Sports Business Journal says the deal could be worth as much as $90 million a year over seven or eight years; Fo…

FX’s buying spree of marquee summer movie titles continues with deals for comedies Friends With Benefits and Horrible Bosses. Additionally, the network has the rights to current No. 1 opener Captain America: The First Avenger under FX’s 2008 output deal with Marvel. The three movies join recent acquisitions Transformer…

HBO has inked a deal for North American TV rights to Martin Scorsese’s documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World, which will debut on the network in two parts on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6. The doc explores the musical and spiritual life of the ex-Beatle and cultural icon, mostly in Harrison’s own words. It’s…

FX is continuing its strategy of dealing for every movie ever made. This time, the network has landed commercial TV premiere rights to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which just wrapped the highest-grossing Fourth of July opening of all time over the weekend and has grossed $181.1 million domestic to date. Last week…

ESPN has acquired all U.S. broadcast rights to Wimbledon, the network announced today, outbidding NBC, which has televised tennis’ highest-profile tournament for the past 43 years and the men’s and women’s finals for the past 32 years. The 12-year deal begins with next year’s event and all the coverage will be live…

The Delaware court that is sorting out the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chapter 11 filing has authorized the team to enter into a $150 million bankruptcy financing arrangement that will allow owner Frank McCourt to meet the Dodgers’ payroll obligations this week. The deal came together today as Major League Baseball dropped…

FX has closed a deal for the commercial TV premiere rights to Bad Teacher, the Sony comedy starring Cameron Diaz that bowed to $31 million during the weekend and finished second overall at the domestic box office behind Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2. The deal adds to a growing list of top features due for broadcast on the…