FIBA Inks Digital Content Provider -- Sponsor Spotlight

(ATR) Rights to the next four International Basketball Federation’s World Cup cycles will be distributed by Perform.

Perform will help create FIBA Media, which will be in charge of securing rights for FIBA tournaments, along with the broadcasting of those rights over multiple platforms. The value of Perform’s investment is estimated to be around $560 million according to a release from FIBA.

Over 5,000 live men’s and women’s basketball matches will be included in the 16-year arrangement. The partnership coincides with the beginning of FIBA’s new competition cycle in 2017 and will run through 2033.

In addition to securing media rights and packaging broadcasts, Peform will collect and distribute all data from FIBA matches.

"We want to grow its properties through investment in production, sales and distribution to ensure fans around the world have access to the full portfolio of FIBA games on all platforms," Simon Denyer, Perform chief executive, said in a statement.

"Basketball has long been a major focus for Perform and FIBA is a fantastic partner that continues to evolve the game globally. FIBA and Perform's strategies are perfectly aligned."

BBC and Discovery Strike Olympic Broadcast Deal

Fears the BBC might lose the rights to broadcast the 2022 and 2024 Olympics free-to-air have been banished after the U.K. broadcaster inks a deal with Discovery Communications.

Already with the rights for Rio 2016, PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020, the sub-licensing deal means the BBC is also home to the Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2024 Summer Games.

Under the agreement, the BBC gets exclusive free-to-air audio-visual and non-exclusive radio rights. In return, Discovery will sub-license from the BBC exclusive pay-TV rights in the U.K. to the 2018 and 2020 Olympics.

For the BBC, the Olympics is one of the most highly valued sporting events. More than 50 million people in the U.K. watched coverage of the London 2012 Olympics on the BBC. Seven million people in Britain accessed the BBC website every day, with 111 million requests for video throughout the Games.

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Curling Title Sponsor

The 2016 World Junior Curling championships have a title sponsor.

VoIP Defender, a division of 5SN Communications, will sponsor the championships held from Mar. 5-13 in Copenhagen, Denmark. According to the World Curling Federation president Kait Caithness it will be the first title sponsor for a world junior championship.

"Our involvement in this event follows many years of support and enjoyment of this team sport," Daniel Field, Chairman of 5SN Communications, said in a statement.

"We look forward to watching the competition among these young participants, and the future growth of World Curling itself."

First LA 2024 Sponsor

Banking services for the Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Olympics will be handled by Banc of California.

Los Angeles is currently one of four cities vying to host the 2024 Games along with Budapest, Paris, and Rome.

Bid chairman Casey Wasserman said partnering with Banc of California will help the group showcase "the best of Los Angeles," as the bid process continues until September 2017.

Gymnastics Renews Bank

VTB will continue to sponsor the International Gymnastics Federation through 2016.

The Russian bank has worked with FIG since 2009, and as part of the renewal will donate $1 million to be used as development funds to continental associations according to a release from the federation.

Bruno Grandi, FIG president, called VTB a "loyal partner," during the signing ceremony on Feb. 1 thanking the bank for its contribution.

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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