Doha - Qatar-based regional broadcast giant al-Jazeera's sport channel on Tuesday announced it had sealed a deal to purchase its Saudi-owned rival Arab Radio and Televison (ART)'s sports channel. Al-Jazeera now owns the ART sports network's brand and all its exclusive rights to broadcast sporting events, al-Jazeera Sports' general director, Nasser al-Khulaifi, announced at a Doha press conference alongside ART managers.
The purchase makes al-Jazeera the undisputed leader in sport broadcasting for the Arab world.
The network will now have exclusive rights in the Arab world to broadcast the 2010 and 2014 World Cup football matches, the 2010 and 2016 African Cup of Nations, all Spanish, Italian, Saudi national league matches, the UEFA European Nations and Champions League football championships in 2012 and 2016.
Al-Khulaifi declined to disclose how much the network had paid for its rival, saying the two parties had agreed to keep this information secret in the course of the the three-year-long negotiations that produced Tuesday's deal.
