Fox strikes European Major League Baseball deal

Fox International Channels has acquired European rights to the Major League Baseball series.

The channels group has been aggressively buying up sports rights and launching channels recently.

The MLB deal gives FIC rights to games across 30 European countries and will start with the 2013 World Series, featuring the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals, which will air live in various markets.

FIC will show regular season games and other competitions and matches including the All Star Game. There will be wraparound baseball programming from MLB and Fox in the US.

Paul Archey, senior VP of international business operations, Major League Baseball, said: “This deal exemplifies the growing popularity of baseball across Europe and will provide increased access to telecasts for our many passionate fans.”

“FIC’s new partnership with Major League Baseball International underscores our strategy to build a premier sports rights portfolio that we can leverage across multiple territories on our different TV channels distributed in Europe,” said Diego Londoño,  COO of FIC Europe& Africa.

The deal comes after FIC picked up European rights to NFL American football. It has also been picking up soccer rights as part of a major push into sports in Europe.