Tuesday, 12th December 2006

INFO DIGEST

Cycling, Aquatics & Water Sports Events at Doha 2006 - Did You Know?
* Track Cycling: In the semi-finals of the 1,000m ‘cat and mouse’ sprint at the Tokyo Olympics, two sprinters tested each other’s resolve by waiting motionless on the track for 22 minutes for the other to make a move. There is now a 3-minute time limit.
* Road Cycling: When a team allows its leaders to be shielded from the wind and ride in their “slipstream” during a road race, the rider can save about 20 percent of their energy.
* Swimming & Water Polo: Swimmers use more muscles than any other athlete except cross country skiers and water polo players can swim up to 2.4km during a game.
* Diving & Synchronised Swimming: Synchronised swimmers can hold their breath for up to two minutes when performing complex routines, while divers in the 10m platform event often balance on their hands at the edge of the platform for several seconds before taking the plunge.
* Canoe & Kayak: The first kayaks were constructed from stitched animal skins, such as seal, stretched over a wooden frame. Because the user was sewn in, the boat was almost like a piece of clothing ‘worn’ by the boater.
* Rowing: The victors of many sea battles were those who could out-manoeuvre their opponents on the water. The Athenians frequently won because ancient warships powered by up to 170 oarsmen, such as Trireme, were used to ram enemy ships at great speeds.
* Sailing: Doha 2006 is partnering with yachtsman Tony Bullimore in his attempt to break the solo, non-stop around the world sailing record. The Englishman will try to break the 70-day barrier in his 102-foot catamaran – Doha 2006 – which will act as a traveling billboard for the 15th Asian Games.
Source: Doha 2006 Gold Magazine

Info Box – Global IT Spending Statistics
* Asia-Pacific IT spending by manufacturing companies to reach $22 bln by 2010
* Asia-Pacific processing services to grow at 8% a year
* Asia-Pacific value-added managed services market to grow 18.5% in 2006
* Indian SMBs to spend $500 mln on servers and networking in 2006
* Media industry generated 1.3 trillion worldwide in 2005, 43% in North America
* Public sector IT spending in China to reach $6.5 bln in 2006
* Value-added managed services in Asia-Pacific to grow 18.5% in 2006
* Asia-Pacific IT spending to reach $52 bln in 2007
Source: Info IQ


SPORTS SHORTS

* Malaysia’s Astro All Asia Networks, parent company of the Astro DTH platform and Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures, has named former BSkyB executive Robert Odendaal as CEO, effective February 1, 2007. Ralph Marshall will relinquish his position as group CEO and assume the role of executive deputy chairman. Odendaal was at BSkyB from 1996 to 2003. He was also president and CEO of Bell Mobility and Bell Distribution, following a stint as president and CEO of Bell Video Group (including Bell ExpressVu). Source: Worldscreen, 11th December 2006

* The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) plans to return to China for an event to be shown on CCTV in September 2007. The first major competition in China, the Global Cup, was held two years ago in Shantou and shown on CCTV, who produced the coverage. Matchroom Television produced the international edit and distributed highlights in its darts package. That inaugural event featured 8 of the world’s top players, had China Telecom as a title sponsor and PDC is now seeking a sponsor for the 2007 event. Source: Sports Media, 11th December 2006

* Euroleague Basketball, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and Infront Sports & Media have reached a partnership agreement to bring European professional basketball to Asia. The agreement calls for games, clinics and several other exchanges between the parties, to be highlighted by the first Euroleague Basketball / Team China Tournament, between a Euroleague Basketball team and the Chinese National Basketball Team, in October 2007. Source: Sports e-Media, 11th December 2006

* Al Jazeera bought Red Bee Media’s sports technology Piero, in time for its coverage of the Asian Games. Al Jazeera is based in Doha (Qatar), where the Games are now taking place. Piero enables viewers to see sporting action from angles that are not captured by cameras. Al Jazeera Sport will use Piero to enhance its coverage of the football competition. Earlier this year Piero was also adopted by Sky Italia, Hong Kong Cable, TV Globo in Brazil, ITV in the UK and ITI Neovision in Poland. Source: Sports Media, 11th December 2006

* The Score Television Network has acquired the exclusive television rights to English Premier League (EPL) football in Canada for the three seasons starting in 2007-08. Network owner Score Media Inc. said the rights fee for the three-year term is US$3.15 million. The Score Television Network reaches more than 5.9 million homes. Rogers Sportsnet currently carries a showcase of live EPL matches on Saturday, Fox Sports World shows live matches on Sunday morning and Monday afternoon. Source: Sports Media, 11th December 2006

* Manchester United will play against Europe XI to commemorate the 50th anniversaries of the club's European Cup debut and the signing of the Treaty of Rome. The charity game, scheduled for March 13 next year, will be played at Old Trafford and will see a United XI take on a team of stars coached by Italy's World Cup-winning boss Marcello Lippi. Source: Football Insider, Sports e-Media, 11th December 2006


MORE NEWS

Korea/New Media: 21 million Mobile TV Users by 2012

South Korea will have 21 million users of mobile TV by 2012, based mostly on free-to-air terrestrial DMB, followed by a slowly growing base of satellite DMB users. "That's the government's estimate, but we think this is a very conservative estimate now," said Young-kil Suh, chief executive of TU Media, the sole provider of satellite DMB services in South Korea.

There are 2.5 million users of mobile TV in South Korea today. TU started its service in May 2005, and will have 1 million users by the end of 2006. It expects to hit 2.2 million users by the end of 2007, at which point it expects to break even, Suh said. TU believes it can hit 6.6 million users by 2010 and generate $1.1 billion in revenue. That breaks down to about $14 per month in average revenue per user.

Research firm Parks Associates recently estimated the United States would have more than 15 million users of mobile TV by 2010, generating $1.6 billion in revenue. Source: Advanced Television, Asia Pacific Broadcast Union, 12th December 2006

Singapore/New Media: Alcatel-Lucent Supports Singtel’s IPTV Tech Trial

Alcatel-Lucent has been selected by Singtel, a telecommunications operator based in Singapore, for its IPTV trial, which began in October this year. Based on a combination of Alcatel-Lucent’s services integration solution and Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform, the project will include broadcast TV and video on demand (VoD), with content featuring high definition (HD)-quality picture resolution.

Alcatel-Lucent will provide Singtel with an end-to-end IPTV solution and will use the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform, enabling features like instant channel change, multiple picture-in-picture and personal video recorder (PVR) functionality (such as one-touch recording and pausing live TV). The company will also provide complete services integration solutions that will bring together network infrastructure, software platforms and integration skill sets.

Alcatel-Lucent is working closely with Singtel to develop an array of useful applications, including audio support in different languages, music-on-demand, karaoke-on-demand, customer self-service (allowing users to subscribe to new services and make account modifications) and bill viewing. Source: Digital Media Asia, Advanced Television, 11th December 2006

Japan/New Media: NTT DoCoMo Form Partnership for Mobile TV

Japan’s 5 large firms; NTT DoCoMo Inc, Nippon Broadcasting System Inc, Sky Perfect Communications Inc, Fuji Television Network Inc, and Itochu Corp plan to form a partnership in television programming for mobile phones. The partnerships will promote a home-grown digital broadcast standard for mobile TV, the so-called One-Segment (or One-Seg/1-Seg), and will call on regulators to reallocate frequency bands to such services when the bandwidth currently used for analog TV will be freed up by 2011.

Free digital broadcasts for mobile phones, One-Seg, began in Japan in April this year. However, the current service is limited to simultaneous broadcasts of regular television programs. With the Communications Ministry considering the lifting of the ban in 2008 to allow mobile-phone-specific broadcasts, the new venture will produce such programming as well as services that combine shows with text broadcasting and online shopping through NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode service.

Meanwhile, NTT DoCoMo’s rival, KDDI, has an alternative plan to One-Seg. At the end of last year, the operator created a joint venture with the U.S. company Qualcomm to explore Qualcomm’s MediaFlo technology. Source: Entertainment Asia, 7th December 2006

Japan/General: Miura Regrets Lack Of Home Interest

Japanese legend, Kazuyoshi Miura has called on J.League clubs to put more focus on success in the Asian Champions League so they can face the world's best in the FIFA Club World Cup. The annual tournament, featuring champions of the game's six confederations, kicked off in Toyota on Sunday with no representative from the host nation taking part due to the continued failure of Japanese clubs in Asia's continental championship. South Korea's Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors eliminated the 2005 J.League champions Gamba Osaka from this season's Champions League and will represent Asia when it takes on Mexico's America at Tokyo's National Stadium.

Japanese clubs have failed to make an impact on the Asian Champions League since its inception in 2004. None of the nation 's participants have managed to progress beyond the initial group phase and no Japanese club has been crowned Asia's number one since Jubilo Iwata's Asian Club Championship success back in 1999. The lack of a Japanese participant in the Club World Cup has had an impact on ticket sales for the event and FIFA has in the past considered allowing a representative from the host nation to take part as a result. Source: Football Insider, 11th December 2006

Asia/New Media: Alcatel-Lucent Introduces Service in Asia Pacific

Telecom major Alcatel-Lucent has announced the availability of its managed Mobile Interactive TV service in the Asian Pacific Region. The solution will allow content and service providers to address the growing demand for interactive Mobile TV services by offering a differentiating user-centric experience to their customers based on best in class technology. The managed business model will enable them to introduce the new service quickly, cost-effectively and at low risk.

Alcatel-Lucent will deploy, host and operate the end-to-end solution whilst content and service providers will focus on developing service marketing programs and enhancing user satisfaction. The service also offers content providers an open environment for content aggregation to create interactive made-for-mobile channels. The service the firm says is providing a high quality experience for users thanks to ergonomic and intuitive navigation interfaces such as fast channel zapping and can accommodate a diverse range of handset configurations and network delivery methods such as those that are 3G circuit switched, packet switched or broadcasted. Source: Indian Television, Digital Media Asia, 11th December 2006

Asia/Business: Regional Ad Expenditure Looking Up

Asia Pacific ad expenditure is expected to grow by 7.2% in 2006 and by a further 7.4% over 2007 according to the latest forecast from Carat’s global ad expenditure figures. The Asia Pacific figures registered the most significant change to a regional forecast and were higher than global ad expenditure forecasts which were a growth of 6.0% in 2006 and a further 5.8% over 2007.

Bigger regional figures are said to be spearheaded by Japan’s market which has shown significant improvement with a near doubling of spend on PC-based and mobile internet while several countries such as China, India, Philippines, and Indonesia showed a double-digit growth. TV and magazines are expected to show solid mid-single digit increases, offsetting declines in radio and Out Of Home segments. Source: Marketing Singapore, Brand Republic, 11th December 2006

Elsewhere/Rights: Opposition Remains To Collective Sales

Centralisation of club television rights would be fatal for Italian football, according to former Italian League (Lega Calcio) president Adriano Galliani. The government is pushing forward legislation for the collective sale of rights by the Serie A clubs. Galliani said: “The law doesn’t take into account the difference in the importance of television revenue for clubs in Italy. For us, it’s 61% of the total, while in other countries it’s between 35% and 40%.” He said that some projections of the impact of collective rights sales show clubs like AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan and AS Roma losing €40 million a year in income.

Giovanni Lolli, Italy’s under-secretary of sport and youth policy, disagreed with this scenario. “Some of the TV contracts don’t expire until 2010. We will take advantage of this two or three years to focus on the stadia and the finances and the merchandising, and in the meantime we’ll prepare a plan for television rights. If the League is able to find a solution of its own, we won’t have to get involved.” Source: Sports Media, 11th December 2006

Elsewhere/Rights: TSN and RDS to Broadcast EURO 2008

TSN and RDS have secured a broadcast and multimedia agreement for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. The deal provides TSN and RDS with exclusive Canadian broadcast rights in English and French, as well as new media rights including broadband, video on mobile devices, video-on-demand and interactive TV.

Under the deal, TSN and RDS will provide multi-platform coverage of all 31 matches of the quadrennial tournament, which features the Top 16 European national soccer teams, including the final on June 29. Additional coverage includes a highlights show on match day, EURO 2008 Final Draw, magazine programs, and unlimited encores across both networks and media platforms.

The EURO 2008 deal extends TSN's and RDS's long-standing relationship with UEFA, the governing body of football on the continent of Europe. TSN has televised the past five EURO tournaments, dating back to the 1988 tourney in Germany, while RDS has televised exclusive French coverage since EURO 1996. Coverage of the EURO 2004 final on CTV, TSN and RDS set record ratings with a combined English and French national audience of 1.55 million viewers. Source: TSN Canada, 11th December 2006

Elsewhere/Business: Setanta Secures €315m Funding for Expansion Plans

Irish broadcaster Setanta has secured an extra €315m (£213m) to fund its aggressive expansion into the UK pay television market where it will compete against BSkyB. Setanta has signed financing agreements with Doughty Hanson & Co, Goldman Sachs International, Davy Stockbrokers and Adams Street Partners as funders of the deal, which is still subject to regulatory clearance in Ireland.

The financing will provide capital to cover content, operating and marketing costs as the company gears up for the launch of its new services in the UK. These services include Setanta Golf in January 2007 and coverage of the FA Premier League from August 2007. Setanta won two of the Premier League football rights packages on offer in the final round of bidding for broadcast rights.

BSkyB has four of the six available packages. Setanta paid £392m for the two packages and Sky paid £1.314bn in all for its four packages giving the Premier League a combined £1.7bn. Setanta will launch a dedicated golf television channel in the UK on January 8, after the broadcaster won the rights to broadcast the PGA Tour in June, breaking Sky Sport's 10-year hold on the event. Source: Brand Republic, Advanced Television, 11th December 2006


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

CMMR Research on China Satellite TV Coverage & Viewing Trends

China Mainland Media Research (CMMR) recently released its 8th report on Chinese satellite TV coverage and viewer dynamics, covering 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The report was based on 387 sampling locations and 13,834 valid questionnaires generated with a confidence level of 95% and a sampling error below 1%. Results were evaluated and reviewed by a number of other organizations, including the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
According to the report, there were about 228 million households that subscribed to public cable television to watch satellite TV programs. The number of digital TV subscribers went from 1.38 million households by August 2005 to 6.9 million households by 2006, a 400% increase. The promotion of satellite TV coverage has significantly increased the amount of TV channel options for the average household and satellite TV has become increasingly popular among Chinese TV viewers. The number of total viewers for a total of 56 satellite TV channels amounted to 2.3 billion, with viewers across different channels.

In terms of what sort of content Chinese viewers favor, the report shows that TV dramas were the most popular type of programming with a 74% preference rating, followed by News broadcasts with a 65.7% rating, films/movies with 46.9% rating, and Variety Show/Entertainment with a 45.9% rating. Chinese variety shows/entertainment programs are comparable to reality-based shows, celebrity-based talk shows, amateur game/contest shows, talk shows and other such genres that are typically broadcast on U.S. TV channels.

Industry experts predict that at least 100 million Chinese households will install satellite television receiving devices by 2010, and the relevant market will reach RMB 100 billion ($12 billion). China has about 400 million televisions, the majority of which are the potential subscribers to satellite television programs. Full Report: Entertainment Asia Network, 8th December 2006