Wednesday, 13th December 2006

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Measat-3 Takes to the Skies

MALAYSIA’S most advanced RM1 billion Measat-3 satellite blasted off at dawn yesterday from a Russian-operated Cosmodrome in this remote Kazhak area which also fired the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space in 1961. Measat 3, which carries a payload of 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band, is the biggest satellite launched so far by owners Measat Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd which also has Measat 1 and Measat 2 already in operation. The new satellite has a 15-year orbit mission life and will change the lives of Malaysians and alter the landscape of the regional satellite business.

Measat-3’s launch had been delayed since the middle of last year due to a variety reasons, among them unavailability of a slot for its launch and manufacturing delays at Boeing Satellite Systems in Los Angeles. Measat-3, which cost US$220 million (RM779 million) to build will join the existing Measat-1 and Measat-2 owned by Measat Satellite Systems to cater to increasing demand for satellite services in Malaysia, Indonesia, South Asia and Africa. The launch cost US$50 million and the insurance cover US$32 million. Source: The New Straits Times, Bernama, The Star, The Star, NASA Spaceflight, People’s Daily Online, Epicos, Sun Herald Mississippi, The Edge Malaysia, Indian Television, Asia Pacific Broadcast Union, 13th December 2006

New Bird Flies for Measat

Dawn is not exactly the time Paul Brown-Kenyon would have chosen for the Satellite Party of the Year. But, given the delays and frustrations of the part 18 months, satellite company Measat’s chief operating officer was not letting the early morning call mar grand-scale celebrations. At 6.15am on Tuesday, December 12, Brown-Kenyon and 1,000 of his closest business associates gathered in Kuala Lumpur to witness the launch of the new Measat-3 satellite live via satellite. The event was also streamed live to Measat’s website.

Originally supposed to go up in June 2005, Measat-3 will be co-located with Measat-1 at 91.5 degrees East, and will provide 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band high-powered transponders. The Ku-band payload has been designed to provide “high-powered, flexible service options for the development of direct-to-home applications across Malaysia, Indonesia and South Asia”, Measat said.

The most significant impact of the launch for programmers in the region is the additional channel capacity. Sister company Astro, which has more than two million subscribers to its pay-TV platform, has promised about 50 new channels from Measat-3. Although the focus is on local channels, the new capacity gives international programmers their best shot yet at Malaysia’s highest-value television viewers.

Longer term, Measat plans to develop the 16 orbital slots to which it has the right in terms of an agreement with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). “Some of those slots are in very valuable areas, where there is a lack of slots for new satellites, especially in the Middle East and Africa,” Brown-Kenyon says. Discussions with potential partners to develop the slots are ongoing, he adds, stressing the joint venture intention. A timetable for the new slot development has not been set. Source: Content Asia, 13th December 2006

FIFA Executives Sacked After Sponsorship Controversy

FIFA fired its director of marketing and TV and three others in the division on Tuesday for dishonest sponsorship negotiations. Jerome Valcke, Tom Houseman, Robert Lampman and Stefan Schuster were let go following a ruling in a US court that said MasterCard could sponsor the 2010 and 2014 World Cups because FIFA didn't play fair when it awarded the rights to credit card rival Visa when the court judgement identified them as having seriously misled the credit card company..

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has wasted no time in wielding the axe in an attempt to limit the damage of the court verdict and a FIFA statement read: "The FIFA employees who had conducted negotiations with VISA and MasterCard were accused of repeated dishonesty during negotiations and of giving false information to the FIFA-deciding bodies in question.

Last Thursday, a federal court judge in New York blamed FIFA for misleading Mastercard, which had a right of first refusal after sponsoring the 2006 tournament in Germany. FIFA said it is considering lodging an appeal against the court's judgment, while also seeking suitable solutions for all parties involved. Source: Associated Press quoted in The Daily Telegraph Australia, Sporting News, News also appearing in Sporting Life, The Scotsman, The Independent UK, World Soccer, Marketing Week UK, International Herald Tribune, USA Today, 12thDecember 2006

A meeting between Blatter and VISA's president Christopher Rodrigues took place in January 2005 where Blatter expressed support for a potential partnership but Valcke admitted to the court that he lied when he told VISA vice-president Tom Shepard on 9 March "that it was Mr Blatter's wish that VISA get the sponsorship". Additional Source: EUFootball.biz, 12th December 2006

As previous sponsors of the World Cup finals, MasterCard successfully demonstrated they had a right of first refusal on any future arrangements. In her ruling, judge Loretta Preska said the FIFA negotiators had 'lied repeatedly to MasterCard', including when they assured the company that FIFA 'would not sign a deal for the post-2006 sponsorship rights with anyone else unless it could not reach agreement with MasterCard.' Visa announced in April it had signed an eight-year deal with FIFA, which sources said was worth up to 200 million pounds ($392.3 million). Additional Source from Reuters quoted in ESPN Soccernet, CNN, Guardian Unlimited, 12thDecember 2006


INFO DIGEST

Info Box – Mobile Statistics
* 254.9 million mobile phones sold worldwide in Q3 2006
* $667 billion spent on mobile services by year-end 2006 worldwide
* 1.1 billion mobile phones to sell in 2007
* 48 million ultra low cost mobile phones to ship in 2007
* 11.4 million fixed mobile convergence users in China by 2010
* 4 billion mobile subscribers worldwide by 2010
* 405 million mobile subscribers in India by 2010
* Mobile video to become a $6 billion industry by 2011
* 11% of mobile phones sold today can display video
* 78% of mobile subscribers in Asia-Pacific are in China, India and Korea
* An average 10-year-old will spend $30k on mobile services over lifetime
* More than 15% of people carry two wireless phones
Source: Info IQ


SPORTS SHORTS

* China Central Television (CCTV) has launched its mobile TV service. In cooperation with the country's two mobile carriers, CCTV will present more than 400 featured programmes bundled in packages at various price levels. It will also contact international and local TV stations to develop more content for the consumers. Users will be able to sample the service for free during the Doha Asia Games. China now has more than 440 million mobile phone users. Source: Advanced Television, 13th December 2006

* Uefa has appointed SportFive to represent media rights to Euro 2008 in Asia. The deal, announced on Dec. 8, excludes the Indian subcontinent, where Uefa has tied up with ESPN Star Sports, and Hong Kong, where PCCW’s Now TV pay-TV platform has rights. Uefa said in a statement that this was the first time it had entered into direct negotiations with broadcasters for distribution of the games. Source: Content Asia, 13th December 2006

* ESPN STAR Sports and Caltex have partnered to launch Caltex Score Today, a bulletin that aims to provide sports viewers with a quick update on the latest sports news. The two-minute bulletin will feature sports news from around the globe, presented three times in the morning and three times in the evening, five days a week. It will be hosted by STAR Sports personalities such as Paula Malai Ali, Charlie Webster, Jamie Yeo and newcomers Erin Ade and Drinie Aguilar. Source: Marketing Singapore, 12th December 2006

* Qatar’s Olympic bid officials say they will keep fighting to host the Summer Games – even if their hopes of staging the 2016 event fall flat. Doha has been put forward as one of the candidate cities to host the event, and with the success of the current Asian Games, officials are keen to capitalise on its growing status on the sporting calendar. Secretary general of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said: “We will keep trying until maybe we win one time.” Source: Sport Business, 12th December 2006

* Two years of work reached fruition on Monday with publication of the unique Manchester United Opus. The Opus was officially launched by Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Alex Ferguson in London. It chronicles the history of Manchester United, dating back to 1880. Each Opus measures half a metre square, weighs over 37kg and its 850 pages include 400,000 words and 2,000 images, all commissioned by leading sports writers and award-winning photographers. The print run extends to 10,000, all of which will be signed by Sir Alex and Sir Bobby, with each Opus costing £3,000. Source: Sports Media, 12th December 2006

* England are set to kick-off their new era at the all-new Wembley Stadium against old foe Germany. German coach Joachim Loew appeared to let slip news his side would face England on August 22, 2007, in a friendly. The match would be the first international fixture to be staged at the venue since its multi-million dollar rebuild. However, the English FA have refused to confirm the date or match. Germany were the last opponents England faced at the old Wembley in 2000 – inflicting a 1-0 defeat on them. Source: Sport Business, 12th December 2006


MORE NEWS

Malaysia/Broadcaster: RTM Rolls Out New Programme Acquisitions Era

Malaysia’s state-owned broadcaster, Radio Television Malaysia (RTM), introduces a new method of buying local and foreign programmes next year, according to state news agency Bernama. Quoting Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin, the report said “the change may be unpopular but we will proceed with it to enhance the quality of RTM programmes”.

Last year, RTM spent about RM180 million/US$51 million buying TV programmes, including RM72 million on international acquisitions. From 2007, Zainuddin said local production firms would be categorised into three groups and allocated airtime based on capabilities. Presently, 300 hours are allocated
to each of the 13 consortia that distribute them to production houses.

Zainuddin said this resulted in active production houses buying airtime from others. “We want to wipe out this Ali Baba practice; people think they can become millionaires in a blink of an eye through RTM without producing their own programmes,” the report quoted him as saying. Earlier, Zainuddin said RTM could save up to 50% by buying foreign programmes from principal or agents overseas.

For example, he said, RTM only needed to pay RM3,000 for an animation programme obtained directly from overseas but RM7,000 to get the same show from a local supplier. Blockbuster movie costs through local suppliers were RM230,000 instead of RM140,000 if acquired directly. Further details of the new acquisitions regime are expected before the end of December 2006. Source: Content Asia, 13th December 2006

China/Broadcaster: CCTV International Channels Overseas Viewers Exceeds 65 Million

According to the China State Administration of Radio Film and Television, CCTV’s international channels – CCTV-4, CCTV-9, and CCTV-Spanish and French – now has a combined overseas subscriber / viewer base of more than 65 million, with a breakdown of 50 million, 15 million, and 0.2 million viewers for CCTV-4, CCTV-9, and CCTV-Spanish and French respectively.
These three international channels have signal transmission coverage around the world, and have established effective channel landing groundwork by entering local cable TV network, satellite TV direct broadcasting platform, ground wireless TV, IPTV and broadband internet in over 100 countries and areas including the U.S., Britain, France, Egypt, India, and Chile, and major high scale hotel chains overseas.

In October 2004, China Satellite TV Great Wall North America Platform started broadcasting in the U.S., becoming the satellite TV service platform in Chinese language with the largest scale, selection of programs and subscriber base in North America. In 2005, China Satellite TV Great Wall operations started in Asia and Africa. In August 2006, its French Platform was officially launched, considered as a direct entry into the European television mainstream. Source: Entertainment Asia Network, 8th December 2006

China/Broadcaster: Digital Pay TV Landscape

According to statistics from China State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), China has 92 digital Pay TV channels operating nationwide to date. There are 20 digital Pay TV channels operated at the provincial level only. 11 digital Pay Radio programs are currently being broadcast nationally, and 5 programs running at the provincial level only.

In May 2006, SARFT held the Fifth Cable TV Digitalization Promotion Conference where they announced a comprehensive promotion of urban cable TV digitization. In August, Chinese Digital TV Ground Broadcasting Transmission System Standards, holding self-dominated intellectual property rights, was officially approved and certified as a compulsive national standard. In October, SARFT published its Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting Industry Standard developed by the organization. These policies and standards made for the public indicate China’s welcoming the comprehensive digitization of radio, film and television in the country. Source: Entertainment Asia Network, 8th December 2006

Elsewhere/Business: USTA Invests Millions in Tennis Channel

The U.S. Tennis Association is making a multimillion-dollar investment in The Tennis Channel in hopes of promoting the sport, The Associated Press learned Sunday. The deal, to be announced formally Monday, will give the USTA - which runs the U.S. Open and other events - a say in the cable network's future and could eventually lead to other deals between the two.

Neither the USTA nor The Tennis Channel would say exactly how much is being invested. Two people familiar with the deal said it involves less than $10 million, describing the financial terms to the AP on condition of anonymity because they're not being announced publicly. The Tennis Channel went to air in 2003 and currently reaches 10 million households. Partnership with the USTA is the latest in a series of moves in 2006 to raise the channel's profile and expand its reach, including hosting an ATP Tour event and buying TV rights to the French Open.

The USTA is "going to be involved with virtually everything that goes on at The Tennis Channel," network chairman and CEO Ken Solomon said in a telephone interview Sunday. It's the first investment of its kind for the USTA, which until now has limited such financial moves to tennis tournaments. Solomon cautioned that the deal won't necessarily lead to his channel getting U.S. Open cable TV rights, currently on USA Network but it does create huge opportunity on both sides even if it doesn't assure the channel any access to or the ability to get any rights. Source: Associated Press quoted on Houston Chronicle, Star Tribune, Sporting News, 10th December 2006, Also reported on Tennis Reporter, ABC Seven News, Bob Larson’s Tennis News, Tennis Magazine, 12th December 2006