HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Traffic Wins Brazil’s World Cup 2010 Qualifiers
Traffic Sports Marketing has announced a deal for the exclusive worldwide broadcast and sponsorship rights for Brazil’s nine home matches on the road to South Africa 2010. The South-American FIFA World Cup Qualifiers will run from September 2007 to November 2009, in a league format with home-and-away matches.
The top four teams will qualify automatically for the World Cup, while the fifth-placed nation will face a team from the CONCACAF region in a home-and-away play-off scheduled for November 2009. Brazil will play the following nine countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The fixtures, which will be announced at the next CONMEBOL meeting in February, will all take place on FIFA dates.
The South-American World Cup Qualifiers will start shortly after Copa America 2007, which takes place in Venezuela in June-July and will be broadcast to more than 170 countries worldwide. Brazil’s nine home matches will be made available by Traffic on an international satellite, with English audio guide and international graphics. Source: Sport Business, 24th January 2007
Italy Falling Behind European Soccer Rivals, Says Report
Italian soccer is losing ground on its European rivals because of aging stadiums, supporter violence and an unbalanced television rights market, according to a study of European leagues. The success of Italian teams in European competitions and massive individually-negotiated television deals for top teams mask deeper malaise, claim the study’s authors.
Philippe Piola, head of entertainment studies at the Euromed business school in Marseille, co-authored the report with Ineum management consultants in Paris. Piola said: ‘Italy's stadiums are totally decrepit...there's a big imbalance in television rights [...] I'm pretty pessimistic unless there's a rethink.’
Top-tier Serie A broadcast rights are due to be sold centrally from the start of the 2007-08 season, although this could be delayed because of deals already in place. The study also found that Italian clubs face record losses in 2006-07 because of changes in the way payments are managed for player transfers.Average attendance at Italian Serie A games fell 14 per cent between the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, although the drop is partly attributable to the league contracting from 20 to 18 clubs, it said. The study confirmed the financial dominance of English Premiership clubs in European soccer. Source: Sportcal, 24th January 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* The Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC) signed an agreement with the four major TV stations in Malta regarding the broadcasting rights of the week-long sports festival between June 4 and 9. The contract entails more than 36 hours of broadcast with coverage, possibly live, of the opening and closing ceremonies. The value of this agreement exceeds Lm80,000. Source: The Times of Malta, 23rd January 2007
* China's Internet users increased 23% to 137 million, covering 10.5% of the country's population, at the end of 2006, and will likely grow more quickly in future, the China Internet Network Information Center said. China, the world's second-largest Internet market after the U.S., had 123 million users at the end of June, according to the center. China had 17 million users, mainly unmarried men between ages 18 and 24, who accessed the Internet on mobile phones mainly for emails and to get information. Source: Total Content + Media, Advanced Television, Rapid TV, 23rd January 2007
MORE NEWS
India/Rights: Prasar Bharati Moves Delhi HC against deferred live telecast
A day after terrestrial broadcaster Doordarshan was granted "deferred live" telecast rights to the ongoing cricket series between India and the West Indies, Prasar Bharati approached the Delhi High Court again on the matter. The appeal was filed by the pubcaster against the order yesterday by a single-judge directing Nimbus, the rights holder for BCCI organized cricket events in India, to give the feed to Doordarshan with a seven-minute time lag.
Prasar Bharati sources told Indiantelevision.com that the pubcaster's appeal was based on the validity of the Uplink-Downlink Guidelines issued in November 2005 that perforce allows DD to get the telecast feed. The pubcaster’s argument is that the guidelines are clear that the live feed should be given to both Doordarshan and AIR and that there is “no provision (in the guidelines) for a deferred telecast.”
Prasar Bharati has contended that viewers in the country cannot be divided into two segments and that there has to be equitable distribution of signals for all viewers, irrespective of whether they are linked to DTH, cable or non cable homes. Source: Indian Television, Exchange4Media, 24th January 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: UK Broadcasters Baulk at Asking Price for Euro 2008 Rights
The BBC and ITV in the UK face difficult negotiations as they seek a fair price for the rights to soccer’s 2008 European Championships, which will take place in Austria and Switzerland. Sportfive, the international sports agency that is distributing the rights on behalf of governing body Uefa, is seeking to raise £90 million ($179 million) from the UK market, well above the valuation of the two main broadcasters.
The agency wants to break up the perceived duopoly over European Championships rights that has been enjoyed by the BBC and ITV, which shared the rights for previous competitions through their membership of the European Broadcasting Union and have a similar arrangement in place for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
The EBU, the umbrella body of European public-service broadcasters, was the traditional partner of Uefa in rights distribution to European Championships, lost out to Sportfive in the bidding for the Euro 2008 rights. Sportfive was due to issue a commercial tender for the rights in the UK this week and hopes to drive up the price by pitting the BBC and ITV against one another in competition while also involving other broadcasters such as commercial broadcasters Channel Four and Five.
Competition in the UK is restricted by the fact that pay-television broadcasters such as British Sky Broadcasting and Setanta would not be able to show matches exclusively live because of 'listed events' legislation that dictates that all 31 matches must be available free-to-air. Italy is the only one of the ‘big five’ countries to have concluded a television deal for Euro 2008, with the rights having been snapped up by the public-service broadcaster Rai on the back of the national team’s 2006 World Cup victory.
In France, commercial broadcasters TF1 and M6 are understood to have jointly agreed to pay the €100-million ($130-million) fee that Sportfive had targeted, and will have the rights to show simultaneous coverage of France’s matches assuming the World Cup finalists qualify. In Germany, coverage could be split for the first time after public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF baulked at the reported €150-million asking price to show all 31 games, pointing out that this was the same price they had paid for 48 of the 64 matches at the World Cup.
No deal has yet been agreed in Spain, European soccer’s other major market. Source: Sportcal, 23rd January 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
Badminton Super Series Needs to Be Better
THE Badminton World Federation (BWF) launched its long-awaited Super Series but the organisation glitches of the first leg, the Malaysia Open badminton championships, did not help raise the profile of the sport. The 12-leg Super Series, was supposed to provide bigger prize money for the players and also make badminton television friendly.
While the BWF may argue that teething problems are common in a new venture, this is not the first time badminton’s world governing body is organising an international tournament. Except for cosmetic changes where BWF has grouped the major grand prix tournaments under the Super Series brand, increased the total prize money of several tournaments, slightly modified the draw and seedings, there is nothing new.
The first issue raised was on the eligibility rule for the main draw where only the top 28 players in the world gain automatic berths while another four must advance through qualifying rounds. However, lack of foresight on BWF’s part has seen the top 15 players competing in the first round, in the case of World No 1 Lin Dan of China and World No 12 Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.
And doing away with the nationality separation rule saw players or pairs from the same country meeting each other in the preliminary rounds. China withdrew their top three shuttlers - World No 1 Zhang Ning, World No 2 Xie Xingfang and World No 8 Jiang Yanjiao - as they were expected to meet their back-up shuttlers in the preliminary rounds.
The trend is set to continue as BWF is convinced that the formula provides for open competition but the fact is, countries may start sending their players to the smaller grand prix tournaments to earn ranking points. This is because the Super Series winners will gain 9,000 points while the grand prix winners gain 7,000 points and the disparity in points is little that the grand prix tournaments could be worth competing for newly ranked players and pairs like Malaysia Open champions Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong who played in the qualifying rounds in KL.
The tournament schedule also breached BWF’s rule which does not allow matches to start after midnight. The organisers allocated four courts and with 40 matches scheduled on Thursday beginning 6pm, the matches were delayed for more than two hours. As a result, the last match of the day between World No 2 Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark and Thailand’s Sudket Prakamol-Patapol Ngernsrisuk, scheduled to start at 10pm, only commenced approximately 12.45am.
There was also no proper area to conduct interviews, with interviews conducted at corridors and this does not give the Super Series the high profile which BWF wants to create. Source: K.M. Boopathy comments on The New Straits Times, 23rd January 2007
Thursday, 25th January 2007
Wednesday, 24th January 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Sponsorship Spending to Rise and Rise
US companies plan to spend $14.9 billion on sponsorships this year, up 11.7 per cent from $13.4 billion in 2006, according to the IEG Sponsorship Report. This follows a 10.5 per cent increase in sponsorship spend from 2005 to 2006. The predicted 2007 increase is expected to outpace traditional media growth and IEG expects sports sponsorships to hit $9.9 billion in 2007, up 10.8 per cent from $8.64 billion in 2006.
IEG says that global sponsorship spend is also on the increase, predicting it will reach $37.7 billion in 2007, up 11.9 percent from $33.7 billion in 2006. European companies are expected to increase sponsorship spending by 11.6 percent to $10.6 billion in 2007, up from $9.5 billion in 2006.
Asia Pacific companies are expected to spend 15.6 percent more, from $6.4 billion in 2006 to $7.4 billion in 2007. Central and South American companies combined are expected to spend 11.1 percent more, from $2.7 billion in 2006 to $3 billion in 2007. All other regions are predicted to increase sponsorship spending by 5.9 percent, from $1.7 billion in 2006 to $1.8 billion in 2007. Source: Sport Business, 23rd January 2007
Nimbus Hails 'Landmark' Ruling on One-day Series
A dispute over coverage of the Indian cricket team’s ongoing one-day international series against the West Indies was resolved today after Nimbus Communications, the sports marketing and media company which holds the television rights, agreed to provide a terrestrial feed to public service broadcaster Doordarshan.
Following a ruling by the Delhi High Court, Nimbus accepted a proposal for Doordarshan to be allowed to show the remaining three matches of the series, but with a seven-minute delay. Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani described the development as a 'step in the right direction' adding that the company was looking forward to working with Doordarshan. The second one-day international takes place in Cuttack on Wednesday.Doordarshan has frequently clashed with pay-television broadcasters over rights to India's matches, which are regarded as events of national importance. Nimbus televises cricket on its Neo Sports pay channel and had come under pressure from the government to ensure the games are available throughout India.
There was an outcry on Sunday when most of the population was unable to watch the first match against the West Indies in Nagpur. Priya Ranjan Damsuni, the information and broadcasting minister, this week accused the company of having a ‘very unpatriotic attitude’ and vowed to press ahead with the introduction of legislation that would compel private broadcasters to share signals with Doordarshan.
Nimbus paid $612 million for the rights to India’s home matches for four years until 2010 and had been prepared to share a feed if Doordarshan agreed to carry the same advertising as Neo Sports but this was unacceptable to the state broadcaster. The court stated that the arrangement was temporary and would last until the next hearing on February 8. Nimbus is still seeking assurances that Doordarshan will encrypt signals to prevent pictures being available in neighbouring countries, where there are separate broadcasting agreements. Source: Sportcal, Indian Television, 23rd January 2007
INFO DIGEST
Info Box – The Asia-Pacific PC Market
* In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 59.9 million units in 2006, a 17.2% increase from 2005
* In the fourth quarter of 2006, PC shipments reached 15.7 million units, a 13.3% increase
* In the fourth quarter demand was primarily soft as buyers were prepared to wait one more month for PCs installed with Windows Vista
* Consumers were also distracted by aggressive prices of LCD TVs.
* In Japan, PC shipments totaled 14.2 million units in 2006, a 3.3% decline from 2005
* Japan experienced a difficult fourth quarter, as shipments approached 3 million units, a 12.6% decline from the fourth quarter of 2005
* Both the professional and private market showed negative year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter.
Source: Info IQ, 23rd January 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* South America's Copa Libertadores, the region's equivalent of the European Champions League, kicks off with a preliminary round match on Wednesday and has been hit by controversy before it has begun. Peru's Sporting Cristal travel to Mexico to face America in for the first leg of their tie and are unhappy with the venue chosen by their opponents. America, who will complete a home ban on Wednesday which dates back to a crowd riot in 2004, have opted to play the match in Toluca, about 60km from Mexico City and about 300 metres higher at 2,600 metres above sea level. Source: Guardian, 24th January 2007
* North America’s National Basketball Association has inked a new marketing deal with a Chinese milk producer. The Mengniu Dairy Group, which is based in the northern province of Inner Mongolia, will be the official dairy product of the NBA in China as the league looks to capitalise on its growing popularity in the country. Mengniu will promote its products during NBA programming in China and participate in the NBA Jam Van, a touring promotion which visited 17 cities last year. Source: Sportcal, 23rd January 2007
* The Chinese Olympic soccer team will play three friendly matches in London during their upcoming two-week stay in the city. The Chinese Football Association has announced that Team China will play a Chelsea reserve side on February 5, Queen’s Park Rangers on February 8 and Brentford on February 16. China are currently training in France under coach Ratomir Dujkovic and are scheduled to arrive in London on February 1. Source: Sportcal, 23rd January 2007
* The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has signed up pop singer Kelly Clarkson as official partner for the 2007 season. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but according to NASCAR it is “the largest and most comprehensive” contract ever agreed with an artist by the organisation and will start on February 18 prior to the Daytona 500, where Clarkson will headline the Nextel Tribute To America. Clarkson will also serve as spokesperson and ambassador for the fourth annual NASCAR Day on May 18. Source: Sports Media, 23rd January 2007
* Turner Sports New Media has relaunched an enhanced Nascar.com Web site--its first redesign since 2002--that includes a 3-D application to follow drivers during live races, and a social space for fans to interact. Turner Sports New Media acquired all of Nascar’s interactive rights in October 2000 and became the exclusive producer of Nascar.com in January 2001. The 3-D feature, TrackPass RaceView, features animation similar to that in sports video games. The new online gathering place for fans is called Infield Community on Nascar.com. Source: Mediaweek, Sports Video Group, 22nd January 2997
MORE NEWS
WWE: Early Strong Ratings in US
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced that its US TV ratings started off this year in a positive manner. It achieved its highest household deliveries of the current season on both Monday Night Raw on USA Network and Friday Night SmackDown on The CW.
On 1 January, Raw’s feature of John Cena versus Kevin Federline delivered 3,564,000 TV households, its highest performance of the season, and the largest household delivery since August 21, 2006. Raw was the number one primetime cable programme during the first week of the year among households, total viewers, Male Teens (M12-17) and Men 18-34. Raw also posted season high ratings among Males 6-11, Persons 6-11, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54.
SmackDown on 5 January, 2007, delivered 3,371,000 TV households, its highest performance in nearly a year and the highest since joining the CW network. SmackDown WWE says was the number one primetime program on television Friday night among Male Teens (M12-17) and Total Teens (P12-17), and the top rated broadcast program among Males 6-11. SmackDown made CW the number one broadcast network among Males 6-11, Males 12-17, Males 12-34, Males 18-24, Males 18-34, Persons 6-11, Persons 12-17 and Persons 12-34.
SmackDown posted its highest rating among total teens (persons 12-17) since June 23, 2005 and highest among female teens (females 12-17) since November 13, 2003. SmackDown also achieved its highest delivery of the season among Persons 12-34. Source: Indian Television, 23rd January 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: Clubs Seek Cup Rights
French football clubs are flexing their muscles to try to get hold of rights to their home matches in the Coupe de France (French Cup) competition. The clubs already have the delayed match coverage rights of their fixtures in Ligue 1 Orange (sponsor), Ligue 2 and the Coupe de la Ligue. Those rights were reserved for the clubs when the packages for those competitions were sold collectively by the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP).
However, the Fédération Français de Football (FFF) failed to make a similar provision when it sold the rights to the French Cup. Last spring, France Télévisions and Eurosport acquired all the French Cup rights for a fee of approximately €14 million per season until 2010. For matches in the league and the Coupe de la Ligue, those clubs that have their own club channels (Olympique de Ma rseille, Olympique Lyonnais, Saint-Etienne and Lens) can show replays starting at midnight on the day of the match.
Other clubs are allowed to market them 24 hours after the final whistle. The FFF has indicated that it is not against letting the clubs do the same during the French Cup. France TV has indicated that it might go along with this idea, L’Equipe reported, but Eurosport is against such a move for now. The clubs, meanwhile, have given assurances that they will not allow the impasse to interfere with the next round of matches in the French Cup (round of 16). Source: Sports Media, 23rd January 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: Boxing Website Ups the Ante with Increased Live Streaming
Secondsout.com has signed deals with several promoters and a sports marketing agency to broadcast live online coverage of around 35 professional fights in 2007. In a deal signed with Sportfive to stream live coverage in the UK and selected other territories of IBF heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko’s next three title defences. The deal begins with Klitschko's bout against American Ray Austin on March 10.
Secondsout.com has also signed contracts with six boxing promoters for live fights in 2007: the USA-based promoters DiBella Entertainment, Seminole Warriors Promotions and Irish Ropes; Max1 Promotions in the Czech Republic; Ukraine’s National Box Promos; and Knockout Promotions / World Sport Promotions, two promoters that share close links.
Secondsout.com will be the only place boxing fans in the UK can watch the opening bout between Klitschko and Austin after an exclusive deal was signed with Sportfive. This signifies an increase of content available on Secondsout.com, which had one-off agreements with promoters to stream fights live. In 2006, fights featured on the site included Vladimir Klitschko’s title defence against American Calvin Brock and the IBF cruiserweight title fight between American Steve Cunningham and Poland’s Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. Source: Sportcal, 23rd January 2007
Elsewhere/General: Research Shows Premiership TV Figures Levelling Out
Viewing figures for English soccer’s Premiership appear to have stagnated over the last three seasons. Figures collated by the Broadcaster’s Audience Research Bureau reveal that an average 1.19 million viewers tuned in to coverage of the first 50 Premiership matches this season. This compares to an average 1.25 million viewers in 2005-06 and 1.23 million in 2004-05, although both these figures were gathered in April and therefore took into account a larger chunk of the season. The games were all aired by British Sky Broadcasting.
The BARB figures, supplied by media agency ZenithOptimedia, indicate that matches involving England’s ‘big four’ clubs – Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal – attract around 3 million viewers when shown in a prime slot. Other findings so far this season:
* Manchester United versus Chelsea on November 26, average 2.95 million viewers
* Arsenal v Manchester United on 21st January, average 2.9 million viewers, peaking at 3.4 million
* Least-watched game involved newly-promoted Watford v Sheffield United on November 28, average 486,000
* Champions Chelsea featured most on BSkyB with 10 appearances in the first 50 live televised matches
* Blackburn Rovers, Charlton Athletic, Middlesborough and Wigan Athletic appeared just three times each
BSkyB's monopoly on live rights comes to an end at the beginning of next season after rival Setanta agreed to pay £392 million ($775 million) for a package of 138 live matches over three years from the beginning of 2007-08. BSkyB retained 276 matches at a cost of £1.314 billion. In related research released last week by Virgin Money, it found 46 per cent of Premiership supporters going to fewer games this season. Virgin said that its Football Fans Price Index showed that the cost of going to games had risen by 17 per cent since the start of 2006. Source: Sportcal, 23rd January 2007
Elsewhere/Business: Have-nots Ask the Millionaires to Take Share Option
Members of the Football League's board have held meetings with the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, to seek a fairer distribution of the Premiership's booming TV money which, following the £625m secured last week for overseas rights, will total £2.7bn over three years from next season. The Football League is so sensitive about the issue it is refusing to comment publicly but the Premier League confirmed that talks are taking place about a revised funding package once the new deal kicks in.
The discussions centre on four areas: the amount the Premier League provides to Football League clubs for youth development, currently £4.2m a season; the possibility of funding clubs' community programmes; re-examining how the £17m which the Premiership will pay to the Professional Footballers' Association could be distributed; and a proposal for the Premier League to split with the Football League all money paid to the professional game from the Football Association.
Whether this will result in sufficient redistribution to prevent the Premiership disappearing into a different financial universe remains to be seen. So far there is no sign among the Premier League clubs of an attack of conscience, although an increased proportion of the £2.1bn domestic element of the next deal, around 7%, will go to grass-roots development, including the Football Foundation.
Within the Premier League, clubs share 50% of TV money equally, 25% is paid in "facility fees" to clubs shown live on TV and the remaining 25% is paid according to how high clubs finish in the table. The overseas rights are shared out equally and Scudamore says overall the Premiership's is the most even formula within any top flight in Europe. It does, however, still reward greatly the top clubs who finish higher and are shown on TV more. From next season Scudamore has said the top club will receive around £50m, the bottom club around £30m. Source: The Guardian, 24th January 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
Signing Beckham - Just One of Many Significant Developments
While the recent signing of Beckham represents the highest-profile announcement to date from the 11-year-old Major League Soccer (MLS), several other recent and important developments will also impact positively on MLS and the future of US football. In addition to allowing MLS teams to sign ‘marquee players’ like Beckham, during the past year:
* MLS announced its 13th team in Toronto with plans to expand to 16 teams by 2010. Several investor groups are vying to own those franchises, a prerequisite to which is the construction of a ‘soccer-specific stadium’ (six such stadiums will be owned/operated by existing teams in 2007; several more are expected by 2010);
* AEG sold its interest in MLS team DC United to a local investment group in Washington, DC. The deal drew the highest price paid yet for an MLS franchise and follows the sale of AEG’s NY team to Austrian company Red Bull;
* US-based media organisations responded to the potential of football in the US by signing television rights fee agreements for MLS and other US-based football properties. Four independent, multi-year deals were signed with MLS to provide regular football coverage in English and Spanish. These media companies – particularly ESPN, which has also invested $100m in FIFA properties – now have a significant vested interest in promoting soccer in the US;
* Major shirt sponsors were approved for MLS teams, the first for a major US professional sports league, with Real Salt Lake the first to announce a multi-million dollar sponsor. The LA Galaxy is now expected to earn shirt sponsorship fees in line with major European teams;
* Two European professional football teams – Crystal Palace FC (England) and Deportivo Alaves (Spain) – announced the creation of US teams in the United Soccer Leagues (USL). This foreign interest in the US market followed the 2005 launch of MLS side Chivas USA – expansion team of the famous Mexican side – and several affiliations between MLS/USL teams and international clubs;
* MLS announced a 2007 summer tournament pitting four of its teams against four professional teams from Mexico. The US-based matches are certain to appeal to the large and passionate Mexican-American community;
* Clint Dempsey, a 23-year-old US national team player, generated a MLS record transfer fee when he was sold by the League to Fulham FC of England’s Barclays Premiership. More than 50 Americans now play professionally in premier football leagues across Europe;
* From 2007, MLS teams are required to run academy-like youth development programs which are expected to result in the construction of several new football training facilities.
Excerpt from report Soccer in North America: The Commercial Opportunities on Sport Business, 23rd January 2007
Tuesday, 23rd January 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
DD to Telecast Cricket with 7-minute Time Lag
Millions of viewers who don't have access to the Nimbus owned Neo Sports can finally heave a sigh of relief. The Delhi High Court has ruled that terrestrial broadcaster Doordarshan can telecast the ongoing cricket series between India and the West Indies "deferred live" with a seven-minute delay. All India Radio will however, be allowed to broadcast its commentary live, with no time lag.
The consensus emerged after the High Court, in its order issued today, ruled that 50 million viewers (who don't have cable TV access) cannot be denied the right to watch the game. The timing of the ruling is critical since it comes a day ahead of the second One-Day International to be played in Bubaneshwar, Orissa. It may be recalled that millions of viewers missed out on the action Sunday which saw India defeating the West Indies in the first ODI that was played in Nagpur. Source: Indian Television, 23rd January 2007
Shell Backs Ferrari F1 Tie With World's Costliest Ad
Shell is to seal off the City of London and turn it into a mini Grand Prix-style racing circuit, as part of the filming of an ad highlighting its partnership with the Ferrari Formula One team. The TV execution, whose production cost £2m, making it the most expensive ad ever, will promote Shell's high-performance V-Power fuel. It is intended to support Shell's positioning as the most innovative fuel brand.
The ad will feature Ferrari F1 cars racing through some of the world's most famous cities, including New York and Sydney. The London leg of the ad, being created by JWT London, will be shot on 17 February, with the execution set to air globally in March. Ferrari F1 test-drivers will be used to race the cars in all the cities except for the final straight in Sydney. A Ferrari enthusiast and owner of one of the marque's recent F1 cars will drive the final leg.
The Ferrari activity follows last June's "Made to move" campaign. The multimillion-pound global campaign was the first advertising to be run by Shell since the launch of Optimax in 2001. The most expensive ad to date is widely acknowledged to be British Airways' "face" ad from 1989. Source: Brand Republic, 23rd January 2007
INFO DIGEST
Acronyms Defined – On This Page
* BCCI – Board of Control for Cricket in India (cricket)
* ESPN – Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (broadcast)
* ESS – ESPN Star Sports (broadcast)
* SANZAR – South Africa New Zealand Australia Rugby (rugby)
* IBF – International Boxing Federation (boxing)
* JWT – J Walter Thompson (advertising)
Source: Acronym Finder
Info Box – Don King Productions
* Don King Productions has promoted over 500 world championship fights with nearly 100 individual boxers having been paid $1 million or more.
* DKP holds the distinction of having promoted seven of the 10 largest pay-per-view events in history, including the top four: Holyfield vs. Tyson II, 1.95 million buys, June 1997; Tyson vs. Holyfield I, 1.6 million buys, November 1996; Tyson vs. McNeeley, 1.58 million buys, August 1995; and Bruno vs. Tyson, 1.4 million buys, March 1996.
* DKP has promoted or co-promoted 16 of the top 25 highest-grossing live gates in the history of the state of Nevada including the top five: Holyfield vs. Lewis II, paid attendance: 17,078, gross: $16,860,300 (NOTE: Also highest live-gate gross for any event in the history of the world.), date: Nov. 13, 1999; Holyfield vs. Tyson II, paid attendance: 16,279, gross: $14,277,200, date: June 28, 1997; Holyfield vs. Tyson I, paid attendance: 16,103, gross: $14,150,700, date: Nov. 9, 1996; Tyson vs. McNeeley, paid attendance: 16,113, gross: $13,965,600, date: Aug. 19, 1995; De La Hoya vs. Trinidad, paid attendance: 11,184, gross: $12,949,500 (Also garnered the most pay-per-view buys for a non-heavyweight fight at 1.4 million).
* DKP’s “Super Saturday” boxing card featuring three world championships on Feb. 3 will now make history as the biggest fight card ever in the greater Orlando area featuring three world championship matches: undefeated World Boxing Council light heavyweight champion Tomasz “Goral” Adamek will defend his crown against fellow unbeaten and WBC No. 2-ranked contender “Bad” Chad Dawson; International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Jesus “The Matador” Chavez will face IBF interim 135-pound champion Julio “The Kidd” Diaz; and Cory “The Next Generation” Spinks will make a mandatory defense of his IBF junior middleweight title against IBF No. 1-ranked “Smooth” Rodney Jones.
Source: Doghouse Boxing, 18th January 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* The World Superbike Championship has been dropped to 13 rounds after plans to run an event in Turkey were dropped. The owners of the Istanbul circuit were unable to agree a contract in time with the sport's governing body and the rights holders. Britain will host three rounds - Donington Park on April 1, Silverstone on May 27 and Brands Hatch on August 5. The series opens in Qatar on February 24. Source: Sporting Life, 22nd January 2007
* Chinese authorities have left ESPN Star Sports (ESS) off the list of foreign channels available in hotels in the country. ESS is not included among the 31 foreign channels approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. The only sports channel on the list is Eurosport News. ESS said it is working to reach a new agreement with the regulator. Source: Sports Media Daily, 22nd January 2007
* China’s Sohu.com was today announced as the exclusive website and wireless partner of Team China Football. Sohu in partnership with Infront China will develop the official website (http://www.teamchina.com.cn/), and offer a range of Team China related exclusive content and services to fans in the run-up to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2007, the 2007 Asian Cup and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The agreement runs for two years until the end of 2008. Source: Sports e-Media, 22nd January 2007
* China Mobile Communications has announced an agreement with Millicom International Cellular to purchase 88.86 per cent of the outstanding shares of Paktel, a mobile communications operator in Pakistan. The transaction implies an enterprise valuation for Paktel of $460m. Completion of the transaction is subject to receipt of regulatory approvals. If such approvals are obtained, completion is expected in late February 2007. Source: Digital Media Asia, 22nd January 2007
* The 2007 Korea Open Badminton will start with most of the world's top 10 players competing to grab the world's biggest prize money. The tournament, officially called BWF Super Series-Yonex Korea Open 2007, will be staged from Jan. 23-28 at Jamsil Stadium, participated in by 337 players from 32 nations, the Korea Badminton Association said. The Korea Open offers a prize money of US$300,000, the biggest among international tournaments. Source: Yonhap (Korea), 23rd January 2007
* Los Angeles-based Bennett Media Worldwide is distributing the four-event Honda Ski Tour internationally as four one-hour specials. The shows will be produced by Bennett Productions in high-definition and broadcast on ABC in the USA, with the first one, in Sun Valley (Idaho), going out this Saturday. The tour features half-pipe and skicross competitions, with over $US500,000 in prize money on offer. Source: Sports Media Daily, 22nd January 2007
* Major League Baseball is reported to be set to sign a deal with US satellite broadcaster DirecTV for a package of out-of-market games. DirecTV has agreed to pay $700 million over seven years for the package, according to US media reports. The deal makes DirecTV the exclusive home of Extra Innings, which had until now also been available via cable. Extra Innings lets subscribers, for a fee, watch about 60 games a week from other local markets except their own. Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, 22nd January 2007
* Supersport, the South African pay-television broadcaster, is reported to be considering legal action over a controversial decision by the New Zealand Rugby Union to rest 22 national team players from the first seven rounds of this year’s Super 14, the competition for provincial rugby union sides in the southern hemisphere. Supersport is in the third year of a five-year, $420-million deal with Sanzar, the umbrella body representing the rugby unions of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, for Tri-Nations and Super 14 games. Source: Sportcal, 22nd January 2007
* Chancellor Gordon Brown on Friday launched the Premier League’s international development strategy in India. Brown spoke after a three-year partnership was agreed between the Premier League and Magic Bus, a Mumbai-based sports development charity which works with 4,000 deprived children. The Premier League has two similar pilots planned in Egypt and South Africa for later this year. Source: Football Insider, 22nd January 2007
MORE NEWS
India/Business: Nimbus Attracts $125 Million of Inverstment
Nimbus Communications Limited has attracted an investment of Rs. 552 crores (around $125 million) from 3i, Cisco and Oman Investment Fund (OIF). The investment will largely be deployed to fund sports rights acquisitions, develop global sports events, finance Indian language and international film production and distribution, develop further digital content production for wireless and VOD/IPTV platforms and expand the broadcasting operations.
The deal is among the largest private equity investment in Indian media & entertainment sector. 3i’s investment is its second in Nimbus while the deal marks the entry of OIF into the Indian market and Cisco’s continued strategy to invest across the Indian content industry.
According to a CII-KPMG report, the entertainment industry in India is projected to grow by 20 per cent year-on-year to touch US $ 13.5 billion (approx Rs. 59, 500 crores) by 2010. Television will form the largest chunk in the entertainment industry, constituting over 60 per cent revenues, at $ 8.4 billion (approx Rs. 37,100 crores) by 2010. The KPMG projections forecast film industry revenues at US $ 3.25 billion (approx Rs. 14, 300 crores) in 2010.
The sports events, sports TV production and sports broadcast sector is considered to be the fastest growing sector and is expected to grow to US $ 1.8 billion (approx Rs. 7.920 crores) in 2010. Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, Indian Television, Finance Asia, 22nd January 2007
India/General: Domestic Twenty20 Cricket to Debut in India
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is set to follow a global trend and incorporate a Twenty20 tournament into its domestic cricket calendar. The competition will be similar in format to the existing one-day Ranji Trophy with teams competing in two round-robin leagues and the top sides in each contesting the final.
The competition will take place in the last week of March or the first week of April, according to BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah. Meanwhile, India have invited Australia to play in a potentially lucrative one-day series in North America later this year. New York and Toronto have been earmarked as possible venues but it is uncertain whether the BCCI will accede to a likely demand from Cricket Australia for an equal share of revenues.
It is thought that each fixture in the seven-match series could generate up to $6 million. However, there are also concerns over scheduling, with Australia already committed to a tour of Zimbabwe in June, between the end of the World Cup in April and the inaugural Twenty20 world championship in South Africa in September. Source: Sportcal, 22nd January 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: Clubs Sell Television Rights
Regional station Telemadrid has joined forces with Madrid’s biggest savings bank, Cajamadrid, to acquire the television rights to two local clubs in football’s Primera División. The partners have agreed to pay a total of €306 million for the rights to Atlético Madrid and suburban team Getafe for the five seasons from 2009-10 through to 2013-14. Atlético is to receive €230 million and Getafe €76 million.
Telemadrid (TVM) reaches a catchment area of 5.746 million viewers (out of Spain’s total of 42.022 million). TVM is part of the consortium of regional channels, FORTA, which no longer has the rights to league football. Members used to be able to show one live match per week. National network La Sexta now has the Saturday evening match. TV3, another FORTA member, has a deal to show FC Barcelona games in Catalonia. Source: Sports Media Daily, 22nd January 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: Channels React to Rugby Boycott
French broadcasters have warned that they do not intend to carry the European Rugby Cup (ERC) if French clubs go though with a boycott of next season’s tournament. The Ligue National de Rugby (LNR) said last week that its teams would not take part in next year’s edition of the competition - known as the Heineken Cup outside France (which bars the beer sponsorship) - because of ongoing disputes over the international calendar and the division of revenues.
After the LNR’s surprise decision, the television companies sent a letter to the organisers of the ERC reminding that their contract has a clear exit clause allowing them to pull out, L’Equipe reported. However, the television executi ves said that they did not see the LNR’s decision as final.
France TV pays €11 million per season for ERC rights under a four-year deal running until 2010, while Canal Plus chips in another €1.4 million annually. France TV shows one live ERC match on Saturday and one live match on Sunday on France 2, plus a Sunday highlights show on the same channel. Games are also shown on digital terrestrial channel France 4. Canal Plus shows up to three live matches per week (France TV gets first choice) on Canal + and Sport +, plus a weekly magazine. ERC matches are also shown on the UK’s Sky Sports, S4C in Wales and RTE in Ireland. Source: Sports Media Daily, 22nd January 2007
Elsewhere/General: Heavyweight Champion to Defend Titles in Germany
Russian boxer Vladimir Klitschko will defend his IBF and IBO world heavyweight titles against Ray Austin of the USA in Mannheim, Germany on March 10. Klitschko last fought on November when he stopped the American fighter Calvin Brock in the seventh round of their contest at Madison Square Garden in New York.
British light-welterweight Ricky Hatton is set to take on Mexico's Jose Luis Castillo in Las Vegas in June after both emerged victorious from fights in the Nevada city on Saturday night. Hatton defeated Colombia's Juan Urango on points while Castillo won a split decision over Cameroonian Hernan Ngoudjo. Source: Sportcal, 22nd January 2007
Monday, 22nd January 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Female Viewership is Up for Major Global Events
Around the world, the wide belief is that men watch sports and women don’t. Of course, that’s not really true, nor has it ever really been, and now it turns out it’s less true than ever. More women are watching the world’s top sporting events, according to research from Initiative Sports Futures, Initiative’s global sports consultancy division. In fact, that they’re actually behind a good part of the growth in the top events.
In some countries women can account for more than half the viewing for some major events. Just why is a curious thing. It appears to have more to do with celebrity than sports, as the world’s rich sports stars enter the realm of popular culture. Jocks are in as never before, as was seen just recently when British footballer David Beckham signed to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team, amid worldwide hoopla in the celebrity press.
“Rather than just being about the pure competitive elements of it, personalities off the field are becoming as important as the skills on the field,” says Kevin Alavy, head of analytics for Initiative Sports Futures. This intriguing finding arises out of Initiative's efforts to rank the world’s top 10 TV sporting events. It found that the top five have been gaining audience, with women behind much of it, while many of the lesser events were actually losing audience.
For the top TV sports event of 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final (Italy vs. France), Initiative found that women accounted for 41 percent of the global audience, a larger share than ever before. Two years before, for the UEFA European Football Championship, women made up 40 percent of the TV audience. And during World Cup 2002, women were 39 percent of the audience. “If it continues, it won’t take that long to get to 50 percent,” says Alavy.
Alavy also looked at the 2004 Summer Olympics, in two key countries. In Britain the female TV viewing share for the Sydney Olympics in 2000 was 49 percent. Just four years later, for the Summer Olympics in Athens, their audience share had grown to 54 percent. “A five percentage point jump is a very significant jump over just four years,” notes Alavy. His research came up with a similar pattern in Germany.
As much as anything, Alavy theorizes that it reflects the evolving economics of televised sports. More television outlets have led to more competition for the rights to major sporting events, which in turn has boosted the salaries of the stars of those sports. And as their salaries have grown, their lifestyles have become more aspirational. They are idolized as sports heroes but more and more they are followed after in their personal lives by celebrity magazines and TV shows alike. Source: Media Life Research, 18th January 2007
No Live Cricket on DD as Nimbus Refuses to Buckle
In a first on Indian Television, a home cricket series kicked off today without the telecast being available on national broadcaster Doordarshan and All India Radio. India's victorious start to the four-match Pepsi series One-Day International series against the West Indies at Nagpur was not available on terrestrial television as well as on cable homes that did not carry the Nimbus owned Neo Sports channel.
Talks broke down yesterday between Prasar Bharati and Nimbus Sports on sharing the live feed, the industry was waiting to see whether the government would push through an ordinance to implement the Downlinking/Uplinking Guidelines issued by the information & broadcasting ministry in November 2005 requiring live feed of important sporting events to be shared with Doordarshan and AIR by entering into a commercial agreement.
The terms provide for revenue sharing of 75:25 in favour of the rights holders. Nimbus Sports, the rights holders for the BCCI organized cricket events in India, had offered to give the feed to the pubcaster, but only under certain specific conditions, and these were not acceptable to the Prasar Bharati. Nimbus suggested a 15 minute deferred telecast on Doordarshan's terrestrial channel referred 'as live'.
Nimbus also did not agree to DD showing the matches on its DTH platform DD Direct Plus. Nimbus has said if at all it shares the feed, the signals have to be encrypted so that it reaches houses only on the terrestrial network and not those that get DD signals through cable TV. Nimbus today offered a way out of the impasse by declaring it was ready to provide the live feed if Prasar Bharati agreed to encrypt its signals in the next two to three weeks.
Till now though, Prasar Bharati officials, citing previous government orders and court rulings that they claim have gone in their favour, have been adamant that they should get live feed of the cricket series, without any conditions, and that it also be shared on DD's DTH platform.
Following the breakdown of talks DD officials have gone back to taking the cover of the Uplink-Downlink Guidelines that perforce allow DD to get the telecast feed. The ball is now really in the government's court on what its next move will be. Source: Indian Television, Business Standard, Times of India, Kolkata Newsline, 22nd January 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* The Total Sports Asia Group owns exclusive worldwide rights to the Tour de Langkawi 2007 cycling event in Malaysia. Total Sports Asia (TSA) has sub-licensed the rights to Fox Sports International as a sub-agent for distribution outside Asia. The race starts on February 2 in Langkawi, finishing on February 11 in Kuala Lumpur - home base of TSA. The company views the Tour as a key event in its portfolio. Source: Sports Media, 19th January 2007
* A new elite cycle race, the Tour of South Africa will be held for the first time later this year. The seven-day event will start on 18 November 2007 with 20 teams of 6 riders taking part. Those participating will include teams from the UK, Germany, Japan, USA and South Africa. The race will be similar to other leading cycle races, such as the Tour of Britain and Le Tour de France. The Tour of South Africa is organised by Sweetspot. Source: Sport Business, 19th January 2007
* Sports Illustrated reports that the amount David Beckham will earn is actually "less than the salaries of a lot of U.S. sports stars." Beckham will earn USD 50 million in salary payments over a five-year period and not the USD 250 million that has been rumoured. Beckham could still possibly make $250 million over the next five years, but the majority of his income would come from endorsements and not from the Galaxy or MLS. Source: EUFootball.biz, 22nd January 2007
* Meanwhile, following the news of Beckham’s move to Major League Soccer in the USA, there was a rush for domain names connected to him and his new team, LA Galaxy. Domain name management firm NetNames described it as “some of the fastest cybersquatting” ever seen. Source: Sports Media, 19th January 2007
* Czech commercial broadcaster Prima TV is likely to win the rights to show soccer’s European Championships after outbidding public-service rival Czech Television. However, the company may find it difficult to show a majority of the 31 games live as it has only one channel. Prima submitted a bid of Kcs100 million ($4.65 million) for the rights to see off the challenge of Czech Television, which offered only Kcs60 million. Source: Sportcal, 19th January 2007
MORE NEWS
China/IPTV: Analysis of the IPTV Market
Technological innovations are rapidly redrawing the Chinese telco landscape. Operators are compelled to diversify in order to thrive in the competitive environment. The November 2006 announcement of Jiangsu Telecom's network expansion effort to meet subscribers' demand for IPTV, VOD, and other advanced IP services was just the latest in a similar series of moves to support multi-play service offerings.
According to ABI Research's broadband research, more operators are offering multiple services in an attempt to retain customers and to increase revenue. Telecom operators are venturing into the TV industry, while cable operators move into the voice business. IPTV is the Chinese government's platform of choice because it is aligned to its long-term plan of unifying broadband, Internet, and television. Hence the future of the industry continues to be viewed optimistically.
China's flourishing broadband environment paves the way for IPTV to reach out to the potentially huge addressable market. ABI Research forecasts the IPTV take-up in mainland China to pass the 23 million subscriber mark by 2012. For now, IPTV has to cope with certain bottlenecks that have been restricting growth. Lack of content may prove a short-term barrier to increasing uptake.
Current program content is strictly controlled by media authorities and the government, is not rich enough to attract paying users, and overseas content, which is restricted and difficult to get approval for, does not help alleviate the situation. Source: TV Over Net, Advanced Television, 18th January 2007
China/New Media: More Than 10 Million for Digital TV
The number of digital TV users in China exceeded 10 million at the end of 2006, industry expert has said. Wang Yan, General Manager of China DTV Media (CDM) said: “There were only 1.2 million digital TV subscribers in China in 2004 and four million in 2005. “The number is expected to reach 20 million by the end of 2007,” Mr Wang added.
China launched its digital TV industry in May 2006 and now has 92 digital pay channels. But cable TV is still a very popular and economical alternative in China, English.eastday.com reports. CDM - whose 49 digital pay channels reach 4.5 million subscribers in China - charges five (US$0.64) to 180 yuan (US$22.50) per month for each of its digital pay channels.
Viewers can get more than 30 cable-TV channels for only US$2.00 per month. Mr Wang said the quality of digital pay-TV programmes needs to be improved in order to compete with free channels. Source: Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union, 18th January 2007
Elsewhere/Business: Clubs Cash In On Massive TV Deal
Premier League club incomes will rise by between £10 million to £20 million each from next season after the agreement of a £625 million deal for overseas television rights. The 20 teams competing in the Barclays Premiership will share £2.725 billion over the next three seasons - 60% or £1 billion more than the current three-year deal. There will also be a positive spin-off with an extra £23 million, totaling £38 million a year, being put into grass-roots football.
Last season's champion Chelsea earned £30.4 million from Premier League TV money while bottom club Sunderland earned £16.8 million. From next season, the champion can expect to bring in close to £50 million and the side finishing bottom around £26 million.
The £2.725 billion is made up of £1.7 billion for domestic rights sold to Sky and Setanta, £400 million from highlights for broadcast on the Internet and mobile phones, plus the latest £625 million overseas rights deal. The overseas deal is around double that agreed for the current three-year global rights deal. Scudamore has travelled to India and is expected to announce today a number of international football projects that the Premier League is due to finance as a result of the new TV deals. Source: Football Insider, 19th January 2007
Elsewhere/Business: Sportfive Takeover Receives Regulatory Approval
French media group Lagardère can proceed with the integration of Sportfive after the takeover was approved yesterday by the European Union. The EU antitrust office concluded that the acquisition would ‘not significantly impede effective competition.’ Authorities examined the implications of the €865-million ($1.12-billion) takeover given that Lagardère also holds a non-controlling stake in French pay-television, Canal Plus.
Sportfive handles the rights to top events including soccer’s 2008 European Championships, and manages marketing rights for more than 250 clubs and around 50 federations and leagues. Lagardère is acquiring Sportfive as it seeks to expand into the sports industry, having set up its own sporting arm, Team Lagardère, in May 2005. Source: Sportcal, Total Content & Media, 19th January 2007
Elsewhere/General: A1GP Drops Race Without TV Deal
The Brazilian round of the A1GP season has been scrapped following a delay in securing a local terrestrial television partner to provide nationwide coverage of the motorsport event. The meeting was scheduled for March 18 but has been withdrawn from the calendar after organisers encountered problems when trying to arrange a free-to-air television contract.
A1GP CEO Pete da Silva said: “Every race is watched by eight million viewers in over 150 countries. Strong television coverage has proved vital when building consumer support for A1GP and drawing crowds to an event. Over past months, A1GP has worked closely with organisers in Rio de Janeiro to ensure the venue is fully equipped to host the round. But without the support of a terrestrial television partner on board, A1GP has taken the decision to withdraw Brazil from this season’s calendar.”
However, A1GP representative and seat holder of Team Brazil, Emerson Fittipaldi, is confident that a deal will be soon secured ensuring that Brazil can return to the 2008 calendar. Source: Sports Media, 19th January 2007
Elsewhere/New Media: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling goes Mobile
Professional wrestling will change this March when Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling debuts on mobile carriers, thanks to an exclusive content deal with New Motion, Inc., a digital entertainment company. The deal gives the power of New Motion to develop and promote TNA content, including wrestling match alerts, blogs written by the wrestlers, exclusive wallpapers, and ringtones of their favorite wrestler’s theme songs. TNA Mobile is available thru all major providers like Verizon, Cingular and T-Mobile.
TNA fans will be able to actually help decide and dictate storylines. “You can decide which wrestlers you would like to see wrestle against each other, and predict who do you think is going to win a fight,” said Shane Maidy New Motion SR VP of Content and Marketing. There will be live fan voting during TNA PPV events and TV broadcasts.
TNA is in direct competition with wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He believes they are very different. “Competition helps grow business,” said Maidy. Source: Sports Video Group, 18th January 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
Mobile Marketing Just Got Interesting
Mobile marketing has been on the verge of being a viable medium for many years now, but the implication of the Apple iPhone announcement is that the future of mobile will take a major jump forward within the next year. If iPhone meets or exceeds expectations and begins to sell at a fraction of the success rate at which the iPod itself has sold, then more people will have an interface truly capable of displaying effective, impactful mobile advertising.
Beyond iPod, we can expect other mobile handset providers to begin to radically change the interface for their products, which will add to opportunities for mobile marketing. An active touchpad interface is one of many potential updates that will transform the handset into a completely new medium. Motorola, Nokia and Samsung are all bringing their engineers back to the drawing board to create something that will respond to the unveilings from Apple. It is not an overstatement to say that the iPhone interface makes all other cell phone operating systems outdated and obsolete.
The major problems have been that mobile marketing needed to function in a clunky, stagnant environment, through outdated WAP technology. The iPhone appears to shift the interface away from WAP and focus on the existing Web infrastructure, making the mobile device a much more dynamic opportunity to convey a message in a contextually relevant environment.
A much-larger screen allows for the video interface that most advertisers thrive on. As we are witnessing the evolution of TV into Internet TV and opportunity for mobile TV and advertising formats that are successful therein. Strides made in online video will now be applicable in the mobile arena, opening the doors for mobile marketing companies that have been building for the iPod interface.
The integration of Yahoo, Google and other online properties directly into the interface is brilliant. Tools from each of them offer consumers significant value; Maps, e-mail and GPS, and not having to download and install them makes it easier. One major factor in growth of any technology is ease and comfort of use. It's obvious that Apple knows how to make things easier, assuring that we will see the point of entry lowered so that "everyday Joe" can use them, pushing towards a world where digital tools are the centerpiece by which consumers develop their days.
Of course, Apple could mess this up. Its executives should take lessons from Sony and the Playstation 3 launch. They should ensure that there are enough iPhones to go around when they launch; make sure there are no obvious bugs; make sure that critics have the opportunity to chime in; and then listen and respond to what critics have to say. In the meantime, I am counting down the days until I can get my new iPhone (or whatever it will be called once Cisco is done suing Apple). Cory Treffiletti comments on Media Post, 17th January 2007
Friday, 19th January 2007
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Premier League Doubles International Income
Read Richard Scudamore’s Interview by David Bond on the Daily Telegraph, 18th January 2007
More links: BBC Sports, EUFootball.biz
International media rights income for England’s FA (Football Association) Premier League for the next three-year cycle starting in 2007-08 will be twice as high as under the previous round of deals expiring at the end of this season. Richard Scudamore, the Premier League's chief executive, said that foreign sales revenue has reached £625 million for the period 2007-08 through 2009-10. The total covers 81 packages in 208 countries. The total value of the media and TV rights packages for the English Premier League for the three years from the start of the 2007-08 season is a staggering £2.7 billion.
“We have seen huge growth everywhere but the big jumps have been in Asia and the Middle East,” Scudamore told the Daily Telegraph. “In some territories the rights have sold for three or four times the current amount.” He attributed the increase in foreign revenue in part to the Barclays Premiership’s “open-door” policy on foreign participants. “We have a cosmopolitan approach to players and a cosmopolitan approach to ownership and that is paying off.”
Asia is by far the greatest contributor to the Premiership’s latest international rights, generating about $700 million. Europe is estimated to have brought in $275 million, the Middle East $120 million, Africa $95 million, the Americas $65 million and Oceania about $20 million.
Scudamore said the increase also shows that the League made the right decision in deciding to take over management of its own distribution instead of entrusting the task to an agency. The Premier League handles its own worldwide sales, under the direction of Phil Lines (head of media operations). The international production is currently handled by IMG Media’s TWI. That contract is due to go out to tender for the next cycle with the bidding details expected to be issued soon.
The Premiership’s foreign sales total is on top of nearly £1.7 billion for the domestic deals for live TV rights reached last May with Sky (£1.3 billion) and Setanta (£392 million). There is a lso a new deal for domestic highlights with BBC for the three years worth £171.6 million. The League has also made deals for Internet and mobile phone rights worth about £400 million.
"This deal (package of deals) really does take us on to another level.” He added that he did not expect to see such a big increase next time. “The clubs are obviously very grateful for the money but this is probably the last time we will be able to achieve such a massive one-off increase,” he said. Source: Sports Media, Sport Business, 18th January 2007
The English Premier League has negotiated a new overseas television deal which will now guarantee next season's champions being paid at least £50 million ($98 million). "It means that the team at the top who got £30 million last year will get around £50 million while even those at the bottom will receive about 30 million pounds," Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore told the Daily Telegraph on Thursday. Source: CNN, 18th January 2007
The new deals made mean that next season's Premiership team finishing bottom of the table will land a £26.8m windfall — which is only marginally less than the £30.4m Chelsea received for winning last season's title. Last season's relegated clubs received between £16m and £19m. Even those figures dwarfed the £10.9m Italy picked up for their World Cup triumph and the £4.1m which went to Barcelona for winning the Champions League. Source: This is London, 18th January 2007
France’s top-tier Ligue 1 has European soccer’s second most valuable domestic rights, having agreed a €1.8-billion deal for the three seasons ending with the 2007-08 season. The unexpectedly high value of the Ligue 1 rights, the result of a fierce auction battle between pay-television broadcasters TPS and Canal Plus, still brings in approximately €260 million less per season than the new Premiership rights deals.
Italy’s Serie A rights were worth an estimated €550 million per season for three-year ending 2006-07, plus €60 million per season for the international rights. Domestic rights is expected to rise to approximately €800 million per season in the three-year period starting in 2007-08, while the international rights are expected to be worth betweeen €70 million to €100 million.
Germany’s top-tier 1.Bundesliga has sold its domestic rights for the three years starting in 2006-07 for €420 million per season, plus €20 million per season for its international rights.
Spain’s top-tier Primera Liga, saw La Sexta pay €150 million a year to air 38 matches per season (one a week) for three years from 2006-07 to the end of the 2008-09 season. Spanish giants Real Madrid sold their television rights for a seven-year period ending 2012-13 to Mediapro in a deal worth €1.1 billion. Mediapro also has a television rights agreement with Barcelona, in a three-year deal worth €105 million a season, which can be extended by two years. Real Madrid’s new deal is worth over €157 million per season, significantly more than the Premiership champions, who will earn some €76 million in prize money and media revenues for winning the title. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
Everyone’s Watching Big Brother
'Celebrity Big Brother' has enjoyed another ratings boost from this week's racism and bullying furore, with 5.1m tuning in to watch, putting it close behind ITV1. The controversy gave the show a 21% share of viewing, nearly beating ITV's episode of 'Taggart', which achieved 5.3m and a 23% share. Having languished at 3.5m viewers on Monday night, the show had shot up to 4.5m on Tuesday night because of extensive media coverage of the bullying and racist comments directed at Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood star, by some of the others. Source: Brand Republic, 18th January 2007
Tension in and out of the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house grew yesterday as Jade and Shilpa fought and were nominated for eviction while demonstrations took place in India and senior British politicians had their say. In the house, a row over stock cubes turned nasty with Jade and Shilpa telling each other to shut up, before Jade flew off the handle, screaming: "You're not some princess here... you're a liar and a fake, you're a f***ing phoney." The polarisation in the house led to the housemates nominating Jade and Shilpa for eviction tomorrow night. Source: Brand Republic, 18th January 2007
UK’s 'Celebrity Big Brother' has caused uproar in the Indian subcontinent over treatment of Bollywood actress. Fans of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty protested the alleged mistreatment she has endured on the hit U.K. reality television show 'Celebrity Big Brother,' burning an effigy representing the program's producers on Wednesday. Source: Total Content & Media quoting Associated Press, 17th January 2007
A major sponsor has pulled the plug on their endorsement of Celebrity Big Brother, the low brow reality show that is at the centre of a storm over the treatment meted out to Bollywood starlet Shilpa Shetty by her fellow "housemates". Carphone Warehouse, the biggest mobile phone retailer in Europe, has pulled out its sponsorship of the current series saying that it did not want its name associated with claims of racist bullying. Source: Indian Television, 18th January 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* Malaysian car manufacturer Proton has agreed to be the title sponsor of the World Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur later this year. The company is a long-standing supporter of badminton and is the sponsor of the Malaysia Open currently taking place in the capital. The Proton-BWF World Championships will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from August 13 to 19. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
* AVP announced an agreement to bring the fast-growing AVP Crocs Tour to Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas to be titled the AVP Cuervo Gold Crown Dallas Open. Dallas is the third new city announced for the 2007 AVP season (Charleston, SC was announced on Dec. 8, 2006 and Glendale, AZ announced on Jan. 3, 2007) and will make up one of 18 events nationwide. The tournament is scheduled to take place April 19-22, 2007 in Arlington, Texas, adjacent to Ameriquest Field. Source: E TV, 18th January 2007
* The Indian government has banned the Sony Pictures Television International channel AXN from local airwaves for a period of two months over supposedly lewd content. P. R. Dasmunsi, the Information and Broadcasting Minister objected to AXN’s broadcast of The World's Sexiest Advertisements, which he referred to as “indecent content" that was "against good taste or decency and is likely to adversely affect public morality." Source: Worldscreen, Indian Television, 18th January 2007
* Betfair, the UK-based bookmaker, has agreed a deal to offer live broadband coverage of the 2007 Australian Open, tennis’ first grand slam tournament of the year, currently taking place in Melbourne. Live coverage of games will be available worldwide except in Australia, and can be viewed free of charge by betfair's estimated 1 million customers. The Australian Open runs until January 28. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
* Italy’s Chamber of Deputies (the lower parliamentary house) is likely to approve new proposed legislation for centralised sale of television rights by Serie A TIM (sponsor) football clubs this week. The bill will then go to the Senate, where a smooth passage is expected. However, the law would not take effect for three to four years, providing time to clear the decks of current deals. Source: Sports Media, 18th January 2007
* In France, Sportfive had to settle for a deal in which commercial broadcasters TF1 and M6 will share the rights of the Euro 2008, after a second round of bidding failed to produce an outright winner. It is understood that the two broadcasters have jointly agreed to pay the €100-million ($126-million) fee that Sportfive had targeted, and will have the rights to show simultaneous coverage of France's matches in the tournament. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
* Coverage of the Euro 2008 in Germany could be split between free-to-air and pay-television, as public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF baulked at the reported €150-million asking price to show all 31 games. Both networks had stated that would not increase an initial bid said to be worth less than €100 million. They argued that the asking price, equivalent to €4.8 million per match, exceeds the €3.75 million per match they paid to show 48 out of the 64 matches of last summer’s World Cup, in a deal worth a total of €150 million. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
MORE NEWS
Don King: New Venue
Don King's February 3rd show, which is to be televised on Showtime and that features an attractive doubleheader of Jesus Chavez-Julio Diaz (for the IBF lightweight crown) and Tomasz Adamek-Chad Dawson (for the WBC light heavyweight title), was to have taken place in Miami, Florida on Super Bowl weekend at the Miami Arena. But as checks started bouncing like basketballs from a private investor, this card found a new home in Florida.
According to Alan Hopper, director of public relations at DKP, the show has been moved to Kissimmee, Florida at the Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Heritage Park, which has a capacity of 9,000. Meanwhile, look out for litigation between King and one Allan Howell, who represented the arena and was responsible for bringing in the private investor whose $500,000 check bounced. Source: Max Boxing, 18th January 2007
The Philippines/Broadcaster: Reyes, Bustamante to boycott ESPN
THE decision of ESPN to choose Guinness over San Miguel after a four-year partnership in the Asian 9-Ball Tour may result in a backlash against the sports network. Aristeo “Putch” Puyat, the godfather of Philippine pool, indicated that his players Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante will boycott the ESPN Asian 9-Ball Tour, over what he considered ESPN’s shabby treatment of the Philippine’s flagship company.
ESPN, which is on its final year of coverage of the World Pool Championships under its contract with Matchroom Sport, was also remiss when it failed to send a top official of the network to the country for the WPC event. Puyat said he was responsible for taking ESPN to meet with San Miguel Corp. to discuss the Asian 9-Ball Tour, which San Miguel Beer subsequently sponsored beginning in 2003 with the opening leg at the Pool Haven in Singapore.
Reyes, recognized around the world as “The Magician,” was the biggest draw in the Asian 9-Ball Tour and won a total of seven tour stops, ending with the Jakarta leg last year in which he beat hometown favorite Ricky Yang and ensured a clean sweep by Filipino cue masters of the 2006 tour. The absence of Reyes and Bustamante, who are both San Miguel Beer endorsers, is expected to trigger an exodus of more Filipino players from the tour.
While ESPN’s audience share in the Philippines has been eaten into by Solar Sports, the network also came under criticism for its coverage of the last World Pool Championships in Manila. Respected Philippine sports TV directors said the coverage lacked imagination and the quality one would expect of the WPC and the scenic shots of attractions in Manila, were poorly done. Source: Manila Standard Today, 18th January 2007
Singapore/Broadcaster: StarHub Launches HDTV Platform
Singapore has become the first Southeast Asian nation to offer commercial HDTV services, with the launch of StarHub’s HD Plus today featuring Discovery HD and National Geographic Channel HD. The launch follows StarHub’s successful HDTV trial, including the 2006 FIFA World Cup and ended at the close of the year. During this trial, 1,000 StarHub Digital Cable could access 64 World Cup matches and titles from Discovery and National Geographic Channel.
Discovery HD is now available in 14 international markets including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Germany, Austria, Ireland, the U.K., Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. National Geographic Channel HD is also on offer in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Italy, Canada, France and the Netherlands. Source: Worldscreen, 18th January 2007
China/General: England The Popular Choice For Football Followers
The most popular national football team jersey in China is the England top, according to a new study by Warwick Business School. The study found that England is a favourite of the Chinese followed by Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany. The most commonly seen football shirt in China was the England national shirt (40.56% of respondents report seeing it ‘very often’) followed by Manchester United (30.42%) and Italy national team jersey (29.72%).
Those recorded as being ‘not seen often’ included Spain, Chelsea, Germany, France and Inter Milan. University of Warwick's Business School, carried out the research among football fans in China for the English Football Association (FA) during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The study shows much more interest among Chinese fans in international football (78.01%) than Chinese local football (31.24%).
English football fared best of all among Chinese football supporters. In major tournaments where China was not present, 96.3% of Chinese fans supported another international team. England was the most supported ‘second’ team with 26.35%, followed by Brazil (20.61%), Argentina (11.82%), Italy (10.81%) and Germany (10.81%).
When asked which team the Chinese watched most frequently, England fared even better with 27.2%, followed by Brazil (12.9%) and Italy (11.2%). Next came Manchester United (9.5%), which ranked above all remaining international teams. More than half (54.14%) of those surveyed own a football shirt. Again England came top (19.6%), with 13.9% owning a Manchester United shirt, 8.8% AC Milan and 8.23% Italy. Football Insider, EUFootball.biz, 18th January 2007
Asia/General: Federer wants more events in Asia
Roger Federer has said more major events should be played in Asia rather than the traditional tennis strongholds of Europe and the US. "I'm more for moving tournaments to Asia (rather) than Europe or the United States," he said to reporters at the Australian Open on Wednesday. "I think Asia is a very important market, I've always loved playing over there, I don't really care where it goes in Asia but I think it's really important to have big events there."
Etienne De Villiers, the chairman of the Association of Tennis Players (ATP), said last October that the showpiece Masters Cup event should move from its Shanghai venue to Europe when its contract expires after 2008. De Villiers said the tournament should be played where most tennis fans are based, and suggested London as his preferred venue.
But Federer said the game should do more to exploit the burgeoning popularity of the sport across Asia and would like to see major events switched there should the season-ending championships move. Shanghai hosted the Masters Cup three times from 2002 to 2006, and although each has been a huge success there has been criticism the event is staged such a distance away at the conclusion of the European and US seasons. Its contract runs out after the 2008 tournament.
De Villiers did say when he made his pronouncement that a Masters Series event would likely replace the Masters Cup when it was moved from Shanghai, and Federer backed the notion. "We have the Australian Open but that's all the way down here. We need something in Asia as well," said Federer, who has won the Masters Cup three times. “When this (Masters Cup) goes, it's good to maybe have a Masters Series over there." Source: Supersports, 18th January 2007
Asia/General: Athletes for 6th Asian Winter Games Hit Record High
The 6th Asian Winter Games, slated for Jan. 28 to Feb. 4 in Changchun, northeast China, has registered record numbers of athletes and participating teams, said the organizers in Changchun, China on Wednesday. A total of 816 athletes from 26 countries and regions of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have officially registered for the Games to make it the biggest ever Winter sports meet in the continent.
Nine more countries and regions will take part in the upcoming Games, compared to the last edition in Aomori, Japan. Hosts China will dispatch a 200-plus delegation to stand atop in terms of the number of athletes, followed by Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan who will play hosts to the next Games.
The Chinese athletes will participate in all the 47 events, including Olympic champion Wang Meng, Fu Tianyu and Li Ye for short track speedskating, Wang Fei for speedskating, twice world champions Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo, 2006 world champions Pang Qing/Tong Jian for figure skating, Han Xiaona, Li Nina for freestyle skiing, and Wang Chunli and Li Geliang for cross country skiing.
Japan will take part in all the events except women's freestyle skiing aerials, and South Korea will compete in all but the freestyle skiing. The Games will also feature athletes from Chinese Hong Kong, Chinese Macao, as well as Chinese Taipei. Pakistan will send only one athlete for the Games. Ice hockey is the most popular sport with 348 athletes, including a record of 11 men's teams, competing for the medals while ski racing is also a hot bonanza with the most delegations of 18 in the field. Source: People’s Daily Online, 18th January 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: RAI Retains National Team
Italian public broadcaster RAI is ready to approve a new deal with the domestic football federation (FIGC) for exclusive television rights to Italy’s national football team. The package for the current FIFA World Cup holder is worth €154 million over four years, plus a bonus of 5% if Italy qualifies for the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. The rights fee is up from about €25 million annually for rights under RAI’s four-year deal that expired in December. The reported new fee means RAI would pay about 27% more per season.
RAI has held the rights to Italy’s national football team ever since television began and almost lost its exclusive hold on them after the current contract expired last year. Luca Pancalli, the head of the FIGC as extraordinary commissioner, had indicated in autumn last year that rights may be shared between free-TV and pay-TV in future. RAI had suggested that it wanted to pay less for the rights, while keeping exclusivity. Source: Sports Media, 18th January 2007
Elsewhere/New Media: Mobile TV Revenues on the Rise
Annual revenues from mobile TV and mobile video on demand (VoD) are set to increase 800% between 2006 and 2010. New research by Understanding & Solutions reckons a bright future for mobile TV. “By 2010, mobile TV and mobile VoD will achieve combined revenues of around US$18bn worldwide,” said Alison Casey, business director of content and services at Understanding & Solutions, “and that’s excluding revenues from advertising, sponsorship and added interactive services.”
DVB-H (digital video broadcasting over handheld) is expected to be dominant Europe due to its robust error correction, power efficiencies and ability to hold up to 80 channels. Based on subscribers, the world’s most successful mobile TV implementation to date is TU Media/SK Telekom in South Korea, which has an estimated base exceeding three million at the end of 2006. This is followed by 3 Italia, which had half a million subscribers at the end of last year.
However, made-for-mobile content production costs are generally high; therefore a wide distribution platform is crucial in order to receive a return on investment. There is also evidence that consumers are still not used to using their handsets in this way.
“The market activity to date reaffirms our view that mobile TV will be a significant business in coming years – customer take-up in the major launch markets of South Korea and Italy have been remarkable, with consumers also showing willingness to pay incrementally for quality TV on mobile services.” Globally, Understanding & Solutions predicts mobile TV revenues to exceed mobile VoD by a ratio of almost four to one by 2010, pulling in around US$14.3bn and US$3.7bn respectively. Source: Silicone Republic, 18th January 2007
Premier League Doubles International Income
Read Richard Scudamore’s Interview by David Bond on the Daily Telegraph, 18th January 2007
More links: BBC Sports, EUFootball.biz
International media rights income for England’s FA (Football Association) Premier League for the next three-year cycle starting in 2007-08 will be twice as high as under the previous round of deals expiring at the end of this season. Richard Scudamore, the Premier League's chief executive, said that foreign sales revenue has reached £625 million for the period 2007-08 through 2009-10. The total covers 81 packages in 208 countries. The total value of the media and TV rights packages for the English Premier League for the three years from the start of the 2007-08 season is a staggering £2.7 billion.
“We have seen huge growth everywhere but the big jumps have been in Asia and the Middle East,” Scudamore told the Daily Telegraph. “In some territories the rights have sold for three or four times the current amount.” He attributed the increase in foreign revenue in part to the Barclays Premiership’s “open-door” policy on foreign participants. “We have a cosmopolitan approach to players and a cosmopolitan approach to ownership and that is paying off.”
Asia is by far the greatest contributor to the Premiership’s latest international rights, generating about $700 million. Europe is estimated to have brought in $275 million, the Middle East $120 million, Africa $95 million, the Americas $65 million and Oceania about $20 million.
Scudamore said the increase also shows that the League made the right decision in deciding to take over management of its own distribution instead of entrusting the task to an agency. The Premier League handles its own worldwide sales, under the direction of Phil Lines (head of media operations). The international production is currently handled by IMG Media’s TWI. That contract is due to go out to tender for the next cycle with the bidding details expected to be issued soon.
The Premiership’s foreign sales total is on top of nearly £1.7 billion for the domestic deals for live TV rights reached last May with Sky (£1.3 billion) and Setanta (£392 million). There is a lso a new deal for domestic highlights with BBC for the three years worth £171.6 million. The League has also made deals for Internet and mobile phone rights worth about £400 million.
"This deal (package of deals) really does take us on to another level.” He added that he did not expect to see such a big increase next time. “The clubs are obviously very grateful for the money but this is probably the last time we will be able to achieve such a massive one-off increase,” he said. Source: Sports Media, Sport Business, 18th January 2007
The English Premier League has negotiated a new overseas television deal which will now guarantee next season's champions being paid at least £50 million ($98 million). "It means that the team at the top who got £30 million last year will get around £50 million while even those at the bottom will receive about 30 million pounds," Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore told the Daily Telegraph on Thursday. Source: CNN, 18th January 2007
The new deals made mean that next season's Premiership team finishing bottom of the table will land a £26.8m windfall — which is only marginally less than the £30.4m Chelsea received for winning last season's title. Last season's relegated clubs received between £16m and £19m. Even those figures dwarfed the £10.9m Italy picked up for their World Cup triumph and the £4.1m which went to Barcelona for winning the Champions League. Source: This is London, 18th January 2007
France’s top-tier Ligue 1 has European soccer’s second most valuable domestic rights, having agreed a €1.8-billion deal for the three seasons ending with the 2007-08 season. The unexpectedly high value of the Ligue 1 rights, the result of a fierce auction battle between pay-television broadcasters TPS and Canal Plus, still brings in approximately €260 million less per season than the new Premiership rights deals.
Italy’s Serie A rights were worth an estimated €550 million per season for three-year ending 2006-07, plus €60 million per season for the international rights. Domestic rights is expected to rise to approximately €800 million per season in the three-year period starting in 2007-08, while the international rights are expected to be worth betweeen €70 million to €100 million.
Germany’s top-tier 1.Bundesliga has sold its domestic rights for the three years starting in 2006-07 for €420 million per season, plus €20 million per season for its international rights.
Spain’s top-tier Primera Liga, saw La Sexta pay €150 million a year to air 38 matches per season (one a week) for three years from 2006-07 to the end of the 2008-09 season. Spanish giants Real Madrid sold their television rights for a seven-year period ending 2012-13 to Mediapro in a deal worth €1.1 billion. Mediapro also has a television rights agreement with Barcelona, in a three-year deal worth €105 million a season, which can be extended by two years. Real Madrid’s new deal is worth over €157 million per season, significantly more than the Premiership champions, who will earn some €76 million in prize money and media revenues for winning the title. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
Everyone’s Watching Big Brother
'Celebrity Big Brother' has enjoyed another ratings boost from this week's racism and bullying furore, with 5.1m tuning in to watch, putting it close behind ITV1. The controversy gave the show a 21% share of viewing, nearly beating ITV's episode of 'Taggart', which achieved 5.3m and a 23% share. Having languished at 3.5m viewers on Monday night, the show had shot up to 4.5m on Tuesday night because of extensive media coverage of the bullying and racist comments directed at Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood star, by some of the others. Source: Brand Republic, 18th January 2007
Tension in and out of the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house grew yesterday as Jade and Shilpa fought and were nominated for eviction while demonstrations took place in India and senior British politicians had their say. In the house, a row over stock cubes turned nasty with Jade and Shilpa telling each other to shut up, before Jade flew off the handle, screaming: "You're not some princess here... you're a liar and a fake, you're a f***ing phoney." The polarisation in the house led to the housemates nominating Jade and Shilpa for eviction tomorrow night. Source: Brand Republic, 18th January 2007
UK’s 'Celebrity Big Brother' has caused uproar in the Indian subcontinent over treatment of Bollywood actress. Fans of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty protested the alleged mistreatment she has endured on the hit U.K. reality television show 'Celebrity Big Brother,' burning an effigy representing the program's producers on Wednesday. Source: Total Content & Media quoting Associated Press, 17th January 2007
A major sponsor has pulled the plug on their endorsement of Celebrity Big Brother, the low brow reality show that is at the centre of a storm over the treatment meted out to Bollywood starlet Shilpa Shetty by her fellow "housemates". Carphone Warehouse, the biggest mobile phone retailer in Europe, has pulled out its sponsorship of the current series saying that it did not want its name associated with claims of racist bullying. Source: Indian Television, 18th January 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* Malaysian car manufacturer Proton has agreed to be the title sponsor of the World Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur later this year. The company is a long-standing supporter of badminton and is the sponsor of the Malaysia Open currently taking place in the capital. The Proton-BWF World Championships will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from August 13 to 19. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
* AVP announced an agreement to bring the fast-growing AVP Crocs Tour to Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas to be titled the AVP Cuervo Gold Crown Dallas Open. Dallas is the third new city announced for the 2007 AVP season (Charleston, SC was announced on Dec. 8, 2006 and Glendale, AZ announced on Jan. 3, 2007) and will make up one of 18 events nationwide. The tournament is scheduled to take place April 19-22, 2007 in Arlington, Texas, adjacent to Ameriquest Field. Source: E TV, 18th January 2007
* The Indian government has banned the Sony Pictures Television International channel AXN from local airwaves for a period of two months over supposedly lewd content. P. R. Dasmunsi, the Information and Broadcasting Minister objected to AXN’s broadcast of The World's Sexiest Advertisements, which he referred to as “indecent content" that was "against good taste or decency and is likely to adversely affect public morality." Source: Worldscreen, Indian Television, 18th January 2007
* Betfair, the UK-based bookmaker, has agreed a deal to offer live broadband coverage of the 2007 Australian Open, tennis’ first grand slam tournament of the year, currently taking place in Melbourne. Live coverage of games will be available worldwide except in Australia, and can be viewed free of charge by betfair's estimated 1 million customers. The Australian Open runs until January 28. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
* Italy’s Chamber of Deputies (the lower parliamentary house) is likely to approve new proposed legislation for centralised sale of television rights by Serie A TIM (sponsor) football clubs this week. The bill will then go to the Senate, where a smooth passage is expected. However, the law would not take effect for three to four years, providing time to clear the decks of current deals. Source: Sports Media, 18th January 2007
* In France, Sportfive had to settle for a deal in which commercial broadcasters TF1 and M6 will share the rights of the Euro 2008, after a second round of bidding failed to produce an outright winner. It is understood that the two broadcasters have jointly agreed to pay the €100-million ($126-million) fee that Sportfive had targeted, and will have the rights to show simultaneous coverage of France's matches in the tournament. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
* Coverage of the Euro 2008 in Germany could be split between free-to-air and pay-television, as public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF baulked at the reported €150-million asking price to show all 31 games. Both networks had stated that would not increase an initial bid said to be worth less than €100 million. They argued that the asking price, equivalent to €4.8 million per match, exceeds the €3.75 million per match they paid to show 48 out of the 64 matches of last summer’s World Cup, in a deal worth a total of €150 million. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007
MORE NEWS
Don King: New Venue
Don King's February 3rd show, which is to be televised on Showtime and that features an attractive doubleheader of Jesus Chavez-Julio Diaz (for the IBF lightweight crown) and Tomasz Adamek-Chad Dawson (for the WBC light heavyweight title), was to have taken place in Miami, Florida on Super Bowl weekend at the Miami Arena. But as checks started bouncing like basketballs from a private investor, this card found a new home in Florida.
According to Alan Hopper, director of public relations at DKP, the show has been moved to Kissimmee, Florida at the Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Heritage Park, which has a capacity of 9,000. Meanwhile, look out for litigation between King and one Allan Howell, who represented the arena and was responsible for bringing in the private investor whose $500,000 check bounced. Source: Max Boxing, 18th January 2007
The Philippines/Broadcaster: Reyes, Bustamante to boycott ESPN
THE decision of ESPN to choose Guinness over San Miguel after a four-year partnership in the Asian 9-Ball Tour may result in a backlash against the sports network. Aristeo “Putch” Puyat, the godfather of Philippine pool, indicated that his players Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante will boycott the ESPN Asian 9-Ball Tour, over what he considered ESPN’s shabby treatment of the Philippine’s flagship company.
ESPN, which is on its final year of coverage of the World Pool Championships under its contract with Matchroom Sport, was also remiss when it failed to send a top official of the network to the country for the WPC event. Puyat said he was responsible for taking ESPN to meet with San Miguel Corp. to discuss the Asian 9-Ball Tour, which San Miguel Beer subsequently sponsored beginning in 2003 with the opening leg at the Pool Haven in Singapore.
Reyes, recognized around the world as “The Magician,” was the biggest draw in the Asian 9-Ball Tour and won a total of seven tour stops, ending with the Jakarta leg last year in which he beat hometown favorite Ricky Yang and ensured a clean sweep by Filipino cue masters of the 2006 tour. The absence of Reyes and Bustamante, who are both San Miguel Beer endorsers, is expected to trigger an exodus of more Filipino players from the tour.
While ESPN’s audience share in the Philippines has been eaten into by Solar Sports, the network also came under criticism for its coverage of the last World Pool Championships in Manila. Respected Philippine sports TV directors said the coverage lacked imagination and the quality one would expect of the WPC and the scenic shots of attractions in Manila, were poorly done. Source: Manila Standard Today, 18th January 2007
Singapore/Broadcaster: StarHub Launches HDTV Platform
Singapore has become the first Southeast Asian nation to offer commercial HDTV services, with the launch of StarHub’s HD Plus today featuring Discovery HD and National Geographic Channel HD. The launch follows StarHub’s successful HDTV trial, including the 2006 FIFA World Cup and ended at the close of the year. During this trial, 1,000 StarHub Digital Cable could access 64 World Cup matches and titles from Discovery and National Geographic Channel.
Discovery HD is now available in 14 international markets including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Germany, Austria, Ireland, the U.K., Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. National Geographic Channel HD is also on offer in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Italy, Canada, France and the Netherlands. Source: Worldscreen, 18th January 2007
China/General: England The Popular Choice For Football Followers
The most popular national football team jersey in China is the England top, according to a new study by Warwick Business School. The study found that England is a favourite of the Chinese followed by Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany. The most commonly seen football shirt in China was the England national shirt (40.56% of respondents report seeing it ‘very often’) followed by Manchester United (30.42%) and Italy national team jersey (29.72%).
Those recorded as being ‘not seen often’ included Spain, Chelsea, Germany, France and Inter Milan. University of Warwick's Business School, carried out the research among football fans in China for the English Football Association (FA) during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The study shows much more interest among Chinese fans in international football (78.01%) than Chinese local football (31.24%).
English football fared best of all among Chinese football supporters. In major tournaments where China was not present, 96.3% of Chinese fans supported another international team. England was the most supported ‘second’ team with 26.35%, followed by Brazil (20.61%), Argentina (11.82%), Italy (10.81%) and Germany (10.81%).
When asked which team the Chinese watched most frequently, England fared even better with 27.2%, followed by Brazil (12.9%) and Italy (11.2%). Next came Manchester United (9.5%), which ranked above all remaining international teams. More than half (54.14%) of those surveyed own a football shirt. Again England came top (19.6%), with 13.9% owning a Manchester United shirt, 8.8% AC Milan and 8.23% Italy. Football Insider, EUFootball.biz, 18th January 2007
Asia/General: Federer wants more events in Asia
Roger Federer has said more major events should be played in Asia rather than the traditional tennis strongholds of Europe and the US. "I'm more for moving tournaments to Asia (rather) than Europe or the United States," he said to reporters at the Australian Open on Wednesday. "I think Asia is a very important market, I've always loved playing over there, I don't really care where it goes in Asia but I think it's really important to have big events there."
Etienne De Villiers, the chairman of the Association of Tennis Players (ATP), said last October that the showpiece Masters Cup event should move from its Shanghai venue to Europe when its contract expires after 2008. De Villiers said the tournament should be played where most tennis fans are based, and suggested London as his preferred venue.
But Federer said the game should do more to exploit the burgeoning popularity of the sport across Asia and would like to see major events switched there should the season-ending championships move. Shanghai hosted the Masters Cup three times from 2002 to 2006, and although each has been a huge success there has been criticism the event is staged such a distance away at the conclusion of the European and US seasons. Its contract runs out after the 2008 tournament.
De Villiers did say when he made his pronouncement that a Masters Series event would likely replace the Masters Cup when it was moved from Shanghai, and Federer backed the notion. "We have the Australian Open but that's all the way down here. We need something in Asia as well," said Federer, who has won the Masters Cup three times. “When this (Masters Cup) goes, it's good to maybe have a Masters Series over there." Source: Supersports, 18th January 2007
Asia/General: Athletes for 6th Asian Winter Games Hit Record High
The 6th Asian Winter Games, slated for Jan. 28 to Feb. 4 in Changchun, northeast China, has registered record numbers of athletes and participating teams, said the organizers in Changchun, China on Wednesday. A total of 816 athletes from 26 countries and regions of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have officially registered for the Games to make it the biggest ever Winter sports meet in the continent.
Nine more countries and regions will take part in the upcoming Games, compared to the last edition in Aomori, Japan. Hosts China will dispatch a 200-plus delegation to stand atop in terms of the number of athletes, followed by Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan who will play hosts to the next Games.
The Chinese athletes will participate in all the 47 events, including Olympic champion Wang Meng, Fu Tianyu and Li Ye for short track speedskating, Wang Fei for speedskating, twice world champions Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo, 2006 world champions Pang Qing/Tong Jian for figure skating, Han Xiaona, Li Nina for freestyle skiing, and Wang Chunli and Li Geliang for cross country skiing.
Japan will take part in all the events except women's freestyle skiing aerials, and South Korea will compete in all but the freestyle skiing. The Games will also feature athletes from Chinese Hong Kong, Chinese Macao, as well as Chinese Taipei. Pakistan will send only one athlete for the Games. Ice hockey is the most popular sport with 348 athletes, including a record of 11 men's teams, competing for the medals while ski racing is also a hot bonanza with the most delegations of 18 in the field. Source: People’s Daily Online, 18th January 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: RAI Retains National Team
Italian public broadcaster RAI is ready to approve a new deal with the domestic football federation (FIGC) for exclusive television rights to Italy’s national football team. The package for the current FIFA World Cup holder is worth €154 million over four years, plus a bonus of 5% if Italy qualifies for the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. The rights fee is up from about €25 million annually for rights under RAI’s four-year deal that expired in December. The reported new fee means RAI would pay about 27% more per season.
RAI has held the rights to Italy’s national football team ever since television began and almost lost its exclusive hold on them after the current contract expired last year. Luca Pancalli, the head of the FIGC as extraordinary commissioner, had indicated in autumn last year that rights may be shared between free-TV and pay-TV in future. RAI had suggested that it wanted to pay less for the rights, while keeping exclusivity. Source: Sports Media, 18th January 2007
Elsewhere/New Media: Mobile TV Revenues on the Rise
Annual revenues from mobile TV and mobile video on demand (VoD) are set to increase 800% between 2006 and 2010. New research by Understanding & Solutions reckons a bright future for mobile TV. “By 2010, mobile TV and mobile VoD will achieve combined revenues of around US$18bn worldwide,” said Alison Casey, business director of content and services at Understanding & Solutions, “and that’s excluding revenues from advertising, sponsorship and added interactive services.”
DVB-H (digital video broadcasting over handheld) is expected to be dominant Europe due to its robust error correction, power efficiencies and ability to hold up to 80 channels. Based on subscribers, the world’s most successful mobile TV implementation to date is TU Media/SK Telekom in South Korea, which has an estimated base exceeding three million at the end of 2006. This is followed by 3 Italia, which had half a million subscribers at the end of last year.
However, made-for-mobile content production costs are generally high; therefore a wide distribution platform is crucial in order to receive a return on investment. There is also evidence that consumers are still not used to using their handsets in this way.
“The market activity to date reaffirms our view that mobile TV will be a significant business in coming years – customer take-up in the major launch markets of South Korea and Italy have been remarkable, with consumers also showing willingness to pay incrementally for quality TV on mobile services.” Globally, Understanding & Solutions predicts mobile TV revenues to exceed mobile VoD by a ratio of almost four to one by 2010, pulling in around US$14.3bn and US$3.7bn respectively. Source: Silicone Republic, 18th January 2007