Wednesday, 28th February 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
FIFA Blocked Again
Fifa, soccer’s world governing body, yesterday suffered another setback in its attempt to retain credit card firm Visa as a sponsor after a US judge scornfully dismissed the governing body’s attempt to gain a hearing before an arbitration panel in its ‘home’ country of Switzerland. Fifa is struggling to overturn a New York court ruling that it should ditch the deal with Visa and instead award an eight-year sponsorship contract to MasterCard.
However, the New York court judge, Loretta Preska, yesterday rejected Fifa’s claim that by approaching the Swiss arbitration panel it was not seeking a second ruling in a different court. She told Fifa’s lawyer: ‘How can you say that with a straight face?’
Fifa did not have to comply immediately with the order to award the sponsorship deal to MasterCard after the court ruled in December that the deal could be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal. The appeal concerns the New York court's jurisdiction over the case. The court claims jurisdiction on the basis that ‘this is a civil action between a citizen of a state and a citizen or subject of a foreign state and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs.
The ruling said that the case was heard in the New York court on the basis that MasterCard’s headquarters are in New York, with the result that ‘a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred in this district.’ Source: Sportcal, Daily Report Online, 27th February 2007
Clubs Leading a Backlash Against UEFA and FIFA
There could be a major split in European football as Premier League clubs criticise UEFA and FIFA. Since England's top clubs received GBP 2.7 billion for television rights, the leagues are demanding a greater say in how UEFA and FIFA run its competitions. UEFA is afraid the big leagues and clubs will set up its own competition if UEFA does not do what the clubs want. The political confrontation will cause a major change in the way European and world football is organised.
At a meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, Michel Platini, UEFA's new president, will hold significant talks with representatives from the Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) that was formed in 2004. Premier League chairman, Sir David Richards, presides over the group that is made up of 15 leagues from across the continent, with another seven leagues due to join later this year.
Since UEFA decided that the major European clubs would come in line with the formation of the European Club Forum, the EPFL's influence has been growing while the G14's power has been fading. In addition, the Premier League has more financial clout because of its new three-year TV deal, which starts this summer, and the EPFL will have more input in how football is run at an international level.
Both the leagues and clubs are frustrated at the lack of influence it has over key decisions that affect what is now a multi-billion pound business, despite being included on various strategy forums and committees over the last year. Source: EUFootball.biz, 27th February 2007
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
Honda leads Formula One’s green revolution
To make a pledge, visit MyEarthDream.com
The Honda Racing F1 Team today unveiled a radical new approach to Formula One. Launched at the Earth Gallery in London’s Natural History Museum, Honda’s 2007 challenger, the RA107, will feature no commercial logos at all, replacing them with a giant image of the Earth. It is an approach that is certain to rewrite the rule book in terms of sponsorship and communication, while drawing attention to one of the greatest challenges facing the world – climate change and environmental responsibility.
Honda will harness this power to raise awareness of climate change among the 150+ million viewers of each race, taking place every two weeks. Indeed, such is the reach of the sport around the world, that it is estimated that if just 1% of F1 viewers turned their computer off at the plug overnight, this would save 45,000 tonnes of CO2., more than three and a half times the annual carbon emissions of the entire Honda Racing F1 Team.
Motor sport’s governing body, the FIA, has already announced its desire to see F1 play a major role in the development of new energy-saving technologies and this bold initiative by the Honda Racing F1 Team is by far the clearest endorsement of the FIA’s progressive strategy. It is entirely appropriate that it should be Honda taking the lead with this ground-breaking approach and the credibility is all the stronger coming as it does from a company that has always made great efforts to contribute to the preservation of the environment in all aspects of its corporate activity.
Universal Music, the largest music company in the world, and Gatorade are the first global brands to partner the team in this exciting new concept. Existing partners have enthusiastically embraced the idea and all remain involved with the team for the 07 season. In addition, the team is delighted to announce that Fila, IBM, Instron, Oliver Sweeney, Perkin Elmer, Showa Denko, TUV and GF Agie Charmilles have joined the roster of team partners and suppliers. Source: Honda Racing F1 Official Site, Sports Media, Sport Business, 27th February 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* India Online (IOL) Broadband has launched what is claimed as India’s first IP-based on-demand television service to more than 250,000 subscribers. Leveraging the network of government-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), IOL Broadband offers on-demand content including Bollywood and Hollywood hits and music videos to its customers in Mumbai. Other IOL Broadband IPTV services include interactive gaming, video conferencing, an e-education channel and live financial data from the Bombay Stock Exchange. Source: Digital Media, 27th February 2007
* DTH service provider Tata Sky has tied up with the Bollywood heartthrob, Hritik Roshan, in efforts to spread the awareness of its association. The DTH platform is running a contest that gives 50 people and their families a chance to watch the ICC World Cup final with Hritik on 28 April in Mumbai. This is open to those who have bought Tata Sky before 15 April 2007. Tata Sky would likely have shelled out around Rs 17 million to get him on board, industry sources indicate. Source: Indian Television, 28th February 2007
* Vietnam's VNPT said that it will reduce by 15% to 20% its charges for VinaPhone and MobiFone, triggering a possible price war between the six mobile service providers in Vietnam. The cuts are tentatively scheduled for the end of March. VNPT wants to increase its users by an additional 3.5million to 4 million this year, reaching 16 million subscribers. The price cut comes after Viettel Mobile adjusted its fee for post-paid customers in February. Viettel said it was ready for the competition because it now has 5 million subscribers, as many as VinaPhone and MobiFone. Source: Telecom Asia, 28th February 2007
* China will not issue licenses for 3G mobile services until the first quarter of 2008, according to local media. China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will not issue the licenses until a new round of tests involving the homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G technology ends next year. Delaying the release of the 3G licenses will give TD-SCDMA and its backers additional time to close the gap with more mature 3G technologies, such as W-CDMA and cdma2000 EV-DO. Source: Telecom Asia, 28th February 2007
* The television hardware market in Asia measures at nearly $22 billion. GfK Asia has released its 2006 pan-Asian consumer electronics data summary. The report includes data from 13 countries including China, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. LCD televisions are the largest television category, equaling 40 per cent of the total market value, compared to conventional televisions (39 per cent), plasma televisions (18 per cent), and rear projection televisions (three per cent). Source: Indian Television, 28th February 2007
* Sources indicate that Jamaica's SportsMax - through parent company International Media Content Limited (IMC), will be doling out between US$18 and US$20 million over the duration of the contract for exclusive broadcast rights for a comprehensive football package, which includes the next two World Cups. Jamaica’s World Cup 2006 Qualifying match rights were sold to Traffic Sports USA for US$900,000 at a time when the Caribbean Football Union was hoping to sell rights for a minimum of US$2 million. Source: The Jamaica Observer, 27th February 2007
* Aston Villa will put its media rights up for sale in a bid to turn itself into a more fan-friendly club. The club will release a tender document this week. A first for the club, it outlines Villa's vision for next season's domestic and international television rights, mobile, home video, website, matchday video and broadband services. The club is also exploring a "centralised production process" which could allow its media content to created "in-house". The move is driven by new chief executive Richard FitzGerald, who has a strong background in new media. Source: Birmingham Post, 26th February 2007
* YouTube has struck a deal with the National Basketball Association to show highlights and behind-the-scenes videos featuring NBA players, CNBC reported Monday. The service includes a new website, the "NBA Channel," which will include interactive features like allowing users to send in clips of their best moves. The NBA previously had a pay-per-watch deal with Google Video. The deal is reportedly less extensive than the one Google struck with the National Hockey League in November. Source: Total Content + Media, Mediaweek, Sports Video Group, New York Times, 26th February 2007
* Gol TV has reached a deal with Bell Canada to make exclusive content available to mobile phone service Bell Mobility. Video content will include coverage of the UEFA Champions League, England's Premier League, Spain's Primera División, Italy's Serie A TIM and Germany's 1.Bundesliga. Gol TV has also agreed to make exclusive content available online via Sympatico.msn.ca, a Bell joint venture with Microsoft. Exclusive content there includes Living Legends and Lee Godfrey's Soccer Blog. Source: Sports Media, 27th February 2007
* In a move designed to continue the growth and progress of officiating in the United States, U.S. Soccer has established a programme to employ full-time referees for the first time in the organisation's 95-year history. Jair Marrufo, Ricardo Salazar, Baldomero Toledo and Terry Vaughn will become full-time referees, enabling them to focus on practical on-field applications, as well as on off-the-field training. Source: Football Insider, 27th February 2007
* The Apple TV solution which allows computer video to be played on TV sets—originally due out in February—has been delayed until mid-March, reports Reuters. No specific reason was given, a spokeperson simply said: “Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments mid-March.” Some Apple TV devices have already been pre-sold via Apple.com for $299...the shipping information still says February. Source: Business Week, also Reuters on Yahoo! News, CNet News, Rapid TV News, 26th February 2007
* UK IPTV start-up BT Vision has poached the VP of operations and production at Dubai-based TAJ Television, Steve Norris, to head its sports activities. Norris jointly founded TAJ in 2000, when it was known as Ten Sports. He will take up his post at BT Vision from the beginning of April, reporting to commercial director Marc Watson. He will be responsible for growing the BT Vision sports offering, which is due to launch this summer and currently includes the Setanta Sport channel, plus access to 242 'near-live' Premiership football matches. Source: C21 Media, 27th February 2007
MORE NEWS
India/Broadcast: Neo Sports Targets Pan-Asian Expansion by Mid 2007
Neo Sports has announced details of its Pan Asian expansion as part of its mission to be a Pan Asian cricket channel by the middle of 2007. These markets include the Middle East, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The cricket-dedicated channel will soon also commence broadcasting in Malaysia and Singapore.
Neo Sports CEO, Shashi Kalathil said, "In barely three months of our commercial launch in India, we have succeeded in a comprehensive Pan Asian roll-out. Asia is a very important market for us as it is an amalgamation of cultures and nationalities with a huge Indian ethnic community."
The revenues from the Pan Asian operations of Neo Sports outside India, between subscription and advertising are expected to add up to approximately $26 million in 2007-2008 with an approximately 30 per cent EBIDTA margin, as incremental cost for international operations is relatively insignificant since the bulk of the costs are already absorbed in the Indian operations, informs an official release.
Neo Sports was launched in Nepal through Pacific Traders on Cable and MMDS and has also partnered with the Pehla bouquet on the ADD platform in the Middle East, which is the pay TV platform management company in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. It has also been launched on Cable in Bangladesh via SAARC Media in January 2007 and in Sri Lanka through Sri Lanka Broadband Network.
In March 2007 Neo Sports will commence broadcasting on Hong Kong's Cable system I-Cable and via DTH on One Broadcast Ltd, in New Zealand. Neo Sports, which had its soft launch in October 2006 and its commercial launch in the first week of January 2007 in India, has secured platform partnerships across Asia, as part of its mission to be a Pan Asian cricket channel by the middle of 2007. Source: Indian Television, Agencyfaqs, 28th February 2007
India/Broadcast: TDSAT Upholds Tariff by Trai
The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) upheld the tariff of Rs 5 per channel fixed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) against which three broadcasters had appealed. In its pronouncement on the appeal filed by Set Discovery, ESPN Star Sports (Singapore) and ESPN Software India, TDSAT held that the case was devoid of merit and the appellants liable to pay costs, totaling Rs 150,000, to Trai, which had proved its case.
While giving its ruling, TDSAT said that the broadcasters had themselves said that 70 to 80 per cent of their revenues come from advertisements, and the bench noted that "at various fora", it has been argued by the broadcasters that they also generate revenue through sub-licensing and through fees paid by consumers in sending SMSs to the channels. Source: Indian Television, 27th February 2007
Thailand/Broadcast: iTV Stares into Abyss
Thailand’s only independent television channel iTV edged closer to official bankruptcy, after its auditor questioned whether the company was still a going concern with massive unpaid fees, fines and interest owed to the government. Trading in shares of iTV on the Thai Stock Exchange was halted on February 27 and chairman Boonklee Plangsiri resigned, although the channel continues to broadcast, for the time being at least.
ITV has until March 6 to pay nearly Baht 100 billion to the new military government. Of that, Baht 2.2 billion (US$64 million) is owed in unpaid concession fees but the government has also levied a massive Baht 97.6 billion (US$2.9 billion) fine on the channel. ITV is controlled by the Shin Corporation, founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, found guilty by the Thailand’s Central Court of manipulating the terms of its operating concession before the coup which ousted him in September. The verdict on Shinawatra was upheld in December and the fine and fees were then levied.
The Thai government is also attempting to regain control of Shin Satellite, the satellite division of Shin Corp. Shin Corp was partially sold off to Singapore government-backed investment company Temasek Holdings in January 2006. ShinSat reported a net loss of Baht 46 million (US$1.4 million) in 2006, although that would have been a net profit of Baht 629 million were it not for a Baht 675 million write-off of the failed Thaicom-3 satellite. Source: Rapid TV News, 28th February 2007
Asia/General: New Stock Car Series to Hit Asia and Middle East
The growing popularity of motor racing in Asia and the Middle East is reflected in yesterday's announcement that a new stock car championship is to be launched in the region, which will feature France's ex-Formula 1 star Jean Alesi. The Speedcar Series will involve 24 drivers competing in identical 600bhp cars over 18 races between November 2007 and April 2008.
The 42-year-old Alesi, who has raced in the German DTM touring car series for the past five years, is the first big name driver to confirm his involvement. The series has the backing of Formula 1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone who said: ‘It seems that motorsport is really becoming a reality in Asia and the Middle East and I would like to think this is due to the popularity of Formula 1. The new Speedcar Series will consequently add even more interest.’ Source: Sportcal, 27th February 2007
China/General: Chinese Test for USA on Eve of Gold Cup Defence
The national soccer teams of USA and China will meet in a friendly in San Jose on June 2. The fixture will act as a warm-up for the US side as it prepares to defend the Concacaf Gold Cup, the competition for national teams from North and Central American and the Caribbean, on home soil in June.
On the same day, Austria will take on Paraguay at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium in Vienna. Austria will also organise a four-team tournament in September that will involve Euro 2008 co-hosts Switzerland as well as Japan and Chile. Austria will play Japan in Klagenfurt, while Switzerland take on Chile in Vienna on September 7. Four days later the Austrian capital will stage the game between the hosts and Chile, while Switzerland and Japan meet in Klagenfurt.
The Football Association of Wales has announced that the national team will play New Zealand in a friendly in Wrexham on May 26. The game will act as preparation for the Euro 2008 home qualifier against the Czech Republic in June. Source: Sportcal, 27th February 2007
Elsewhere/New Media: Sports Streaming Organizations Step Up Their Game
Servecast and the Sports Video Group are each hosting or partnering on high-profile industry events to keep pushing sports video as both a broadcast art and a significant revenue stream. Two recent announcements indicate just how crucial streaming video has become to the media strategies of virtually all sports organizations around the world.
UK-based Servecast, a company focused on what it terms “sportscasting,” is gearing up for its New Media Sportscasting Summit. Servecast has also announced that seven of the final sixteen clubs in the UEFA Champions League will be represented, including Chelsea, Manchester, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Glasgow.
Servecast’s move to establish itself as a leader in sports video broadcasting events is akin to several other moves throughout the sports entertainment industries. One other announcement last week is of particular interest to those in the U.S. mobile video market. The Sports Video Group (SVG) just celebrated its first joint partnership at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, and will partner with the National Association of Broadcasters for the upcoming NAB 2007 show to be held in Las Vegas in mid April. Source: Streaming Media, 26th February 2007
Elsewhere/General: Circus tour for De La Hoya and Mayweather
Oscar De La Hoya was clearly distracted, silently scanning the crowd while Floyd Mayweather hurled a flurry of insults his way. "I'm the top dog in boxing!" Mayweather shouted, pointing at “Pretty Boy” De La Hoya. "It'll be a toe-to-toe battle. You can fall on your face. You can fall on your ass. You can fall on your back. I'm going to take my time and give you a brutal beating. A brutal beating!"
The De La Hoya-Mayweather showdown for the junior middleweight championship on May 5 in Las Vegas will be one of the biggest money-making fights in history. Tickets at the 17,000-seat MGM Grand arena sold out in three hours for a Nevada-record gate of $19 million. Some 1,200 closed-circuit showings are expected for the fight which will be broadcast to 176 countries. The fight is more than two months away but the two fighters' 11-city U.S. tour is in full swing.
Perhaps the biggest non-heavyweight attraction, De La Hoya (38-4) is now a wealthy entrepreneur and owns Golden Boy Promotions which is running this fight. The upcoming bout will bring him a reported guaranteed purse of $12 million while the 30-year-old undefeated Mayweather will pocket $8 million. Source: Reuters, 26th February 2007
Tuesday, 27th February 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Crisis Threatens Italian TV Rights Central Sale Decree
Plans issued recently by the Italian government to centralise the sale of broadcast rights for Italian soccer’s top two divisions could be upset by last week’s political crisis in the country, which led to the resignation of the prime minister Romano Prodi. The upheaval also threatens new laws introduced after recent violence at Italian soccer stadia which must receive parliamentary approval by April 8 or fall into abeyance.
The decree centralising the sale of broadcasting rights must be approved within a six-month window, but even this longer timescale is now thought to be under threat. Prodi resigned last week after a defeat over foreign policy in the parliament’s upper house, and although he was asked by the president yesterday to remain as prime minister and put his majority to the test in parliament, it is unclear whether he has enough support to remain in power.
Italy’s parliamentary chamber last month proposed a law to market top soccer rights centrally, and distribute media revenues more evenly between the clubs, stripping the clubs of the right to negotiate their own broadcast contracts, as they have done since 1999. The new law giving the league control over the rights is intended to restore competitive balance to the league after a period in which 80 per cent of the estimated annual value of the rights for top-tier Serie A soccer has been controlled by the big five clubs: Juventus, AC Milan, Internazionale, AS Roma and Lazio.
In recent years, three domestic broadcasters have been waging a highly-competitive campaign to sign up the rights of the top clubs in individually-negotiated deals. Mediaset, the commercial broadcaster, holds the digital terrestrial rights of Juventus, AC Milan, Internazionale, Lazio and Roma, among others, until the end of the 2008-09 season.
The international rights for Serie A clubs are split between two agency groupings: Media Partners & Silva, a partnership between the Italian agency Media Partners and sports rights specialist Riccardo Silva; and a joint venture between RAI Trade, the rights distribution arm of the Italian public-service broadcaster, and Sportfive, the international sports agency. Source: Sportcal, 26th February 2007
Roland Garros Considers Equal Prize Money
The French Tennis Federation will debate the issue of equal pay for men and women players after the French Open at Roland Garros was left isolated as the only one of the sport’s four Grand Slams not to offer equal prize money. Wimbledon had also been resisting change but last week announced that it would fall in line with the Australian Open and US Open by paying equal prize money to men and women through all stages of the competition from this year.
FTF officials said that they will debate the issue at the committee meeting on March 16 but insisted that they were not responding to the Wimbledon initiative. Instead they said that the move was a logical step after their decision to award equal prize money to the men’s and women’s champions for the first time last year.
Last year, the women's WTA Tour accused the Wimbledon organisers of having a ‘Victorian era view’ for sticking to a policy of awarding higher prize money to its men’s singles champion than the women’s champion. Roger Federer, the men's champion, earned £655,000 ($1.3 million), while Mauresmo, took home £625,000. Source: Sportcal, 26th February 2007
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
Beckham's Salary is Fraction of the Figure Announced
David Beckham's contract with MLS side, Los Angeles Galaxy is a fraction of the USD 250 million that he was rumoured to get. His contract is worth about US$27.5 million in base salary over five seasons. A person who had been briefed on the deal, spoke on condition of anonymity since details had not been made public, said Beckham's average base salary is $5.5 million per year. Simon Oliveira, Beckham's spokesman, would not confirm the salary.
AEG, the company that runs the Galaxy, gave a much higher figure when Beckham's contract was announced last month. Beckham's contract, according to those familiar with the details, is a complex and distinctive arrangement that gives him a percentage of club sponsorship, and merchandising and kit sales contracts, along with promotional appearances.
Beckham will easily be MLS' highest-paid player. According to figures published by The Washington Post last April, Chivas USA's Juan Francisco Palencia was the highest paid player last season for a total of USD 1.36 million, which includes USD 692,308 in salary and about USD 668,000 in bonuses. The Galaxy's Landon Donovan was second at USD 900,000, followed by Kansas City's Eddie Johnson at USD 875,000, according to the Post. Source: EUFootball.biz, 26th February 2007
INFO BOX
Superbikes World Championship – Riders after Round 1
# Country Rider Points
1 GBR Toseland 45
2 ITA Biaggi 45
3 ITA Lanzi 25
4 AUS Corser 23
5 JAP Kagayama 23
6 JAP Haga 21
7 AUS Bayliss 19
8 GER Neukirchner 16
9 ESP Xaus 13
10 ESP Nieto 11
Source: SBK Official Site
Wembley Stadium
* Wembley Stadium is a stadium under construction in Wembley, London
* It serves as the successor of the previous Wembley Stadium, which was built in 1924 and demolished in 2003
* At a cost of £750m ($1,487m) the new Wembley is the most expensive stadium ever built
* The design accommodates 90,000 spectators during soccer matches
* Wembley Stadium will host the first NFL American Football game played outside of Europe in 2007
Source: Infostrada Databox, January 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* Japanese ad spending edged up 0.6% to almost $50 billion in 2006 over 2005, marking three consecutive years of increase, thanks in part to the Torino Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. However, spending on TV, newspaper, magazine and radio - dropped between 1.2% and 3.8%, announced Dentsu ad agency. Internet ad spending shot up by 29.3% to $3 billion. Terrestrial TV ads dropped 1.2% to $16.8 billion, while Satellite TV ad spending remained strong, up 11.7%. Dentsu forecasts 2007 ad spending to inch up by 1.1% to $50.5 billion. Source: TV Asia Exec. News, 26th February 2007
* Digital BS (broadcasting satellite) viewing in Japan increased in all time categories last year, according to a joint survey by five digital BS broadcasters. Average weekly golden time (7 pm.to 10 pm.) PUT of all five digital BS broadcasters increased to 11% between Nov. 28 and December 3, compared to 7.9% six months ago, while prime-time (7 pm to 11 pm.) went up to 10.6% from 7.6%. The whole day PUT moved up to 4.9% from 3.7%, according to the survey conducted with 874 households registered to the broadcasting conditional access system (B-CAS). Source: TV Asia Exec. News, 26th February 2007
* Hector Figueroa of Puerto Rico-based SportsNow! Inc. is in China trying to secure deals with CCTV and Shanghai Media Group, and is talking to casinos in Macau about a project to bring some big-name boxers to China. “The idea involves trying to help the development of Chinese fighters,” he said. “One of the keys to that is enable people to experience the atmosphere of a heavyweight fight.” Source: Sports Media, 26th February 2007
* New broadband channel surfchannel.tv is under construction, dedicated to surfing action and lifestyle programming. It will feature skateboarding, snowboarding and sky surfing as well as board sports on the water and water skiing. Philippe Ney is president of the venture, while Jeffrey Glover acts as head of business development. Source: Sports Media, 26th February 2007
* French channel Sport + will be carrying extensive coverage of badminton this year. The pay-TV service will show 52-minute wrap-ups of 10 events on the International Badminton Federation’s Super Series circuit plus the final. Starting on March 5, it will also carry a 26-minute bi-monthly magazine World Of Badminton on Monday afternoons. Source: Sports Media, 26th February 2007
* NBC will carry Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) in the USA for the first time. The network reached an agreement to show seven CORR races nationally starting April 28. The package includes two-wheel drive and four-wheel wheel trucks racing on special courses set up at auto racing tracks. The 2007 calendar starts April 21-22 features races in Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Dallas. Source: Sports Media, 26th February 2007
* Global Sportnet, the Germany-based sports marketing agency, has been appointed to market the media rights outside the UK to a series based on athletics' Great Run events. As well as marketing the international media rights for the television series, Global Sportnet will be responsible for generating exposure and new revenue streams for the various programme formats. Source: Sportcal, 26th February 2007
* US adventure and action sports channel, Versus has agreed to show matches from the country’s Major Indoor Soccer League. The schedule includes two regular season games, a MISL Championship Series Semi-Final game on April 14 and the Championship Game on April 21. There will also be a live magazine show on April 7 to preview the Championship Series. Coverage begins with the match-up between Philadelphia and Baltimore on March 24. Source: Sportcal, 26th February 2007
* Blackburn Rovers has reaffirmed its commitment to use part of the funds from the Barclays Premiership’s new television deal to reduce ticket prices for next season. Blackburn has suffered poor attendances of late at its Ewood Park stadium and currently sits at the foot of Football Insider’s Attendance Table. Source: Football Insider, 26th February 2007
* Nikolai Valuev, the Russian WBA heavyweight title-holder will take on Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Chagaev in his next fight. The contest between the two undefeated combatants will take place in Germany on April 14. British heavyweight, Lennox Lewis has denied that he is to come out of retirement to take on the Ukraine’s Vitali Klitschko. Lewis quit in February 2004 after defending his WBC title against Klitschko in the previous June. Source: Sportcal, 26th February 2007
MORE NEWS
BWF: Malaysia Coach Wants BWF to Scrap Notional Ranking
Malaysian national doubles coach Rexy Mainaky hopes the Badminton World Federation (BWF) will get their act right – as far as the draws for the men's doubles of the Super Series events are concerned. Rexy felt that the BWF should either do away or review the notional ranking that allows a new doubles pair to get a place in the main draw of the Super Series.
Under the notional ranking system, the results of individual players with their previous partners are taken into account before a new pair is ranked. For the upcoming All-England, Indonesia's new combination of Sigit Budiarto-Fran Kurniawan, who are not even ranked in the top 300, managed to get a place in the main draw. Malaysia's Chan Chong Ming-Hoon Thien How, who are also without a ranking in the world standings, competed in the main draw of the first two Super Series at Malaysia and South Korea respectively.
The Indonesian said he did not understand the rationale behind BWF's decision to use the notional ranking. “BWF should either use the world rankings or even use the Super Series rankings to determine the qualifiers for the Super Series event. This notional ranking should be scrapped,” he said. BWF general manager P. Ganga Rao said the notional rankings would be looked into at the next exco meeting during the Sudirman Cup in Scotland in May. Source: The Star Malaysia, 23rd February 2007
India/Broadcast: Commonwealth Games for DTT start
Digital-terrestrial television should launch in India in 2010, to coincide with the Delhi-hosted Commonwealth Games, says a recommendation by a government-convened group. A sub-group of the Indian Planning Commission, called Going Digital, has suggested that state broadcaster Doordashan should start DTT broadcasts in India’s top seven cities during 2010, before rolling out to the rest of the country by 2013.
As part of a wider consultation process, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has started its consultation process with cable operators, broadcasters and equipment manufacturers over digitalisation of the country’s cable network. The process is likely to lead to a mandatory deadline for digitalisation for all forms of TV services. Source: Rapid TV News, 27th February 2007
Vietnam/General: Badminton Player Listed on Top 10 Outstanding Athletes
As a top Vietnamese player, Nguyen Tien Minh now ranks 51st in the World Badminton Federation’s standings. Good at both attacking and defending, Tien Minh is capable of reading the game, and finding weaknesses of opponents to attack. At the 15th Asian Games in Doha, despite Vietnam’s 4-1 defeat to the Republic of Korea, Tien Minh produced an impressive game against Lee Hyun Il, who is now seventh in the world and won a silver medal at the 2002 Asian Game, a bronze medal at the 2005 Asian championship and a bronze medal in the 2006 world championship.
Tien Minh’s victory over Lee was a nice surprise. Despite failing to win a medal at the tournament, the top Vietnamese player gave his best for national pride. With his achievements, Tien Minh was voted as one of the ten 2006 Athletes of the Year. Source: Vietnam Net Bridge, 20th February 2007
Elsewhere/General: Sportal Branches Out Internationally
New media services company Sportal has moved into Hong Kong in a new deal with mobile provider Hutchison. Sportal CEO Chris Mutimer reported that a deal in another Asian market is on the cards. The Melbourne-based company (of which one-third is owned by PA Sport, the publisher of Sports Media) also provides end-to-end mobile phone solutions for Vodafone Live Australia and New Zealand.
Sportal is also responsible for the websites of Cricket Australia, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), the Australian Tennis Open and the Golf Open, the Australian F1 Grand Prix, the National Basketball League, the Hyundai A-League and the New Zealand All Blacks. It is the official live scoring provider for the Australian Football League (AFL), ARU and All Blacks. Source: Sports Media, 26th February 2007
Elsewhere/General: Broadcaster Backs Planned New Netball Competition
A new 10-team netball competition involving teams from Australia and New Zealand and backed by New Zealand’s pay-television broadcaster Sky TV is due to launch next year, threatening the existing National Bank Cup which is televised by the New Zealand public-service broadcaster TVNZ. It is reported that the new competition will be worth NZ$1.5 million ($1.06 million) each a year to netball governing bodies in the two countries and is guaranteed peak-time television slots for three seasons beginning next year.
Teams from Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and a combined Otago-Southland side are set to represent New Zealand, while Australian teams that presently compete in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy are expected to represent Australia. These are the Sydney Swifts, Queensland Firebirds, Adelaide Thunderbirds, Melbourne Phoenix and Perth Orioles. The deal is expected to result in some top players going fully professional. Source: Sportcal, 26th February 2007
Monday, 26th February 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Biaggi and Toseland Light up Season Opener
Points tie for Suzuki and Honda riders after round one. Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) and James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) powered to a win and second place apiece at Losail, after two terrific 18-lap contests under the hot Qatari sun. In a surprising raceday development 2006 World Champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) was only fifth and eighth.
RACE ONE: Biaggi's astonishing victory was an impressive induction into World Superbike, winning at the first attempt and only finding one rider, second place man James Toseland, able to push him and his overall race package right to the end. Third placed Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) was some 13 seconds down, with the second Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra machine of Yukio Kagayama fourth.
RACE TWO Toseland had the dream start he desired, scoring the victory in race in near flawless style. Biaggi closed in on the final laps, but Toseland held on to score the win and thus 45 points in total, sharing the championship lead with Biaggi - although Toseland is shown on top of the standings because his race win came most recently. In third place, Superpole winner Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) did not have any repetition of the tyre trouble he had in race one (when he was ninth) and finished third on his R1, some seven seconds from Toseland. Source: SBK Official Site, 26th February 2007
INFO BOX
South Africa, Host of the 2010 World Cup
* South Africa is an African nation, the 25th largest in the world, and has an estimated population of 47million
* Sporting heroes of South Africa include golfer Gary Player, motorsport’s Jody Scheckter and swimmer Penny Heyns
* To celebrate the demise of apartheid in 1994, South Africa won the Ruby World Cup as hosts a year later
* In 2010, South Africa will host the world’s biggest event in sports, the FIFA World Cup
* The South African team has participated in two World Cups and is nicknamed ‘Bafana Bafana’
Source: Infostrada, January 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* Korea’s Suwon Bluewings has announced it has been invited to join Premiership champion Chelsea and Major League Soccer (MLS) side LA Galaxy on a summer tour of the USA. Mexican side Tigres has also been invited to play in the tournament, which is expected to take place in July. Suwon is owned by Samsung Electronics, which also sponsors Chelsea. Source: Football Insider, 23rd February 2007
* The National Basketball Association took HD to another dimension last week with 3D HD coverage of the All-Star game in Las Vegas. The All-Star 3D HD offered the unique coverage produced with the help of camera technology company, Pace. The NBA used five of Pace's new Sports Fusion 3D HD camera systems to capture the action on the court. Each 3D HD camera used two Sony HD cameras working together - and operated as single camera - to create the 3D effect, with one camera recording the left eye and the other the right eye. Source: Sports Media, 23rd February 2007
* Major League Baseball was set to announce a deal with DirecTV for exclusive rights to the Extra Innings package of out-of-market games worth $700 million over seven years, prompting concerns among fans which do not have access to satellite television. Extra Innings gives viewers games from local markets other than their own. InDemand, which has distributed Extra Innings to the cable industry since 2002, lost its rights despite offering $70 million, three times more than it paid previously. Prompted by Sen. John Kerry, the deal is to be investigated by the country’s Federal Communications Commission. Source: Sportcal, 23rd February 2007
* The Argentinian soccer team is to play a friendly against Norway in Oslo on August 22. It will be only the second meeting between the two teams. The Argentine Football Association has also confirmed that the side will play Australia in Melbourne on June 6 as part of its preparations for the Copa America, the South American national teams competition, in Venezuela, which starts on June 26. Source: Sportcal, 23rd February 2007
MORE NEWS
Asia/Rights: i-Cable Shares Serie A
PCCW's new deal for Italian Serie A TIM football rights in Hong Kong (reported in Wednesday's Sports Media) is non-exclusive for the next three seasons from 2007-10. For the first time in Hong Kong, Serie A will be shared by the two pay-tv platforms, with PCCW's Now Broadband TV showing a minimum of 130 matches on the new Mega Sports Channel, and i-Cable TV showing 60 matches. The deals were forged by Media Partners & Silva and Dentsu, which have established a partnership to co-manage and co-distribute the Asian broadcast rights of Italian Serie A during the period.
Media Partners & Silva have also reached new deals in China, where CCTV secured the broadcasting rights of a package of 60 matches and Hi Sun Technology secured the new-media rights, while the main package is yet to be awarded. In Macau, TDM (Teledifusao de Macau) won the exclusive rights for all the matches distributed by Media Partners & Silva and Dentsu.
Vietnam Advertising acquired the broadcasting rights of 130 matches for Vietnam. In South Korea, MediaCorp secured the new media rights. All the packages guarantee Serie A wide coverage of live matches, local promotion - and a substantial increase in the licence fees. Source: Sports Media, 23rd February 2007
Global/General: 2006 Women's European Handball Championship
The 2006 Women’s European Handball Championship, which took place in Sweden, was the most extensively covered and viewed women’s tournament in the history of the event. A cumulative audience of more than 440 million viewers followed 502 hours of event coverage on television. The cumulative television audiences for both 2006 European competitions (men’s & women’s events combined) exceeded the benchmark level set in 2004 of a viewing audience of one billion worldwide.
The two tournaments, held in Switzerland and Sweden, reached a cumulative audience of 1.2 billion viewers, with more than 1,200 hours of programming. Both final matches were also transmitted by Eurosport Asia in the territories of Australia, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar and Thailand. Worldwide news coverage with a record total duration of 1:15 hours was available trough Deutsche Welle TV, Sport News TV and Trans World Sport.
The broadcast report is based on an independent programme analysis, including information provided by broadcast partners worldwide. The report was compiled by the German communication research agency Sport+Markt AG on behalf of Infront Sports & Media AG, the EHF's exclusive television and marketing partner. Infront has acted as the EHF's exclusive commercial partner for 13 years. In 2004, both partners renewed their cooperation until 2010. Source: Sports e-Media, 23rd February 2007
Elsewhere/Broadcast: Sports on XM And Sirius; When Satellites Collide
US rivals XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have announced intentions of merging to create a single satellite radio company, with a combined market value of approximately $13 billion. However, it does not have FCC approval yet. DirecTV and DISH Network attempted a satellite monopoly merger of their own but could not gain the support of the FCC. The reason being consumers would only have one option for satellite television.
The reason for XM and Sirius' desire to merge is pretty simple: both companies are bleeding money. The two satellite radio giants lost $1.5 billion combined in 2005, and the still unannounced 2006 figures are expected to be similar. In an arms race to acquire exclusive content both companies scrambled (and spent big dollars) to lock the broadcasting rights for sports.
So far Sirius has:
• Locked up NFL rights for $200 million plus stock options
• Bought the rights to NCAA's March Madness tournament
• Stolen the NASCAR Nextel Cup from XM
• All this plus landing the biggest radio free agent ever: Howard Stern for $500 million over five years.
Meanwhile, XM has:
• Forked over a $650 million payout to broadcast MLB games for 11 years and for the "Official satellite radio provider of Major League Baseball" tag line
• Secured rights to NHL
The large price tags for pro sports content effected each company’s ability to turn a profit. If the merger gets FCC approval, fans will have a single product to listen to practically any sport going on anywhere, as it happens. Source: BC Sports Writers, 23rd February 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
Indian Cricket Broadcast – Retrospect
(useful read to understand cricket’s recent turbulent broadcast history in India)
Indian cricket allows for brash and innovative deal making. There is a lot of money riding on Indian cricket and poor management at all levels makes it very difficult to decide exactly what the size of the potential is. This results in heavy speculation. No sports anywhere in the world has seen television rights value multiplying like the way Indian cricket has.
Before Jagmohan Dalmiya and IS Bindra started managing BCCI, Indian cricket matches were broadcast by state owned Doordarshan. DD made all the money (or none at all) and never thought of actually paying BCCI. DD probably thought it was its divine right to produce and broadcast cricket (and other sports) staged in the country. On its part, BCCI also did not know that it can ask the telecaster for a rights fee.
In 1993, BCCI for the first time tried to get a private broadcaster to produce the Hero Cup and sell broadcast rights to a private channel. This resulted in DD blocking the coverage by unfair means. Indian Customs authorities were used to block cameras from being taken into the country. VSNL (at that time owned by the government), an uplinking company, was forced to not uplink the television signals. This resulted in a court battle, at the end of which it was established firmly that BCCI could sell cricket telecast rights.
By then, India had started on liberalising private TV channels, transmitting through satellite. ESPN came to India, and so did Star Sports. Both these channels looked to cricket as a big growth engine and out-doing each other to get those rights, jacking up the fees. Then, the two channels merged to create ESPN-Star Sports.
TWI also negotiated a deal to bring Indian cricket to C&S television from 1995-1999 on ESS. The five year deal was valued at approximately USD 5 million. This was also the period that saw Harsha Bhogle fronting cricket commentary for ESPN and technological innovation started coming into Indian cricket production. ESPN-Star Sports also brought overseas cricket to India, matches involving India as well as matches between other teams.
This was the golden period for Jagmohan Dalmiya as he consolidated his position in BCCI. In between, the 1996 World Cup happened, jointly organized by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (PILCOM) which was produced by Worldtel of Mark Mascarenhas. (Today Dalmiya is accused of embezzlement during that World Cup and has been stripped off his posts and memberships and is facing criminal prosecution.)
Meanwhile, Dalmiya squeezed himself into a powerful position in ICC as its President and set out generating money for ICC. He created the concept of ICC Championship Trophy (also called mini world cup). The 1999 World Cup in England did not generate income for ICC, but the subsequent Wills Knockout in Bangladesh did. Since then, ICC events have been generating massive revenue. (The latest ICC global rights sold for around $1 billion to ESPN-Star Sports.)
When the Indian cricket rights were up for renewal in 1999, Prasar Bharati emerged as a surprise winner. The state-owned broadcaster agreed to pay the cricket board $54 million (Rs 227 crores) for five years (from Sep 1999 to Apr 2004). ESPN-Star Sports and other private players were beaten, and the rights fee jumped ten fold from $5 to $54 million!
Now Prasar Bharati set out to maximise its revenues. It ran the first series - India vs New Zealand - shoddily. Then, under Rajiv Ratna Shah, set out to generate income for the remaining 4.5 years of rights. It broke the rights into two parts - overseas distribution and India airtime rights, for the telecast in Doordarshan channels.
The airtime sales rights were picked up by an associate company of Zee Telefilms called Buddha Films, which bid a massive $120 million (Rs. 450 crores) for the same. Other bidders were TWI-Stracon and Nimbus. TWI-Stracon, however won the overseas distribution contract by bidding $43.75 million. Thus, within six months, Prasar Bharati turned the $54 million contract around for more than $160 million.
TWI, for its part, wrote into the contract just about everything it could, and created a funny thing called "multimedia rights" which was so poorly defined. Prasar Bharati thought it still had the "Internet rights" which it could sell further. Prasar Bharati decided to offer non-exclusive Internet rights for all comers at "an annual license fee of Rs. 25 lakh" which included "scoreboard, analysis, graphics, stills (up to 30 frames per minute from the live signal) and interviews with players (this may include pitch report, weather report, interview on the captains, players and experts)."
But it added, "if the license-holder, however, desires to have live and delayed streaming audio and video after obtaining the Internet rights from Prasar Bharati, it will have to approach Stracon-TWI who hold the multimedia rights. In the end, none of the Internet portals bought the Internet rights from Prasar Bharati. But TWI found a sucker in PCCW's now.com and sold a bunch of things to them including live video streaming, some kind of extended highlights for their TV operation etc. for something amounting well over $26 million.
When PCCW sort of collapsed, TWI brokered a deal selling the rights held by Now.com to ESPN-Star Sports. This resulted in ESPN-Star Sports running extended highlights for India matches (running over 3 hours each day!). This resulted in Prasar Bharati suing them, and getting an injunction in the courts preventing ESPN-Star Sports from broadcasting these extended highlights.
It was clear that when this set of rights came to an end, BCCI will look at getting even more from its rights and the fight for the rights will be acrimonious. That is what happened, and a period of chaos ensued.Dalmiya still had control over the BCCI. He was in charge of rights negotiations. ESPN-Star Sports was the front runner. Prasar Bharati was not going to get involved in the bidding game in a big way as it was pushing the government to come up with a legislation for any winning bidder to share the terrestrial rights with Prasar Bharati on a revenue-sharing basis.
Sony Entertainment Television had acquired ICC rights during this period for a whopping sum. Zee was aggressively looking at expanding into DTH space. Both were going to bid. Ten Sports, another sports channel was also in the fray.
The BCCI bid document was quite harsh as it demanded substantial experience in showing International cricket in its channels for two years. In the end, Zee bid $260 million (Rs 1200 crores) for four years. ESPN had bid $230 million, Sony TV at $140 million and Ten Sports at $115 million. But the story did not end there. BCCI disqualified Zee's bid on technical grounds and invited ESPN for further negotiations.
This resulted in Zee going to court against ESPN and BCCI. Nothing happened for the next year or so. The courts ruled that till the cases were disposed off, Prasar Bharati will show the matches in Doordarshan and will keep an account of the money. In between, a further rebid happened, further lawsuits, further chaos.
Then, a palace coup happened and Dalmiya was removed from BCCI, Sharad Pawar, a Union Minister won, and took control of BCCI. This resulted in all earlier bids being withdrawn and a new bidding process put in place. Various cases were withdrawn.
In the meantime, the government had come up with broadcast regulation rules which stated that any private channel having telecast rights to any cricket event (whether staged within India or outside) must share the clean feed with Prasar Bharati for terrestrial broadcast on a revenue-sharing basis. Ten Sports contested this in courts and kept winning. Still, everyone thought the BCCI rights values will be lower because of government rules.
However, Nimbus came from nowhere to bid a massive $612 million for the next four years (March 1, 2006 to March 31, 2010) during which time there was a guarantee of 22 Tests and 55 ODIs to be played. Thus, in three successive terms, the rights fee has jumped from $5 million (5 years) to $54 million (5 years) to $612 million (4 years).
Meanwhile, the government came up with an ordinance forcing private broadcasters to share the matches with Doordarshan. Nimbus refused and offered only a time-delayed (7 minutes) feed to Doordarshan. This prompted the government to issue a show-cause notice to Nimbus. On the other hand, TRAI - the broadcasting regulator attacked Nimbus' pricing policies.
Four metro cities were being moved into CAS (Conditional Access System), where TRAI had mandated that each channel must be priced only at Rs. 5 (whether it is a sports channel or a movie channel or a nothing channel!), and in non-CAS areas, the pricing must be discussed with TRAI first and only with the approval of TRAI, the pricing can be enforced.
Nimbus had, in the meantime, done a deal with Star distribution to distribute its channels, and Star had promised a minimum guarantee of approximately Rs. 600 crores to Nimbus for the four-year period. The two channels were priced at Rs. 58.50 but TRAI hads slashed them to Rs 37.25 for non-CAS areas and Rs. 5 each for CAS areas. This is going to seriously impact Star and Nimbus' revenues. Another thing that will impact Nimbus' advertising revenues will be whether the government's ordinance can withstand judicial review.
The government is also trying to talk to BCCI and the channels in sorting out the sports broadcast ordinance. But BCCI will mostly side with Nimbus and sports channels on this one. A lot will depend on the judiciary now.
BCCI has, in the meantime, also created a new set of overseas rights, where it will conduct matches in neutral venues like Malaysia, USA, Dubai and so on. Telecast rights for such matches have been sold off to Zee for $ 219.15 million for five years (April 1, 2006 to Mar 31, 2011), during which time at least25 matches will be conducted. BCCI and ICC have made a lot of money from Indian television channels. It is not clear whether the numbers can be justified in the long run though. Badri Sheshadri comments on his blog, 24th February 2007
Friday, 23rd February 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Prized Serie A Rights Snapped Up in Asia
Television and new media rights to Italian soccer’s top-tier Serie A have today been granted to companies in various Asian territories. In China, state broadcaster CCTV has secured the rights to 60 matches per season for three years, beginning with the 2007-08 season. However, the main package of broadcasting rights has still to be awarded. The Chinese new media rights have gone to IT company Hi Sun Technology.
For the first time, Serie A coverage in Hong Kong will be split between two pay-television operators. The NOW broadband television unit of PCCW, the territory’s largest telecoms company, will show 130 matches per season on its new Mega Sports Channel, while I-Cable Communications has won the rights to 60 matches. PCCW recently outbid incumbent I-Cable to acquire the rights to English soccer’s top-tier Premiership for the next three seasons.
In Macau, exclusive Serie A rights have been granted to TDM, one of the territory’s major television networks, while in Vietnam, a package of 130 Serie A matches per season has been picked up by the Vietnam Advertising group. Meanwhile, new media rights in the well-developed broadband country of South Korea have been awarded to interactive media and entertainment company MediaCorp.The sale of rights in Asia is being handled by Dentsu, the Japanese advertising giant, together with Media Partners & Silva, the Italian sports rights distributor. It is the first time that Dentsu has agreed to act as an Asian sales agent for the broadcasting rights of an overseas soccer league. Source: Sportcal, 22nd February 2007
Mobile Enterprise Market Soaring in Asia
The growing number of mobile workers, increasing focus on improving operational efficiency and customer experience is fuelling growth of mobile enterprise applications and services in Asia-Pacific, according to Frost &Sullivan. Mobile operators are increasingly turning to mobile office applications in an attempt to improve ARPU amid stagnating subscriber numbers and decline in voice revenues.
The analysis reveals that the revenues in the Asia Pacific mobile enterprise market, covering 12 major Asia-Pacific countries excluding Japan, totaled $20.68 billion in 2006 and is forecasted to be worth $35.51 billion by end-2011. F&S also said the mobile enterprise market includes all mobile revenues from the enterprise segment which covers corporate voice services, mobile office, and other applications such as field force automation, CRM and ERP.
Mobile office applications, especially mobile email applications, are showing strong growth, highlighting the importance of corporate sector customers. Voice however remains the main revenue generator. Most mobile operators are likely to concentrate on the mobilization of vertical industry applications and business processes in the future.
Whilst the mobile enterprise segment is a small revenue contributor (at under 20%) to the regional mobile market, certain countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore have relatively mature mobile enterprise sectors. Source: Telecom Asia, 23rd February 2007
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
Wimbledon to Pay Women Equal Prize Money
The All England Club, which runs tennis’ Wimbledon championships, has today announced that the tournament will fall into line with other Grand Slam events and pay equal prize money to men and women from this year. Wimbledon joins the United States and Australia in paying equal money across the board, from the champions down to the first-round losers in all events. The French Open only offers the same cheque to the champions.
Tim Phillips, the chairman of the All England Club, said the championship committee had decided 'that the time is right to bring this subject to a logical conclusion and eliminate the difference.' He admitted that the decision would cost the club £600,000 ($1.17 million) but 'recognises the enormous contribution that women's players make to the game and to Wimbledon.'
Last year, the women's WTA Tour accused the Wimbledon organisers of having a ‘Victorian era view’ for sticking to a policy of awarding higher prize money to its men’s singles champion than the women’s champion. Roger Federer, the men's champion, earned £655,000 ($1.3 million), while his female counterpart, Amélie Mauresmo, took home £625,000. Source: Sportcal, Metro News, IBN Live, 22nd February 2007, Amelie Mauresmo’s Reaction on Gulf News, 23rd February 2007
INFO BOX
Media Value Index of Top-10 Football Clubs
Feb 07 Ranking, Media Value Index, (Sep 06 Media Value Index)
1. Real Madrid 72.1 (84.2)
2. Manchester United 67.7 (65.6)
3. FC Barcelona 65.1 (72.5)
4. Chelsea 62.9 (52.9)
5. Inter Milan 47.1 (35.3)
6. Arsenal 43.6 (49)
7. AC Milan 38.2 (42.8)
8. Bayern München 35.5 (47.6)
9. Liverpool 33.6 (36.9)
10. Werder Bremen 26.4 (20.3)
Source: Football Insider, 22nd February 2007
Media Value Index of Top-5 Football Managers
Manager, Club, Feb 07, Media Value Index
1. Sir Alex Ferguson Manchester United 15.9
2. Jose Mourinho Chelsea 14.5
3. Fabio Capello Real Madrid 12.1
4. Arsene Wenger Arsenal 8.5
5. Frank Rijkaard FC Barcelona 7.1
Source: Football Insider, 22nd February 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* Major League Baseball is close to announcing a $700 million deal that would make DirecTV the exclusive home of the pay service that lets viewers see games outside the markets where they live. DirecTV also pledged more money than the cable companies for the rights to "Extra Innings" - $100 million annually for seven years. Source: Palm Beach Post, 22nd February 2007
* The Football Association of Malawi, lately battling a cash squeeze, has sealed a K4.2 million (US $30,000) TV rights deal with a French production firm—International Football Advertising and Promotions (Ifap) for the 2008 Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Morocco’s Atlas Lions slated for June. Initially, FAM signed a K3.5 million (US $25,000) agreement with French firm, RP Productions but has since been cancelled following the latter’s failure to make a down payment upon signing the agreement. Source: Nation Malawi, 22nd February 2007
* ESPN said it will expand high-definition offerings in seven featured segments. In 2007, it will show NASCAR, NBA, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, and NFL Monday Night Football telecasts in HD. Altogether, ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD will deliver more than 7,000 hours in high definition this year. More than 95% of ESPN and ESPN2’s studio programming is in high definition, including SportsCenter, NFL Countdown, NFL Monday Night Countdown, NFL Live and Baseball Tonight. Source: Broadcasting & Cable, Broadcast Newsroom, 21st February 2007
* LemonQuest, a Spanish mobile games publisher, is to launch Ronaldinho Gaucho Street Soccer, a series of mobile phone games based on a comic by Brazilian author Mauricio de Sousa. De Sousa's comic follows the life of Ronaldinho Gaucho as an eight-year old boy. The first installment that will arrive to the market is Ronaldinho Gaucho Street Soccer 2007. LemonQuest designed the control system specifically for mobile phones and the graphics will remain faithful to de Sousa's original comic. Source: Digital Media, 22nd February 2007
* Manchester United has appointed Lee Daley as its new Group Commercial Director. The 43-year-old will leave his post as chairman and chief executive of advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi, and take up his new post in mid-April. He will oversee all of the club’s commercial plans, from sponsorship to media, financial services and marketing. Daley will join the board of Manchester United Ltd, jointly chaired by the Glazer brothers, Joel and Avram. Source: Football Insider, Brand Republic, Sport Business, Sportcal, 22nd February 2007
* Cisco has dropped the trademark infringement lawsuit against Apple after the announcement of plans to launch a mobile phone called iPhone. Under the settlement, the two companies will share the name, which has been used by Cisco for seven years on its line of internet-linked telephones, on products around the world. Apple announced in early January it was to move into the mobile phone market with its touchscreen iPhone, leading to the suit from Cisco. Source: Brand Republic, Paid Content, Total Content + Media, Telecom Asia, 22nd February 2007
MORE NEWS
Hong Kong/Broadcast: I-Cable Counts on Free TV to Soften Loss
I-Cable Communications is trying to build a new free television model by tapping advertising revenue to ease the impact of losing its exclusive rights to air English Premier League football matches later this year, i-Cable Entertainment executive director Tsui Siu-ming says. The company's Cable TV is losing its dominance as a broadcaster of foreign sport programmes after PCCW's Now TV won the exclusive rights to broadcast EPL matches from August.
Last week, PCCW broke Cable TV's monopoly on Italian Serie A matches by securing about 130 matches each season for three years, also from August. Cable TV will keep the rights to show about 250 matches over the same period. Sports programmes had helped i-Cable establish a leading position in the market but their costs were "one-off" and such programmes did not generate new revenue through being resold to other stations after their initial broadcast.
The company aims to increase local audience through programming such as Cable Entertainment News and differentiate itself further from Now TV, which relies more on foreign content such as Hollywood and ESPN Star Sports programmes. A new Chinese-language channel will aim to increase Cable TV's customer base this summer, offering a mix of programmes such as news, entertainment and sports.
The channel, which has yet to be named, will be similar to the company's A Channel, whose mix of Cable TV programmes is broadcast to about 500,000 Hong Kong households via Satellite Master Antenna Television (SMATV) and whose viewing costs tend to be included in building management fees. The new channel will rely on advertising rather than subscription fees for its main revenue. Source: Asia Media, 22nd February 2007
The Philippines/General: Cleared to Return to International Basketball
The Philippines will be able to compete in international basketball competitions once again after international federation FIBA lifted its ban on the country. The suspension was imposed as long ago as July 2005 after the Philippine Olympic Committee deregistered the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) in a row over national selection and decided to recognise the newly-formed Philippine Basketball Federation (SBP) as the sport’s governing body.
There was a breakthrough in the impasse last year, when the rival bodies signed the Tokyo Agreement pledging to unify basketball stakeholders in the Philippines, and the merger of the BAP and SBP was approved at a Unity Congress earlier this month. The new body has been accredited by the Philippines Olympic Committee and FIBA and the national team can now return to international competition. Source: Sportcal, 22nd February 2007
Thailand/New Media: Official Urges TOT to List Thai Mobile
Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom has urged the new TOT board to steer the state agency's cellular operator, Thai Mobile, towards listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand this year. He said Thai Mobile should seek funds from such a listing to invest in the rollout of a 3G broadband cellular network.
Thai Mobile is the only cellular operator in Thailand that owns a frequency in the 1900-megahertz spectrum, which is suitable for developing 3G service. As such, it can proceed immediately to develop 3G services, for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to complete licensing regulations for 3G technology and allocate frequencies. Thai Mobile is a joint venture between TOT and CAT Telecom.
TOT is in the process of buying CAT's shares and taking full control of the company. The country's major telecom operators are eager to obtain 3G licenses so they can use the blazing speed of the new technology to provide wireless services like video-calling and interactive wireless games, thereby earning more revenues. Source: Telecom Asia, 23rd February 2007
Global/Broadcast: A1GP Expands Into New Territories
Distribution of the A1GP series has increased from 110 countries in its first season to 150 countries in 2006-07, and has upgraded its channels in several markets. The worldwide average audience for races this season, which began last October, are over 60% higher, rising from about eight million viewers to 13 million. A good chunk of that viewership is delivered by ESPN Star in Asia.
Richard Dorfman, A1GP executive director and general manager broadcasting and media rights, told Sports Media: "Around the world, we are 55% to 60% on free-to-air networks and the rest on pay-TV. In a lot of places we have a combination of the two. That is usually the case in countries where we have a team. We also are one of the new competitions where our broadcasters actually show the qualifying." Many of A1GP's deals cover the first three seasons.
A1GP said this week that it would implement a regional business structure. Under recently appointed CEO, Pete da Silva, four regional companies will manage interests in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia. Former chief operating officer, David Clare, will take responsibility for Asia while Scott Hollingsworth, Bruce Holmes and Pete da Silva will manage the Americas, Europe and the Middle East and Africa respectively during the initial set-up phase. Source: Sports Media, 22nd February 2007
Elsewhere/General: Boxing Still Bullish On TV - Promoter
Boxing organisers must make sure bouts are compelling to retain TV fans, according to a major promoter. Dan Goossen of Goossen Tutor Promotions is looking forward to May 5 in Las Vegas, when one of his fighters, Floyd Mayweather Jr., will face-off against Oscar De La Hoya in a World Boxing Council (WBC) light middleweight clash. The bout on HBO is expected to be the highest grossing non-heavyweight pay-per-view bout in the history of the sport.
“Boxing has a great heritage to it, and will continue to have that type of spotlight on it. If you give fans something they want to see it’s going to go through the roof. That’s not a dying sport. The interest is there but you have to have compelling events and fighters who have the personalities to shine the spotlight on your sport. Asia and Europe have always been hotbeds for excitement in boxing, but we’ve got so much boxing out there that the product is not well taken in certain countries on a consistent basis.” Source: Sports Media, 22nd February 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
WWE-TNA Ratings Battle Provides Valuable Lessons
TNA and Spike TV are both moderately satisfied with last week's ratings performance. There were two lessons learned from last week's Monday special and Thursday head-to-head match-up.
First, wrestling fans want to see wrestling matches. The "This is TNA!" viewership dropped as the show progressed, which almost never happens for Raw. It opened with a 1.25 rating for Q1's King of the Mountain match and grew to a 1.31 in Q2 for the conclusion. Then the rating dropped to a 1.18 and 1.17 for the 30 minute stretch heavy on video packages leading into LAX vs. A.J. Styles & Christopher Daniels.
The start of the second hour jumped back to a 1.25 rating, but then dropped progressively the rest of the show down to a 1.02 rating for the Christian promo and Elevation X announcement. Lesson: Build to wrestling and then feature it. Another potential lesson: Once fans realize a show isn't live (or at least first-run material) they begin tuning out. Another potential lesson: Every show loses viewers as it progresses, but usually it gains new viewers, but when you title a show "This is TNA!" wrestling fans are less likely to discover you than if you have "wrestling" in the title.
The lesson learned from the Thursday head-to-head match-up is that wrestling fans who watch both TNA and WWE are more loyal to WWE than TNA. That's a bad position to be in for an "underdog" promotion.
TNA Impact ratings dropped to around half of the usual viewership, while the Raw special drew about the same percentage of the recent Monday Raw viewership as the Raw Thursday special did last year unopposed by TNA Impact. So, as best can be determined from a small sample of data, half of TNA's Impact viewership was willing to abandon ship for Raw, while very few Raw viewers skipped Raw to watch Impact.
TNA has taken flack for putting on a Gauntlet Match as the main event. I don't think they deserved as much flack for that as they're getting for the concept itself because it was a match that allowed TNA to feature a big dose of its star power in one match. It's not the match choice, but the amount of time and hype given to it that deserves flack. It was simply too short and there wasn't enough hype to make it feel important or set the stage for it. The middle 20 minutes of Impact could have been cut out entirely - it was extraneous comedy skits and video features - and the Gauntlet Match extended to twice the length, and then it might have worked out better.
Overall, Spike and TNA were happy with the ratings on Monday, as they should have been (it was twice Spike's usual rating on Monday night), and the loss of viewers on Thursday up against a loaded Raw main event was expected. Even more importantly, TNA learned some valuable lessons from the ratings last week and they should consider those lessons invaluable and incorporate them into all future programming and booking decisions. Wade Keller comments on PW Torch, 22nd February 2007