Friday, 9th March 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Copa America Gets Network Window

Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV) has reached an agreement with Brazilian company Traffic Sports Marketing to broadcast the 2007 Copa America football tournament on terrestrial television. Total Sports Asia (TSA), the exclusive representative of Traffic in Asia, brokered the deal. The tournament for national teams will be held in Venezuela from June 26 to July 15. Along with the 10 South American teams, Mexico and USA have accepted invitations to take part. Traffic expects the event to be shown in more than 170 countries this year.

NTV has already been carrying Traffic’s other top football properties in Japan. “We have been working with NTV for many years on such prestigious soccer properties as Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, and are extremely excited at the opportunity of extending this partnership to include Copa America 2007,” said Chung See Liang, TSA’s Tokyo-based managing director (Korea/Japan).

“We are honoured to be able to broadcast Copa America 2007, one of the most prestigious soccer tournaments in the world,” said Yoshio Nakayama, NTV’s deputy director general, sports and infotainment. “We hope to show the soccer fans in Japan the true excitement of this tournament.”

Jean Marc Schwartzenberg, Traffic’s director of international business, said: “We are very happy to have reached an agreement with NTV, one of our long-standing partners in Japan. We are confident that their coverage of Copa America will give the tournament the visibility it deserves.” Source: Sports Media, Sport Business, Sports e-Media, Sportcal, 8th March 2007

WWE Wrestles AT&T Mobile Deal

AT&T Mobile users, get ready: Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment are coming to your cell phone. Beginning Thursday, WWE will offer video clips, ring tones and other content via AT&T's mobile-phone platform as part of a multiyear distribution deal between the two parties. The deal is the WWE's first in the mobile-video market, and it will complement the WWE’s cable, broadband-video, subscription-video-on-demand and pay-per-view services. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"This is the perfect marriage between content and technology," WWE executive vice president of global media Shane McMahon said. "We wanted to find a strong partner who is going to be there for long term; not just on the cutting edge on new technology, but on the bleeding edge." For AT&T the deal provides its subscribers access to a custom-built, mobile Internet WWE portal that will provide access to WWE's library of content, according to McMahon.

AT&T executive director of media innovations Jordan Berman said, "We see WWE as another crown jewel in our exclusive content offering." WWE will make available to 61 million AT&T customers more than 100 video clips per month as part of AT&T Mobile's monthly Cingular Video package. In addition, AT&T will offer a special WWE subscription package that will feature mobile-exclusive content.

As part of a launch promotion, the new AT&T and WWE will offer WrestleMania's Magic Moments, a special package of content featuring great matches from past WrestleMania events as part of the build-up to the WWE's April 1 WrestleMania 23 PPV event. Source: Digital Producer, Reuters, Mediaweek, 7th March 2007, Also check out WWE’s official site for mobile


INFO BOX

Business 2.0 Magazine’s Next Net 25 (…continued from yesterday)
Source: Ken Radio, 7th March 2007
* Fon sells a $30 wireless router to consumers. They hook it up, register their node, and agree to share their broadband with other "Foneros" for free. Those who want to charge outsiders for access can do so, and Fon gets a cut. Likewise, if someone wants to pay $2 or $3 to use the Fon network for a day, Fon takes a share of that revenue. Just over a year old, Fon's network boasts more than 70,000 hotspots. Initially focused on Europe and Asia, Fon plans a big push in the United States in the coming months.
* Loopt offers around-the-clock friend tracking. Cell-phone customers are using Loopt to let their buddies see their locations. It's already a hit with some 100,000 Boost Mobile subscribers who want to know not just what their posse is up to but where it's at.
* Mobio offers mobile-phone mashups and widgets that figure out where you are and serve up on-the-go services like movie listings. Other widgets will book a cab or a seat at a restaurant.
* Tiny's Radar service lets you snap photos with cell phones and send them to friends, who can both access and comment on the shots. Radar will be a built-in application on some devices made by Danger, creator of T-Mobile's Sidekick.
* SoonR allows you to use your phone to pull up and search data on your desktop - everything from Word docs to Photoshop files.
* Turn.com is offering online advertisers something many have craved for years: precise, automated ad targeting combined with a system that requires them to pay only for specific desired results. Call it pay-per-play.
* Adify is an online marketplace for highly targeted ads. Businesses can sell ad space directly to advertisers; advertisers can target specific market niches while Adify handles the back-office work.
* AdMob offers a place to buy ads for delivery to cell phones. That market is set to explode, and AdMob - which says it has sent out nearly a billion ads in less than a year - is poised to become its middleman of choice.
* SpotRunner is a one-stop online shop for low-cost 30-second TV ads. Local businesses can browse a library of premade spots and personalize them for airing in their local markets.
* ViTrue's platform lets corporate customers solicit, edit, and upload user-generated videos that promote their products. With companies like General Motors tapping the YouTube generation to virally market their wares, ViTrue is in a sweet spot.
* SuccessFactors, takes in an estimated $100 million in annual revenue by selling a suite of simple Web-based tools that automate important but previously paper-driven management chores - performance reviews, succession planning, and compensation.
* JanRain has developed a single sign-on service for multiple passwords that lets people hop freely from site to site. Business demand for JanRain's services is expected to grow as Web 2.0 entertainment and social-networking sites proliferate.
* Logoworks automates the design of logos, business cards, and stationery. Proprietary software helps Logoworks streamline the process and charge less than old-line competitors.
* Rearden Commerce sells a Web-based "virtual personal assistant" application that smoothly integrates hotel and flight reservations, meetings, and other events into your daily agenda. Some 150 companies and 500,000 employees use Rearden's software.
* SimulScribe transcribes voice-mail messages and shoots them to your mobile device as text or e-mail messages. Targeting corporate customers, SimulScribe will integrate the service into company voicemail systems.


SPORTS SHORTS

* Singaporean media and communications outfit StarHub has proposed returning S$444 million (US$291 million) to its shareholders, the second time it has done so in under a year. Major shareholders benefiting from the cash return include ST Telemedia, Japan’s NTT Communications and Media Corp of Singapore. Source: Rapid TV News, 9th March 2007

* JumpTV, a broadcaster of ethnic television over internet, has signed an agreement with South Korea's Arirang TV. Arirang TV will be available when launched commercially and will likely be included in a bundle of Korean channels at a later date. Arirang is a 24-hour satellite channel broadcast in English and Korean. Its main programming is about Korea's culture, history, tradition and nature. Arirang TV reportedly reaches more than 57.5 million households in 188 countries. Source: DM Asia, 8th March 2007

* The European Handball Federation has invited bids from companies interested in acquiring media rights to the men’s and women’s finals of the continent’s three major club competitions. On offer are the live and delayed free-to-air rights, live and delayed pay-television rights, international television rights, internet and mobile phone rights and radio rights. The events covered are the men’s and women’s finals of the EHF Cup, Cup Winners Cup and Challenge Cup. Source: Sportcal, 8th March 2007

* Fox has acquired exclusive rights to Serie A TIM football in the USA from Media Partners & Silva. The Italian top division will be on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español through 2009-10 season. Rights were previously shared with GolTV. Beginning August, Fox Soccer Channel will feature up to three live Serie A matches each weekend, plus a mid-week match when scheduled - approximately 140 matches all told. Fox Soccer Channel will also introduce its first-ever dedicated Serie A highlights show. Source: Sports Media, Sport Business, Worldscreen, Sportcal, EUFootball.biz, 8th March 2007

* German broadcaster, Premiere, paid €200 million ($263 million) for both the free-to-air and pay-television rights of the Champions League for three seasons despite having no free-to-air outlet of its own. Premiere allowed Sat.1, the previous free-to-air rights holder in Germany for the Champions League, to broadcast the match as it is obliged to show some of its matches on free-to-air television and the earlier deal with specialist sports broadcaster DSF excluded matches involving German teams after the group phase. Source: Sportcal, 8th March 2007

* Vladimir Putin is concerned that Russian Premier League soccer matches will be broadcast as a pay-per-view service via a network of commercial satellite channels. On Tuesday the Russian Football Union (RFU) and NTV-plus concluded a $100 million deal to broadcast all live Russian Premier League matches at pay-per-view rates instead of free on state television channels. Putin has been actively pushing the development of sports, particularly soccer, following the Russia's recent poor performance and failure to qualify for last year's World Cup. Source: RIA Novosti, Sportcal, 7th March 2007

* Broadcast rights for French rugby union’s second-tier Pro D2 from the 2007-08 season onwards look set to go to Sport+, part of Canal Plus and France Télévisions. Canal Plus, which recently merged with its rival TPS, is the sole candidate for the first lot of live Top 14 rights, which it holds under the present deal. It also looks set to pick up the second package of rights, which includes four live pay-per-view games each weekend. It is claimed that Canal Plus will pay between €30 million ($39.4 million) and €35 million a year for the two packages. Source: Sportcal, 8th March 2007

* UK’s ITV is bidding to bounce back from a disappointing 2006 by winning back the rights to show matches from the English FA Cup. The rights are presently held by the BBC and British Sky Broadcasting in a four-year deal worth £300 million, which expires at the end of the 2007-08 season. The FA aims to generate an extra £100 million in the next four-year period and is hoping for competitive bids from commercial broadcasters ITV and Five and cable operator NTL, which has now been rebranded as Virgin Media. Source: Sportcal, 8th March 2007

* The acquisition of Juventus Channel will be added to sports content offered by Maltese cable operator Melita Cable. The Juventus Channel is dedicated entirely to Juventus FC. The channel will provide direct transmissions before and after all games with interviews with coaches, players and members of management. During the week, the channel will provide footage from the training grounds in Turin and live coverage of Under 18 fixtures. The Juventus Channel will be broadcast 24 hours per day starting from 8 March 2007. Source: DM Europe, 8th March 2007

* The University Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge will be shown live in the United States for the first time this year. Korer Media represents the rights on behalf of The Boat Race Company Ltd and has signed with college sports network ESPNU to air the event on April 7. The agreement also gives ESPNU a first option to air the 2008 and 2009 Races. ESPNU has also acquired multi-media rights to the event. American rowers have been prominent in the long history of the Boat Race. Since 1950, over 10% of the oarsmen have been from the USA. Source: Sports Media, 8th March 2007

* Lagardère Group’s acquisition of Sportfive has now been completed and management structure of the agency has been changed, with Lagardère's Olivier Guiguet appointed interim CEO of Sportfive. Guiguet will serve as the interim Chief Executive Officer of Sportfive Group, with the support of Stéphane Schindler, Chief Operating Officer, Lagardère Sports, the Lagardère subdivision into which Sportfive has been incorporated. Guiguet will also continue to function as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lagardère Sports. Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, 8th March 2007

* Encouraged by the recent decision of the Wimbledon tennis championships to offer equal pay to men at women, the Badminton Players Federation is calling for a similar policy in its sport. The prize fund for men at Super Series events, including this week’s All England Open, is currently 3 per cent higher than that for women. BPF president Bobby Milroy said: ‘If the Badminton World Federation council doesn’t get its act together, we will be the last sport in the Olympic Movement to change to an equal policy. Source: Sportcal, 8th March 2007


MORE NEWS

Don King: Freitas-Diaz Unification Lands in Foxwoods

Promoters Art Pelullo/Banner Promotions and Don King/Don King Productions will present a sensational world title unification fight on Saturday, April 28, 2007, at Foxwoods Resort Casino, located at 39 Norwich Westerly Road in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The main event will be televised live on HBO. WBO lightweight world champion Acelino “Popo” Freitas, 38-1 with 32 knockouts, of Salvador, Brazil, will face WBA lightweight world champion Juan “El Torito” Diaz, 31-0 with 15 knockouts, of Houston, Texas, in the main event scheduled for 12 rounds for the unified WBO-WBA lightweight championship of the world.

Both fighters are tremendous competitors with exciting styles. Freitas, now 31 years old, is more experienced at the championship level and is known for his one-punch knockout power. He is 13-1 with 9 knockouts in world championship fights and looking to win his fifth world title. He won the WBO jr. lightweight title in August, 1999, and made six successful title defenses before adding the WBA super featherweight world title in January, 2002. Freitas won the WBO lightweight title for the first time in January, 2004, and regained it in his last fight in April, 2006.

Just 23 years old, Diaz brings relentless pressure and nonstop punching to every fight. In spite of his youth, he is already 6-0 with 2 knockouts in world championship fights. Juan won the WBA world title at the age of 20 in July, 2004, and has made five successful title defenses. An exciting undercard of supporting bouts will be announced. All bouts are subject to change without notice. Source: Boxing Scene, 8th March 2007

Asia/Rights: ESPN Star Sports Renews and Expands MLB Coverage

Major League Baseball International has reached agreements with ESPN Star Sports (ESS) and FTV on comprehensive over-the-air, cable and satellite broadcast packages through 2009. ESS will maintain cable and satellite television rights in 29 countries and territories across Asia (with exclusivity in all, except for China) through the 2009 MLB championship season.

ESS will broadcast up to three MLB regular season games per week, the All-Star Game (with additional rights to the Home Run Derby and the XM All-Star Futures Game), select American and National League Division Series games, both League Championship Series and the World Series to television audiences across Asia.

Additionally, ESS has expanded its inventory in Taiwan specifically to include the right to air up to seven regular season games per week (an increase of four games), any and all games featuring a Taiwanese player, and the entire MLB postseason (Division and League Championship Series games were formally limited). ESS has been a MLB broadcast partner for the past decade.

The new agreement with FTV gives the popular Taiwanese network exclusive over-the-air television rights in Taiwan for the first time ever. From 2007-2009, FTV will broadcast more than 60 MLB regular season games per year, including one game every Saturday morning. FTV will also hold premier content rights as the over-the-air home of the MLB All-Star Game and the entire MLB postseason. Source: Sports Features, Sport Business, Sportcal, 7th March 2007

India/Broadcast: Sports Telecast Bill Passed by Lok Sabha

Information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi today told the Lok Sabha that comprehensive broadcast regulation legislation would be brought shortly after talking to state governments. Replying to the discussion on the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill, he said that the legislation would show that no other country has as much transparency as India as far the functioning of the media is concerned. The Bill was passed unanimously.

The Bill has retrospective effect from November 2005 when the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines had been issued. The ordinance was promulgated after Nimbus Communications refused to share live feed of the India-West Indies one-day series with Doordarshan after the Delhi High Court passed an order for a seven-minute deferred telecast signal to the public broadcaster and live broadcast on All India Radio. The minister said there was tremendous pressure on the public broadcaster as millions of viewers were deprived from seeing the telecast of the first India-West Indies cricket match late in January.

Distribution of broadcasting signals of sporting events of public interest in India is characterised by a few dominant exclusive rights holders or broadcasters and distribution platforms. "The end result is that a large number of listeners and viewers in India, especially those who do not have access to satellite and cable TV and most of whom are in rural areas, are denied access to these events," it added.

On the matter of encryption of Doordarshan's terrestrial signal, regarding which India cricket rights holder Nimbus has warned the BCCI it would demand compensation for "dilution of the value of its property" if the issue is not sorted out, Dasmunsi said he would make a statement once the committee has filed its report. Source: Indian Television, 8th March 2007

Asia/General: Arsenal Furthers Its Asian Presence

Arsenal has agreed to a technical and marketing partnership with Vietnamese League club Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), the first time a top club has ventured into Vietnam. The partnership will lead to the establishment and operation of an Arsenal elite football academy in Vietnam, technical support for the HAGL football team and commercial, marketing and business support for the Vietnamese club. Arsenal will also use the partnership to further develop club-related marketing and merchandising initiatives along with soccer school activities in Vietnam.

Work will immediately begin on the development of an Arsenal Academy in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai with the aim to develop the standard of the game in the region. The Academy will run on a similar basis to the ones that currently operate in Thailand and the Ivory Coast. Source: Football Insider, 8th March 2007

Singapore/Thailand/General: Temasek to Divest from Shin by end-March

Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. will likely announce a plan to divest part of its stake in Thai telecom giant Shin Corp. PCL by the end of March, the Matichon newspaper reported, quoting an unnamed source close to Temasek. The plan will make Thailand "happier," said the person, who also told the newspaper the plan will allow Shin to continue trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Singapore will still invest in Thailand. The person didn't elaborate.

Matichon suggested Temasek, Singapore's state-owned investment company, is planning to sell part of its Shin stake to local investors, and the deal is close to being sealed. Temasek owns more than 90% in Shin through a complex shareholding structure. Thai authorities have been investigating whether the Singapore company violated laws which limit foreign ownership in a Thai firm at 49%. Source: Total Content + Media, 8th March 2007

Elsewhere/General: Charges Issued Against Officials of Fifa's Former Agency

Executives of the now-defunct ISL, the former sports agency of Fifa, have been charged with various offences related to the collapse of the company. Marc Von Dach, a Swiss prosecutor, said yesterday that the unnamed individuals were being investigated for embezzlement, fraud, fraudulent bankruptcy, damaging creditors and falsification of documents and that the charges involve an estimated $100 million.

ISL, which held the television and marketing rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, collapsed in May 2001 with estimated debts of at least $300 million forcing Fifa to make new commercial arrangements for the two tournaments. The charges were filed with a regional criminal court in the Swiss town of Zug, where ISL was based, but no current or former officials of Fifa are under investigation.

The investigation into ISL was initially prompted by a complaint by Fifa, which accused ISL's parent company, ISMM Group, of failing to pass on the proceeds of licence contracts and using the money for its own financial purposes. Last year, Fifa threatened legal action over allegations made in a television programme by the BBC, the UK’s public service broadcaster, that it had repaid bribes in the aftermath of the collapse of ISL.

ISL’s financial problems were attributed to overpaying for sports rights in the form of upfront guarantees, especially in the case of its 10-year, $1.2-billion marketing rights deal with the men’s tennis professional body the ATP. Source: Sportcal, EUFootball.biz, 8th March 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

About ESPN Star Sports

ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world’s leading cable and satellite broadcasters. ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies – Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) – to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay and free-to-air services. ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe to a cumulative reach of more than 276 million viewers in Asia, 24 hours a day.

ESPN STAR Sports has 14 networks covering 24 countries, each localized to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Singapore, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN Hong Kong, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports Southeast Asia and STAR Sports Singapore.

On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw and footballcrazy.tv interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions.

mobileESPN enables sports fans to follow their favorite sports more closely than ever with content specially delivered via their mobile phones. mobileESPN is the first of a regional suite of services to be offered across seven markets in Asia Pacific – Airtel (India), Hutch (India), Idea (India), BSNL (India), BPL Mobile (India), CSL (Hong Kong), Globe Telecom (Philippines) Maxis (Malaysia), SingTel (Singapore), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan), Telkomsel (Indonesia), StarHub (Singapore), MobileOne (Singapore), PCCW (Hong Kong), Sunday (Hong Kong) and Astro (Malaysia). Source: Sports Features, 7th March 2007

About FTV

In 1997, Formosa Television (FTV) became Taiwan’s first privately-owned, terrestrial TV station, launched alongside a cable news channel, FTV News. FTV is one of the most diverse TV stations, tapping into different markets with different demands. The station caters to the Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakkanese markets and is currently the only TV station in Taiwan to broadcast news in English.

Widespread viewer support has made FTV the terrestrial station with the highest ratings over the past three years. FTV began providing in-flight news on China Airlines flights in 2002 keeping travelers up to date on current events in Taiwan, at 35,000 feet in the sky. In 2005, FTV established FMTV, a digital television channel, leading the market into the mobile TV era. Source: Sports Features, 7th March 2007