Thursday, 8th March 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

WWE to Spend $70 mn Marketing WrestleMania 23 in the USA

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is mounting what it says is its biggest-ever promotional campaign in the US. The aim is to help affiliates and business partners make the most of pay-per-view’s perennial live event champion, WrestleMania. Promotion on WWE’s television, live event and broadband platforms, as well as national and local media buys, include print, television, radio, cinema, and out-of-home ad campaigns for WrestleMania 23 is valued at more than $70 million.

The annual WrestleMania event will take place on 1 April, 2007. Fans from 23 countries, including all 50 states in the US will be present at the live event, which ultimately will be viewed by millions in 90 countries. Among the top draws on the Superstar-studded card will be “The Battle of Billionaires,” pitting WWE chairman Vince McMahon against real Donald Trump in a Hair vs Hair which will culminate with the the loser being shaved bald.

WWE executive VP, marketing Kurt Schneider says, "WWE defines pop culture worldwide. We are a leader in entertaining millions of fans globally through prime time cable and broadcast television, live events, home video, merchandising, licensing, publishing, video on demand and mobile content. With WrestleMania 23, we’re marshalling all our media resources, and those of our marketing partners, to make this year’s WrestleMania a ‘must see’ event and another record-setter for the pay-per-view industry.”

The multi-million dollar build up to WrestleMania 23 includes on-air promotion on USA Network, The CW, Sci Fi Channel and Telemundo. In March with The CW, WWE is executing a month-long tune-in campaign with more than 60 affiliates where ticket and trip giveways will generate more than $400,000 in incremental media support. In addition, WWE will support its pay-per-view blockbuster with a consumer campaign that blends television, cinema, online, print, radio, and high impact outdoor advertising in six major markets, including a 112-foot by 169-foot wall unit in Dallas.

Full page ads will be placed in Entertainment Weekly and ESPN: The Magazine. Special cover wraps and ads will take over leading major market news dailies. Extensive campaigns with national network and Sirius Satellite radio will complement local English and Hispanic radio campaigns. In addition, more than 1,200 radio stations nationally will receive “dj chatter packages,” including life-sized WWE Superstar cut-outs, a DVD of WWE sound bytes, trivia and more to generate buzz-building banter. WrestleMania branded spots will also be seen in more than 1,000 movie theaters.

As always, there is a host of guerilla tactics, such as extensive billboard signage, more than 100,000 branded WrestleMania 23 pizza boxes in several cities and a branded Armored Truck that will canvas New York City. This year, WWE is also amping up its viral buzz campaign through partnerships with MySpace and YouTube and banner advertising on key men’s lifestyle, sports and gaming sites. A two-month viral E-Marketing effort is also planned, and more than one million consumers will receive recorded calls from WWE Superstars and Vince McMahon in the three days leading up to the event to drive last-minute sales.

Wal-Mart, F.Y.E, Game Stop, Steve and Barry’s and AAFES (Army Air Force Exchange Service) are among the retail partners who will generate presence for WrestleMania 23 in more than 10,000 outlets across the US. WWE is getting its passionate fans directly involved in the hair-hype over the “Battle of the Billionaires” match between Donald Trump and Vince McMahon. In eight markets, WWE is working with local radio stations asking fans to literally become walking billboards to promote the biggest event in sports entertainment: Selected fans will get paid to shave “WM23 April 1” into their hair.

WWE’s Fan Axxess Tour is already building buzz by visiting shopping malls and sporting events in 13 cities through 27 March. The 4,000 square foot interactive experience will reach more than 200,000 people through the April 1 event, generating more than $1.5 million in incremental media. Affiliates of The CW, as well as cable affiliates of Comcast, Time Warner and Charter Communications, are supporting the Fan Axxess Tour via cross-channel spots, e-blasts, web and cable guide tags.

WWE.com is offering a full slate of WrestleMania 23 original programming, including a live webcast from the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, as well as a live pre-show on WrestleMania Sunday. WWE Mobile will also provide unique video, voice tones and wallpapers produced exclusively for WrestleMania 23.

WWE Home Video is supporting the event with the DVD release of WrestleMania III: The Championship Edition. This is a digital re-mastering of the legendary 20-year-old event at the Pontiac Silverdome that arguably set the world indoor attendance record. The 2-disc DVD features extra matches and interactive content, and includes a bonus “WrestleMania Classics The Music” CD, featuring seven classic Superstar entrance themes available at Wal-Mart. Source: Indian Television, 8th March 2007


INFO BOX

Business 2.0 Magazine’s Next Net 25 (10 today, 15 more tomorrow)
Source: Ken Radio, 7th March 2007

Every year Business 2.0 Magazine assembles "Next Net 25", the Web 2.0 wannabes most likely to break out of the pack. Timing seems prime: Hardware is cheap, broadband ubiquitous, software open-source, and venture capitalists are again flooding Silicon Valley with ready cash. While the VC spigot is still open, funding will be harder to come by as investors focus on the bets they've already made.

Here's a reality check: There are already more than 288 video sites trolling the Web for viewers. Most will not even come close to billion-dollar buyouts; more likely they'll end up as feature buttons in someone else's service - if they're lucky. The losers are likely to be those companies that try to make money by pouring old-media wine into the new Web bottles. The winners will be the players that invent new ways to tap into what the Web brings to the party: instant feedback, instant analysis, and the collective wisdom of a billion users.

* StumbleUpon has 2 million registered users drawn by its knack for finding websites that match their interests and those of others with similar tastes as they "stumble" around the Net.
* Slide has developed customizable and easily assembled slide shows of photos that can be embedded in a blog or a MySpace page, sent out in an RSS feed, and streamed to a desktop as a screensaver.
* Bebo has built a social network, more than 30 million members strong, that keeps users' pages private but still allows them to share things like video and drawings made on an online whiteboard.
* Meebo lets users manage multiple instant-messaging services from one site. Meebo's killer app is a widget that places an IM window on your blog or webpage.
* Wikia operates a hosting service for ad-supported community sites that use the same software and collaborative content model that made Wikipedia a Web phenomenon.
* Joost provides more of a television-style experience than current online video sites, with channels you can flip through randomly or program yourself. Viewers can also share playlists of their favorite shows with friends or chat with them online while watching the same program.
* Dabble has designed a tool for organizing videos into playlists of favorites. Users share them across the network, so, say, food lovers can dabble in one another's video collections.
* Metacafe's service ranks uploaded videos by popularity and feedback from a community of 17 million monthly visitors - and pays the creators for the success of their work. The auteurs get $100 after 20,000 viewings and $5 for every 1,000 subsequent views. Since September, Metacafe has paid a total of $250,000 to 200 contributors.
* Revision 3 is a production studio for geek-oriented online shows. Started by Digg founder Kevin Rose and its CEO, Jay Adelson, Revision3 sells sponsorships to companies like Go Daddy, Microsoft, and Sony for as much as $10,000 per episode.
* Blip.tv has built a platform for syndicating serialized online shows such as Starring Amanda Congdon and TreeHugger TV. Blip provides producers with software, ads, and distribution to websites and blogs. A deal is already signed with Web TV service Akimbo, which lets producers send their videos to TV sets.


SPORTS SHORTS

* A group of US venture capital firms, including Disney's investment arm, are investing $23.5 million in UUSee, a major Chinese site for Web video. UUSee distributes live and on-demand TV from CCTV; CSAT, China's largest satellite TV company; and Beijing TV. The content includes subtitled United States shows like CSI: Miami and 24. The site has 36 million registered users, making it China's largest Web TV operator. Source: Advanced Television, Worldscreen, 8th March 2007

* The cricket boards of Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka are trying to reach agreement on television rights before announcing a triangular tournament involving the three countries’ national teams in Abu Dhabi in May. The Pakistan team is keen to fill a gap in schedules between the Cricket World Cup and the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September. South Africa and Sri Lanka are expected to confirm their participation. Source: Sportcal, 7th March 2007

* Football website Goal.com plans to launch a broadband video subscription platform in July. The website attracts over six million unique users monthly around the world. It is available in 16 languages. The owners acquired the Goal.com domain name from Spanish group Media Pro in 2004. Goal.com will use Servecast’s Media Studio platform to develop the subscription video offer. The website produced its own video news content during the FIFA World Cup last summer. Source: Sports Media, 7th March 2007

* Georg Kofler, Premiere’s chief executive, has insisted that they will bid alone for rights to the Bundesliga for the next contract period starting in 2009. Premiere was beaten to the exclusive live Bundesliga rights for three years from the 2006-07 season onwards by Arena, the cable channel, which pays around €240 million ($315.4 million) a year. However, Premiere subsequently agreed deals to broadcast Arena’s coverage to the 800,000 subscribers via Kabel Deutschland. Source: Sportcal, 7th March 2007


MORE NEWS

India/Rights: Encryption Row Threatens Huge Indian Cricket TV Deal

The record television deal between the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Nimbus Communications is in jeopardy because of issues relating to the encryption of the signal being shared with state broadcaster Doordarshan. Nimbus is reported to be ready to pull out of the four-year, $612-million contract it signed in 2006 to cover India’s home matches until March 2010 if the situation is not resolved to its satisfaction.

The threat has prompted the BCCI to hold an emergency meeting at the home of its president Sharad Pawar in New Delhi in a bid to settle the encryption dispute. The value of the rights acquired by Nimbus has been compromised by an ordinance introduced by the Indian government which compels the company to provide a terrestrial feed of India’s matches, which are considered events of national importance, to Doordarshan.

Nimbus shows cricket on its new Neo Sports pay channels and is insisting that the state broadcaster encrypts its signal so it is only available to viewers of the terrestrial channel and not Direct-to-Home (DTH) viewers in India and beyond and is seeking compensation, at the very least, if its technical demands are not met.

Pawar denied that Nimbus was threatening to pull out of its contract, adding: ‘There is no problem with the ordinance for us and the licensee [Nimbus]. We completely agree with that. But there are certain technicalities. The signals are going out of India to the Gulf and other places, which is affecting the revenue of Nimbus and us.’

The Sports Broadcasting Signals Bill, making it mandatory for private broadcasters to share coverage of sporting events of national importance with Doordarshan and All-India Radio, was introduced in the Indian parliament last week and is expected to succeed the ordinance in due course. 75 per cent of the advertising revenue generated will go to the private broadcaster which holds the rights, while for radio coverage a 50:50 model will apply. Source: Sportcal, 7th March 2007

Thailand/Broadcast: Last Minute Reprieve for iTV

Thailand’s government has performed another volte-face, allowing broadcaster iTV to keep its channel on the air, at least for the time being. Despite widepsread reports that it had gone ahead, the shutdown at midnight on March 6/7 never occurred as employees defied the government and kept the channel on air. Later on Wednesday, March 7 Prime Minister General Surayad Chulanot told station workers to keep the channel broadcasting, no doubt earning valuable PR points.

The Council of State ruled that the government takeover of the channel was legal, with assets transferred to, ironically, the government’s Public Relations department. It will be renamed Thai ITV. General Surayad’s move has exposed tensions within the government, as other ministers had been gunning for the broadcaster to be closed down. Source: Rapid TV News, 8th March 2007

Mid-East/Broadcast: 10 Mid-East HD Channels This Year

The 13th Dubai Cable & Satellite Show is in full swing, and HDTV equipment vendors are in a very buoyant mood. One hardware supplier predicted that there could “easily” be 10 channels on air over the Middle East this year – and quite possibly more:

* Shopping channel Luxe.TV confirmed on March 6 that it is airing its high-def version, free to air, on Arabsat’s Badr IV satellite. The channel is also available in standard-definition from the same satellite.
* Pay-TV operator Orbit will have four high-def channels on air shortly, the first kicking off in April with Discovery’s HD service. Movies/Sport will follow, and then Orbit’s own expensively produced in-house channels will also dual transmit in HD.
* Arab Radio & Television, which experimented with HDTV on NileSat during the Germany FIFA soccer World Cup last year, is said to be launching no less than five HDTV channels on NileSat this year, although with ART focusing on sport some of these “channels” could just be part-time.
* Showtime, the region’s third pay-TV operator, is readying for HDTV and their service is expected to be launched along with their English premiership coverage which kicks off this autumn.
Most other mainstream broadcasters are known to be taking a cautious approach to HDTV. Plenty are investing in HD original production, especially where there’s archival value in the footage captured. But how soon these efforts migrate to fully-fledged HD services is still anyone’s guess. Source: Rapid TV News, 8th March 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: NTV+ Deal Gets Cold Shoulder From Fans

Satellite TV company NTV+ has signed an exclusive US$100 million deal with the Russian Premier League to broadcast live coverage of the country’s top flight football games over the next four years. The deal looks to be the cherry on the cake for NTV+, owned by gas giant Gazprom, which already has live broadcasting rights to the Russian First Division and Russian Cup, as well as international and European matches and various European leagues, including the Barclays Premiership.

Besides NTV+, the likely winners of the new deal are the clubs themselves, who can each expect a share of the $100 million on offer, a significant increase to that earned from terrestrial coverage. The League will receive a certain amount of money from the deal but USD 25 million a year will be divided between the clubs according to its league position.

In a survey published by daily sports paper Sovetsky Sport at the weekend, 59% of respondents said they would watch the one match available on terrestrial TV each week and not subscribe to NTV+. Only 7% said they would purchase a NTV+ subscription, whilst 6% and 7% respectively answered they would either watch the game in a sports bar or at the stadia. Worryingly, 19% said that they would not be prepared to watch Russian football at all. Source: Sports Media, 7th March 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Broadcaster Grabs Austrian Bundesliga Free-to-air Rights

Austrian public-service broadcaster, ORF, has won the free-to-air rights to Austrian soccer’s T-Mobile Bundesliga for a further three seasons. Under the terms of a contract worth an estimated €8.5 million ($11.2 million) to the Austrian league, ORF will continue to air one live match each Sunday and a highlights programme on Saturday evenings, as it does presently.

The allocation of the pay-television rights has still to be decided as the league continues to negotiate with Premiere, the Germany-based cable and satellite broadcaster which paid €42 million for both the free-to-air and pay-television rights for the present contract period (2004-05 to 2006-07). Premiere is said to be reluctant to pay the league’s asking price and is assessing its value as a property. Premiere Austria has made a loss in recent years despite attracting 160,000 new customers.

The Austrian league is selling the rights for the new period in several packages instead of handing hand them over to a single bidder after the uproar caused this season by the sale of terrestrial rights by Premiere. Premiere had sold the terrestrial rights for a three-year period to ATV for around €2.7 million but insisted in October 2006 that €2.2 million remained outstanding and agreed a separate deal with ORF for the remainder of the 2006-07 season. Source: Sportcal, 7th March 2007

Elsewhere/General: No South American Teams in Future Gold Cups

South America teams will no longer be invited to take part in CONCACAF soccer events, Chuck Blazer, chairman of the competition committee at CONCACAF has announced. No South American teams are included in the line-up for this year’s edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the national teams competition. However, USA and Mexico will still compete in South America's equivalent Copa America this year, having been invited before Blazer’s announcement.

The announcement ends a 15-year agreement between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, its South American counterpart, during which each federation sent member teams to compete in the other’s continental championships. Blazer explained that much has changed since the initial agreement between the two federations was made in 1991, adding: 'It's not our intention for the programme to go forward the way it was. We will sit down with our friends to see what is the best way we can go forward.'

Meanwhile, the draw for the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup pits hosts and holders USA in a group alongside Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala and El Salvador. The Gold Cup is scheduled to take place from June 6 to 24 and the semi-finals and final will be held at Soldier Field in Chicago. Source: Sportcal, 7th March 2007

Elsewhere/General: Death of iSe Spawns Two New Swiss Sports Agencies

At least two new Zurich-based sports agencies have emerged to take the place of iSe, the now-defunct Switzerland-based sports agency that is being wound up after failing to land any major contracts to replace its deal to market hospitality packages for last year’s World Cup in Germany.

George Taylor, iSe’s former chief executive, is the founder of SportsArtsplus, a new company that would focus on sponsorship in sport and the arts. The ‘plus’ in its name would stand both for ‘value added and anything we take on outside these fields.’ Taylor plans to leverage long-established relationships with McDonald’s, Dentsu, the Japanese advertising group that was a part-owner of iSe, and Daimler Chrysler. Taylor added that the company would also be interested in working with media rights, although ‘not many rights are available just now.’

Four other former iSe employees last month launched another new agency SUI 07 Sport Units of Innovation, including David Dellea, a partner in the new company. Dellea said that like SportsArtsplus retained an ‘excellent’ relationship with Dentsu and hoped to collaborate with the Japanese agency in future. SUI 07 is described as a ‘full-service sports rights agency with the ambition to become a leading European player.’ It plans to expand its activities in the fields of sports marketing, new technologies and investment management, providing services to rights holders, corporate clients, sponsors and suppliers in the sports industry.

iSe also supported Dentsu in the global marketing of the Asian Games in Doha in December and in distributing rights for IAAF athletics events. iSe was launched in January 2003 by Dentsu and Publicis, the French advertising and marketing company, which joined forces to create the agency, taking a 45-per-cent stake each. iSe was headed by chairman Haruyuki Takahashi, vice-chairman Bertrand Siguier and chief executive Taylor. Source: Sportcal, 7th March 2007

Elsewhere/General: WRC Trumpets Continuing Growth in Coverage and Viewers

Coverage and television audiences for the World Rally Championship have increased significantly in the last five years, according to International Sportsworld Communicators. Figures compiled by TNS Sport show that there were 4,544 hours of coverage worldwide in 2006, an increase of 155 per cent since 2002, and the cumulative television audience has risen by 46 per cent, from 554 million to 807 million, over the same period.

There were a total of 8,522 dedicated WRC broadcasts last season, a 27-per-cent increase on the number in 2005. The growth has been facilitated by new television deals with pan-regional cable and satellite broadcasters such as Eurosport in Europe, ESPN Star Sports in Asia, ESPN in Latin America, Al Jazeera in the Middle East and Supersport in Africa.

ISC will be looking to build on its gains in 2007 after appointing Sportfive, the international sports agency, to secure new broadcasters and sponsors for the WRC. Source: Sportcal, 7th March 2007