Friday, 15th June 2007

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

At the Sudirman Cup in Glasgow

Source: The Herald UK, 15th Jun 2007
Badminton made a national hero of Morten Frost and a television celebrity of Camilla Martin. Success in the world's fastest racket sport means fame and fortune in Denmark, the only nation that has come close to matching the best in Asia, particularly China. But what do Denmark and other European countries need to do to compete? "Another billion inhabitants," retorts England’s Nathan Robertson. Tom Bacher, the Danish president of Badminton Europe, describes a nightmare scenario of all five finals at next year's Beijing Olympics being contested exclusively by Chinese players. "Exactly that happened two weeks ago in the world table tennis championships in Croatia. All 10 finalists were Chinese and I am nervous that may happen to badminton," he said. "I don't think the systems are wrong in Europe; it is just a numbers game. For every 10 talents we have, the Chinese have 1000.

Source: Channel News Asia, 15th Jun 2007
World Champion Lin Dan suffered a shock defeat to Lee Chong Wei in the men's singles but China still easily beat Malaysia 4-1 to top Division 1 Group A at the Sudirman Cup World Team Championships on Thursday. China, a record five-time winner, now meet three-time former champions South Korea in Saturday's semi-finals. It was in a final rubber that Lin, unbeaten in this championship since 2003, succumbed 21-17, 21-17 to Lee, a former world No.1 who has dropped back to No. 4. It was also the the first time since the 2003 final that China had not won a Sudirman Cup match 5-0.

Source: The Star Malaysia, 15th Jun 2007
South Korea booked a place in the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup championships on Wednesday but the Koreans cut it desperately fine. South Korea were beaten 2-3 by Denmark in their final Group B tie but squeezed through in second place on games countback after finishing level on points with the Danes. Had the Danes won 4-1, they would have advanced. Denmark will regret not beating Hong Kong earlier in the week by a bigger margin than 3-2 after leading 3-0 at one stage.

Source: The Star Malaysia, 15th Jun 2007
Indonesia, who started the day in third place, topped the group after beating Hong Kong 4-1 to make the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup. Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat was rested and his replacement, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, obliged with a win over Wei Ng. Former world champion Candra Wijaya was one of the heroes on his comeback to the national team. He partnered Yulianto Alvent to a battling men’s doubles win over Albertus Susanto Njoto-Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama that clinched the overall victory. Indonesia were the runners-up to five-time champions China two years ago and Candra said: “It was very important for Indonesia to win today. It’s not going to be easy, but I still think we have a chance of winning the Sudirman Cup.”

Source: Gulf News Daily, 15th Jun 2007
England reached the Sudirman Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 attempts since the biennnial tournament began in 1989 with a 4-1 victory over Thailand. World champions Nathan Roberston and Gail Emms set the English on the way with a victory in the mixed doubles. After a setback in the men's singles, an important success over Salakjit Ponsana by 32-year-old Tracey Hallam in the women's singles set up the triumph for the rest of the strong doubles squad. Men's pairing Anthony Clark and Robert Blair responded by winning their game against Tesana Panvisavas and Songphon Anugritayawon 21-18 18-21 21-9 for a winning 3-1 lead. The women's doubles duo of Donna Kellogg and Emms rounded it all off with a straight games success that sparked joyful celebrations.


INFO BOX

The Future of Mobile Broadband
Source: Info IQ, 14th Jun 2007

Mobile WiMAX will connect 8% of the world’s 1.1 billion mobile broadband subscribers by 2012, accounting for nearly 88 million users worldwide, according to a study by Parks Associates. 52% of these subscribers will be from Asian countries while North and South America will account for another 28%. Taiwan alone will have eight million mobile WiMAX subscribers by 2012.

Most existing WiMAX deployments are the province of aspiring start-up service providers or incumbent telecom carriers looking to fill coverage gaps. The imminent availability of commercial products and increasing availability of spectrum around the world will change the market for mobile WiMAX and make it viable among major service providers.

Approximately 160 million cellular subscribers, 6% of all cellular subscribers, were using a mobile broadband service at the end of 2006. Two-thirds of these mobile broadband subscribers used UMTS technology, and the remainder used CDMA EVDO.

Both mobile WiMAX and UMTS/HSDPA technologies will gain market share in the next several years, at the expense of CDMA EVDO. TD-SCDMA will also have a meaningful market share due to its strong foothold in China, the largest mobile market in the world.


SPORTS SHORTS

* Organisers of the Copa America have changed one of its quarter finals venues. The match was due to take place in Barinas in south-west Venezuela but has now been moved to Puerto La Cruz in the east to accommodate a larger crowd. The La Carolina stadium in Barinas is being expanded to seat 27,500 but still lags behind the ground in Puerto La Cruz, which holds 40,000 fans. Venezuela has spent more than $1 million building two new stadiums, upgrading seven others and improving infrastructure for the Copa America. Source: Sportcal, 14th Jun 2007

* US Sports marketing company, Fenway Sports Group, will invest in beach volleyball events in the US. FSG will stage New England's first sanctioned pro beach volleyball tournament, Aug 16-19, in view of expanding relationship with the AVP Tour. FSG could host up to three events on the AVP Crocs Tour, which expanded to 18 cities from 16 in 2006. FSG operates the marketing for the Boston Red Sox, produces a major PGA Tour event and this year bought into a NASCAR team that has two drivers in contention for the Nextel Cup. Source: Sport Business, 14th Jun 2007

* China's wireless value-added services (WVAS) market is expected to generate $15 billion in 2008, and eventually reach $21 billion in 2010, a report by Juniper Research said. Currently, 2G and 2.5G-based services such as short messaging and ringtone downloads are major revenues source of China's WVAS market. With the impending availability of 3G services, more subscribers will use functions for downloading music, games and videos in future. Juniper's predicts that 3G services will take up 19% of China's WVAS service by 2012. Source: Telecom Asia, 14th Jun 2007

* India's chances of holding a F1 race got further boost with Bernie Ecclestone provisionally allotting a race to be held in October 2009. The venue has yet to be decided but Delhi has been tipped to host. Officially termed 'Formula 1 Grand Prix of India', is to be promoted by the Indian Olympic Association and subject to the IOA entering into a final contract with Formula One Administration (FOA) by September 30 this year. Source: DNA India, 14th Jun 2007

* NBC Universal and MobiTV, Inc. announced the launch of NBC Sports Mobile to the MobiTV(R) service. The launch was celebrated with live coverage of the 2007 U.S. Open Golf tee-off with Tiger Woods on Thursday, June 14th. NBC Sports Mobile will make its entrance on the mobile platform with a live feed of the 2007 U.S. Open Golf Tournament and continue to bring coverage of other live events throughout the Open. The NBC Sports channel will also offer coverage and highlights to mobile subscribers from Wimbledon and the NFL, among others. Source: Fierce Mobile, 14th Jun 2007

* On June 19th, the Peres Center for Peace will host Real Madrid in Israel to play a Peace Match with the Center's Peace Team – a mixed group of Palestinians, Israelis, Arabs and Jews. Sportfive is the exclusive partner of the Israel Football Association and responsible for all commercial rights to League and National Team in Israel. Sportfive will provide free worldwide webcast of the match where viewers will have the option of donating to the Peres Center online. Expected to play for Real Madrid are Cannavaro, Raul, Guti and van Nistelrooy. Source: Sports e-Media, 14th Jun 2007

* Fallen media mogul Leo Kirch has filed a suit against Deutsche Bank and a former executive, seeking €1.2 billion in damages for comments made about the now defunct Kirch Media empire. Kirch’s suit stems from comments made by Rolf Breuer, then CEO of Deutsche Bank, in a TV interview in February 2002, when he questioned credit-worthiness of the Kirch empire. Two months later, the group filed for bankruptcy. Kirch claims Breuer’s comments to Bloomberg News directly impacted the company’s ability to raise the funds to keep itself afloat. Source: Worldscreen, 14th Jun 2007

* Wolff Olins, the design agency which unveiled the much-derided Olympic logo, was appointed without London 2012 seeing any design ideas from the agency. According to The Sunday Times, none of the 4 shortlisted agencies submitted examples of their proposed Olympic logos for the competition conducted by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games. LOCOG defended its decision not to ask for submission of examples for the 2012 Olympics, stating it would have been too expensive for each agency to submit rough designs at the brief stage. However, this is a common approach in many pitches. Source: Brand Republic, 11th Jun 2007


MORE NEWS

India/Broadcaster: Report Recommends Making CAS Compulsory

A panel set up to advise India’s telecoms regulator, TRAI, on the implementation of conditional access systems (CAS) on cable networks, has recommended mandating its roll out to all cities with populations of over one million. Currently, conditional access is largely voluntary, with mandation tried principally in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. But the report said that situation should not continue that way.

The group recommended that roll out should start in October 2008 and proceed in phases, ending September 2011. It should apply to all 55 state capitals and all other cities with a population of over one million. If operators in other cities want to implement conditional access systems, the regulatory framework allowing them to do so should apply for two years.

India’s cable networks were until fairly recently unregulated, so have grown in a somewhat haphazard manner. There has been widespread dissatisfaction with a number of aspects of the industry, including frequent subscription fee increases, absence of uniform pricing between operators and absence of customer service and quality standards. Under-reporting of subscriber numbers, enabling operators to pay lower taxes, is also rife.

Introducing CAS is likely to lead to a more regulated and stable industry, with subscribers able to choose between channels, rather than having to take whatever the operator in that area offers at whatever price is set. Source: Rapid TV News, 14th Jun 2007

India/Broadcaster: Nimbus, SET in Talks for Cricket Distribution

Sports broadcaster Nimbus is understood to be in advanced talks with Sony Entertainment Television for distributing cricket matches to be played in India after Star India pulled out from an earlier deal. Industry sources said talks between Nimbus and SET for a four-year deal were likely to be finalised soon. Nimbus has already tied up with SAB TV, owned by SET, to broadcast with commentary in Hindi for the five matches that India will play in the upcoming one-day international series in Ireland.

Nimbus had earlier signed a Rs 1,000 crore, four-year distribution deal with Star India but the latter pulled out from the deal citing lack of exclusivity after the government's policy of making it mandatory for private broadcasters to share feed with Doordarshan. According to reports, Nimbus had approached a Singapore court seeking damages to the tune of over Rs 1,200 crore.

When contacted, Nimbus Managing Director Harish Thawani declined to confirm or deny the development. "We cannot comment at the moment," he told the media from Mumbai. A company official, however, said Nimbus was likely to finalise a distributor within a week. Nimbus holds telecast rights from BCCI for four years for all cricket matches to be played in India. It has already signed up with Sun News for Tamil, Gemini News for Telugu, Udaya Varthalugu for Kannada, while sharing feed with Doordarshan for the upcoming series. Source: The Economic Times, 14th Jun 2007

Indonesia/New Media: Mobile Base Seen Reaching 122 Million

Indonesia's mobile telecom sector has a bright future with a sustained increase in the demand on the back of the current low market penetration. Hasnul Suhaimi, president director of Excelcomindo Pratama, said the mobile telecommunications penetration rate, which currently stands at 32% to 35%, with a total of 75 million subscribers, is still relatively low. The penetration rate, based on an annual growth rate of 7.5%, would reach its peak at around 50% within the next two or three years as the market was already beginning to consolidate.

According to data from the Ministry of Information and Communications, the number of mobile phone users is expected to increase up to 2010, with the average growth rate amounting to 26.7% per year. By 2010, the number of mobile phone users would reach 122.1 million, up from 66.5 million last year and 46 million in 2005, he said.

Echoing Hasnul's comments, Kiskenda Suriahardja of Telkomsel, said that the industry was now in a transition to stabilise growth over the next two or three years. As market leader, Telkomsel, which currently has about 38 million subscribers, would strive to maintain its position by expanding into more remote areas, as well as providing the best technology and quality in its services. By contrast with the booming cellular market, the fixed-line market is facing slower growth, with a predicted average growth of 20.1% per year until 2010. Source: Telecom Asia, 15th Jun 2007

India/Broadcaster: Nimbus, Star Face-off in Legal Bloodbath

The face-off between Nimbus and Star India over the termination of their distribution deal has turned into a legal bloodbath. Nimbus Sports has filed proceedings against Star under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Arbitration Rules (UNCITRAL). Reacting to the move, Star India has filed caveats against Nimbus in the Bombay High Court. Nimbus is seeking damages of about Rs1,326 crore from Star.

When contacted, Neo Sports CEO Shashi Kalathil declined to divulge details. “This is a complex issue. I cannot comment on the subject,” he said. Star India officials also declined to comment on grounds that the matter is sub-judice.

Nimbus has charged Star on three counts: consistent delay and default of payments of minimum guarantee, non-performance on contracted deliverables (in other words, Star not delivering the distribution reach as mentioned in the original contract), and suspicion of sabotage owing to Star’s relationship with ESPN and the subsequent launch of ESPN’s all-cricket channel Star Cricket.

The Nimbus-Star deal has been under the scanner for several months now, with Star deciding to revisit the minimum guarantee (MG) amount agreed upon by both parties. Star which had signed the Rs1,000 crore deal with Nimbus last year for a period of four years, was keen to reduce the MG by Rs 400-450 crore. Among other reasons, Star was seeking reduction on grounds that the government has made it mandatory for private broadcasters to share feed of cricket matches with state broadcaster Doordarshan. With this clause, Neo Sports had lost all its exclusivity of content.

Secondly, when the contract was inked, Nimbus had priced both its channels, Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus at Rs 57.50, which was brought down to Rs 37.25 by Trai. Following the termination of the deal, Nimbus has initiated advanced talks with Sony’s One Alliance platform (see related story) to distribute Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus channels. The other option for Nimbus is to go independent through a bouquet likely to be called Independent TV Distributors. Nimbus is expected to announce its decision early next week. Source: The Economic Times, 14th Jun 2007

Elsewhere/General: 'Dismissed' Valcke Still Working at Fifa?

Jérôme Valcke, former head of Fifa Marketing and TV and one of four top officials ‘dismissed’ by Fifa in December last year for their part in a controversial sponsorship deal with Visa, has been working with Fifa president Sepp Blatter on a radical restructuring of the organisation. It is understood that Valcke will continue to work on the restructuring for the remainder of this month, when a decision will be made over his long-term future at Fifa.

Despite Fifa’s claim to have dismissed Valcke and his three colleagues after a New York court found that they ‘lied repeatedly,’ both to Visa and to its rival MasterCard, it has emerged that Valcke was only suspended, not sacked, and could even return to the organisation in a new role as a result of the restructuring in which he is directly involved.

Reports that he was re-appointed yesterday are, however, said by one insider to be wide of the mark. Fifa, soccer's world governing body, today told Sportcal.com that it 'will not discuss staff matters. Further information will be given, as previously announced, after the meeting of the FIFA executive committee on 27 June when they will have decided on the appropriate organisational structure at the proposal and under the chairmanship of President Joseph S. Blatter.'

Eelco van der Noll, Fifa's head of marketing, who is said to be leaving the organisation, declined to comment when contacted by Sportcal.com. Valcke, who joined Fifa in 2003 after walking out of international sports agency Sportfive over clashes with its other high-profile senior staff, was officially ousted from Fifa Marketing together with sales and marketing officials Stefan Schuster and Rob Lampman, and Tom Houseman. Source: Sportcal, 14th Jun 2007