Monday, 11th June 2007

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

I-Cable Hopes to Score with World Cup Rights

I-Cable has secured the rights to be the official broadcaster of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Hong Kong. This marks the third consecutive time the paybox will be broadcasting the soccer tournament, which will next be held in South Africa. In addition to the 64 final matches taking place between June 11 and July 11, coverage will also include hundreds of qualifying and international friendly matches in the lead up period.

I-Cable’s Cable TV also secured rights of all home matches of five-time champion Brazil during the FIFA qualifiers, which will be broadcast in September this year. Cable TV has long been the dominant choice, but PCCW’s NOW Broadband TV, launched over the Internet in September 2003, has been catching up at a rapid pace in part because it successfully wooed movie channels and high profile sporting events from Cable TV’s portfolio.

While winning FIFA may be a boon for Cable TV, which has been reassessing its business in light of fewer high-profile channels, PCCW has outbid Cable TV for both next season’s English Premier League and EUFA Euro 2008. PCCW also has non-exclusive rights for Italy’s football league for through this year. Cable TV is estimated to have about 820,000 customers while Now Broadband hit 800,000 as of the end of April.

"Following our highly successful coverage of the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2006, football fans all over Hong Kong have come to recognize that in Hong Kong, World Cup is Hong Kong Cable,” said Stephen Ng, Hong Kong Cable chairman and chief exec. Source: Variety Asia, 11th Jun 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* Santos midfielder Ze Roberto is quitting Brazilian soccer and the national team to return to Europe. Ze Roberto told a televised news conference late Friday that he wanted to move his family back to Europe, where he played for nine years before joining Santos last season, because he was worried about violence in the country. The 33-year-old midfielder's decision further depletes Brazil's squad for the Copa America, which starts June 26 in Venezuela. Coach Dunga is already without Ronaldinho and Kaka, who have asked to be rested. Source: Int. Herald Tribune, 9th Jun 2007

* Argentina coach Alfio Basile has called up ten players, including nine based in Europe, for the Copa America. Midfielder Juan Sebastien Veron is the only player who competes in South America while the rest are Nicolas Burdisso (Inter Milan), Hernan Crespo (Chelsea), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter Milan), Javier Zanetti (Juventus), Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United), Javier Pinola (Nuremberg), Luis Gonzalez (FC Porto), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool), Carlos Tevez (West Ham) and Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes de la Plata/ARG). Source: World Soccer News, 9th Jun 2007

* Broadband Internet users in China are fast approaching 100 million. Zhao Houlin of China's International Telecommunications Union, told the Broadband World Forum Asia last week that China has 97 million Broadband users. Of these 50 million are domestic users, 30 million hooked up through China Telecom and another 20 million supplied by China Netcom. In total the country has 144 million Internet users, up from 123 million in June last year. Source: Variety Asia, 11th Jun 2007

* Sports officials said that Vietnam will send a 1,000-member team to the 24th Southeast Asia Games in Thailand this December. Vietnamese athletes are expected to win gold medals again in wushu, karate, diving, gymnastics, billiards&snooker and canoeing if they continue to improve on their training and fitness, said VOC’s vice chairman and general secretary, Hoang Vinh Giang. Source: Vietnam News, 9th Jun 2007

* Fishermen scavenging for scrap copper off the coast of Vietnam have stolen part of an undersea cable and crippled the country's internet access. The TVH fiber-optic cable is one of a pair that provides Vietnam with 80% of internet access via Hong Kong and Thailand. Some 98km of cable was cut and will cost $5.84m to replace and 30 days to install. Vietnam is left with a single 10Gbps SMW3 undersea cable connecting it with the world. Cable theft in Vietnam is categorised as destruction of national communications and could result in a death sentence. Source: Ken Radio, 8th Jun 2007

* The UEFA Under-21 Championship in the Netherlands has attracted worldwide television coverage. As part of the drive to broaden the competition's appeal, pan-regional agreements are in place with ESPN in Africa, the Americas and the Pacific region and ART in the Middle East territory, while individual agreements have been found in Asia, including Eurosoccer in China, PCCW in Hong Kong and RCTI in Indonesia. In order to enhance the coverage in the region, free live streaming will be available on www.uefa.com in Japan and Korea Republic. Source: UEFA Official, 10th Jun 2007

* Fifa has relaunched fifa.com with the aim of giving fans an ’abundance of content’ on the site and ‘the chance to interact with each other.' Fifa’s official site received 4.2 billion page views during last year’s World Cup in Germany, a record for a sports website. The new site includes news, features, interviews, statistics, fixtures and results, as well as ‘unparalleled free video offering.’ It is available in English, German, French and Spanish. Produced by the Fifa New Media department, the new site is supported by an alliance led by Deltatre. Source: Sportcal, 8th Jun 2007


MORE NEWS

BWF: Senior Badminton Official Vows to Fight Suspension

A top Badminton World Federation official says he will fight his surprise suspension, insisting Friday he has done nothing wrong. P. Ganga Rao, former BWF chief operating officer, said he was surprised to receive the federation's letter informing him of his suspension from the position on Monday evening. "I will certainly fight for my rights," he told The Association Press Friday. "I definitely don't feel I did anything wrong."

Rao, who is also secretary of the Badminton Association of Malaysia, said he was considering all options including going to court over the issue, but was awaiting his lawyer's advice and the BWF's next move. "I have come to BWF to help ensure that there is transparency and accountability in whatever we do," he said, adding he would follow all procedures as necessary.

The federation will hold its annual general meeting during the Sudirman Cup in Glasgow, Scotland, next week and will also conduct a domestic inquiry into the cause for the suspension on June 29, Rao said. Rao declined to specify why he had been suspended. Sources close to the case, who declined to be named, suggested the suspension may have been the result of an internal power struggle.

All BWF executives were in Scotland Friday and could not be reached at the federation's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. BWF deputy president Punch Gunalan, who had hand-picked Rao to become general manager early this year, did not answer a message left on his mobile phone. Rao, who was promoted from general manager to chief operating officer in March, said he had been barred from the federation's headquarters. He said he was still deciding whether to go to Glasgow at his own expense.

Kenny Goh, general manager of the Badminton Association of Malaysia, said Rao would keep his position at the association. "This has nothing to with BAM. It's BWF matters," he said. "We have no problem with Mr. Ganga Rao." Source: Int, Herald Tribune, The New Straits Times, 8th Jun 2007

India/Broadcaster: Tata Divests 10% of DTH

India’s Tata Group has reportedly sold 10% of its 80% stake in DTH venture TataSky to Singaporean government investment vehicle Temasek Holdings. Tata Group received just US$56 million for the stake, valuing the fledgling DTH platform at US$560 million. However, Temasek would be allowed to own only 26% of the platform because of foreign ownership limitations.

Launched in 2004, TataSky has over 500,000 subscribers and is targeting one million by August. Its joint venture partner is News Corp’s Asian arm, Star TV, which owns 20% of the platform. Heavy investment will be needed before the platform breaks even, thought to be the reason that the Tata Group is bringing a new investor on board, should the deal be made official. Rival Dish TV is out in front – its backer, Zee TV, has already invested Rs7 billion in launching the platform and has so far signed up 1.9 million subscribers.

India has two DTH platforms, TataSky and Zee’s Dish TV, with a third, Sun Direct, backed by Malaysia’s Astro All Asia Networks, due to launch some time in the next few months. Source: Rapid TV News, The Economic Times Business Standard India, 8th Jun 2007

India/Broadcaster: Nimbus-Star Deal Called Off

The break-up between Nimbus and Star India has finally happened. Last week, Star India sent official notice to Nimbus Communications stating the termination of the contract on account of breach by Nimbus. The distribution deal between Nimbus Sports, the BCCI’s telecast rights holder, and Star India was reviewed by Star, in view of a government ordinance making it mandatory for private broadcasters to share feed of cricket matches with DD. The clause deprived Neo Sports of all exclusivity of content, making it very difficult for Star to increase revenues, or actually get cable operators to carry the channel.

Highly placed sources at Star confirmed the development and stated that Star India had witnessed minimal increase in distribution revenue, not justifying the minimum guarantee of Rs 600-700 crore that was agreed by the broadcaster to pay Nimbus until 2010. Moreover, Star is also claiming a refund from Nimbus for the payments made till date on account of non-fulfilment of the contractual clauses, and the amount in question is still being ascertained.

The fall-out of the Star-Nimbus deal will have some severe repercussions on Nimbus as both Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus are new channels and the non-exclusivity of content will make it all the more difficult for Nimbus to ink another distribution deal. The other option for Nimbus is to distribute the channels themselves which will require a lot of initial investments, and the lack of clout with cable operators will make it an uphill task.

Apart from the government ordinance, Star also had an issue with the way the channels were priced. The initial pricing of the Neo Sports bouquet, which was Rs 58.50, which was when the deal was inked with Star, was slashed to Rs 37.25 after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its January 11 order directed the broadcaster to reduce its bouquet price in non-CAS areas and to price the channels at Rs 5 in CAS areas.

Moreover, cable operators were refusing to carry the Neo bouquet or pay for it, giving Star India no real advantage in terms of ramping up its distribution revenue. When the deal was struck, none of the above factors were taken into account as the bouquet price had not been introduced and the exclusivity issue was also relevant then. Star India garners close to Rs 360-400 crore annually through distribution revenue and the Neo Sports contract is far too marginal an increase to support the minimum guarantee of the contract. Source: The Economic Times India, 11th June 2007

China/Broadcaster: Media Promotes Olympics in Japan

2007 is the Year of Sino-Japanese Culture and Sports Communication. China's biggest TV network, CCTV has held a meeting in Japan focusing on the network's valuable resources and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It's aimed at giving the Japanese a better understanding of Chinese media trends. It's the first ever meeting for CCTV's commercial department to promote itself in a foreign country.

State officials, media experts as well as hundreds of entrepreneurs from both countries attended the meeting. Jiang Heping, CCTV Sports president, said, "As we all know, the Olympic Games is the world's most important sports meeting. By the same token, it's of the most valuable resource for the media, and TV people must do our best in the Games' promoting as well as reporting. In doing so, we will be able to provide the best platform for the world's top notch name-brands to showcase their products to the world, and introduce themselves to the massive market of China."

Many Japanese people attending the meeting wanted to get to know more about the Chinese media and look for opportunities to do business in China. Source: CCTV English, 8th Jun 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

ABU in Attack on ‘Out of Control’ Western Soccer Economy

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union this week unanimously passed a resolution calling for an Asian soccer summit, involving the world game’s key stakeholders, ‘in a quest to improve the appeal and competitiveness’ of Asian soccer. Les Murray, the ABU Sports Group chairman and an editorial supervisor for SBS Sports, the Australian public-service broadcaster, put forward the motion at the ABU Sports Conference in the Maldives on Wednesday as he launched an outspoken attack on soccer in the west and on European clubs' attitudes to the Asian market.

He said: ‘The football economy is so large, so flushed with cash that it is almost out of control. It is out of control because such volumes of money breed greed and inequity in the beautiful game and because it is losing all links with its roots.’ The proposal of an Asian soccer summit would aim ‘to stem the European tide and prevent football malnutrition in much of Asia,’ he said.

Manchester United, the champions of English soccer’s top-tier Premiership, were recently forced to abandon plans to play a match in Malaysia during their tour of Asia in July because of a clash with the Asian Cup, the continent’s top national teams competition, for which Malaysia is one of the hosts. Murray approved of the decision, saying: ‘The game was cancelled, even though it was to coincide with Malaysia’s Independence Day and Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi, supported it.

‘Manchester United, and other elite European football clubs like it, make massive amounts of money out of Asia, selling their tee-shirts and occasionally making appearances, charging fat match fees in return for turning up, usually without their best players, to go through the motions, usually at the pace of holiday makers on a picnic. ‘This is how European football repays, and reinvests in, the massive Asian markets it milks.

‘No wonder the Asian Football Confederation, and its chief, Mohamed bin Hammam, drew a line in the sand and said enough is enough.’ He added that the sport would not develop in Asia unless fans there are given the opportunity to attend live matches. He added: ‘Sure, let us see the best football in the world on our television screens. And pay massive amounts of money for the privilege. ‘But let us also benefit from it. Let us not do it at the expense of our own football.

‘So obsessed are we with the Premier League, and the European Champions League and the rest of it, that we are compelled to stay in our rooms, paralysed, unable and unwilling to venture outdoors, and experience the irreplaceable joy of being at the game, and cheering for our team.’ The summit, he said, would be an international forum where the ‘commercial inequities’ in the game might be discussed. Key players in international soccer, such as world governing body Fifa, would be invited and talks would centre around improving the appeal and competitiveness of soccer in Asia.

Murray, who sits on the Fifa ethics commission, added: ‘I believe that the AFC [Asian Football Confederation] and Fifa are aware of these things and are doing their level best to address them, so this proposal is in no way meant to hijack these issues from them. Indeed I am certain they will support it. ‘But it’s also clear that, as broadcasters representing a potential 3.7 billion viewers, we have our own responsibilities and our own role to play in enhancing the appeal and health of our own football identity and culture and in ensuring that it gallops forward, unhindered by outside forces.

The ABU is a non-profit association of broadcasting organisations with more than 150 members in 55 countries and regions. Source: Sportcal, 8th Jun 2007