Friday, 13th July 2007

HEADLINE NEWS

J Sports to Broadcast World Championship 2007

J Sports Broadcasting Corporation (J SPORTS) of Japan agreed a deal with Total Sports Asia to broadcast the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championship in 2007. The 16th World Championship will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from August 13 to 19, 2007 and will see many top national players compete in the international tournament. The deal is part of a multi-year agreement whereby J SPORTS acquired all exclusive media rights in Japan for several of badminton’s top tier events, including the World Championships in 2007 and 2009 and the prestigious Thomas and Uber Cups in 2008.

Total Sports Asia owns the exclusive media rights to the events for all of Asia. “Japan is a very important market for both BWF and TSA, and this landmark deal ensures that badminton fans in Japan will have the opportunity to watch the best of world-class badminton for the next few years. We have a long-standing relationship with J SPORTS and is extremely honored to be able to further cement this relationship with this multi-year deal”, said Chung See LIANG, Managing Director (Korea/Japan) of Total Sports Asia. Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, 12th Jul 2007

Bigger Cheques for Winners at US Open

The organisers of the US Open tennis tournament have announced that total prize money has been increased by $1 million, or 6%, to $19.6 million for this year’s event. The men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive $1.4 million, up from $1.2 million in 2005. Bonuses are also on offer at Flushing Meadow in New York to the top players from the US Open Series, a series of hard court tournaments which precedes the grand slam event. Switzerland's Roger Federer and Russia's Maria Sharapova will be looking to defend their titles at the US Open, which runs from August 27 to September 9. Source: Sportcal, Earth Times, The Sports Network, 12th Jul 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* Argentine fans were excited about the performance of young striker Lionel Messi in the semifinals of the Copa America in Venezuela. In Argentina's 3-0 victory against Mexico - which gave the side coached by Alfio Basile a spot in the final against Brazil - Messi scored the second goal with a magnificent chip over the rival keeper. "Messico 86," the sports daily Ole said in a headline Thursday, in a pun that refers to the World Cup that Argentina won in Mexico with Diego Maradona as its brightest star. Source: Earth Times, 12th Jul 2007

* Jerzy Dudek is set to be Real Madrid's fourth signing of the summer. The Polish keeper has reached an agreement with Real on a two-year contract, and will be presented by the club next week. Dudek, would be Real's fourth signing, and the third without a transfer fee, since he has finished his contract at Liverpool. Christoph Metzelder, Real's first signing, also came free from Borussia Dortmund. Javier Saviola, out of contract at Barcelona, will also come free of charge. The only transfer fee that Real have paid so far is for Porto defender Pepe, who has cost about €30 million (US$41.255). Source: Earth Times, 12th Jul 2007

* The 2007 AFC Asian Cup has kicked off, with cumulative audiences of 1 billion expected in Asia, Europe and North America. "The appreciation of the Cup has grown," said Seamus O'Brien, president and CEO of World Sport Group, which manages its sponsorship and TV rights. "Australia is now taking part, a team good enough to play in the European leagues. This has helped the tournament gain broader appeal." Sponsorship revenues are up by between 40% to 50% from the previous tournament and TV revenues are expected to climb up to 60%. Source: Brand Republic, 11th Jul 2007

* Neo Sports has continued expansion across Asia with a deal with HumTumTV, the Indian channel provider in Japan, to distribute the channel live in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Neo Sports said that the deal would ensure that viewers in the three countries will have access to its entire line-up of international and domestic cricket played in India. The agreement follows the recent announcement of a deal for the same territories with the New Media Group, K.K which will include Neo Sports on its World On-Demand IPTV platform. Source: Sportcal, 12th Jul 2007

* Qingdao was confirmed as the China stopover for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race. Qingdao’s selection as the stopover on the marathon ocean race’s new route through the Middle East and Asia follows more than six months of negotiations and evaluation. Race CEO Glenn Bourke and a team of race officials visited Qingdao in April and there is still potential for a second city to be selected as a pit stop before the fleet sails its longest leg, 12,000 nautical miles, to South America. Among the other cities, Shanghai appears the most likely but negotiations are continuing. Source: Sport Business, 12th Jul 2007

* The French Ligue 1 Championship sponsor will not try for the league's full media rights next season. Orange has taken itself out of contention for the complete media rights, which go to market in November. Orange content manager Patricia Langrand said the company could not afford the rights for the championship. The company has more than a million subscribers for its broadband TV service. Langrand said Orange, the league title sponsor, could only bid for the mobile rights, which are currently priced at €29 million. Source: EUFootball.biz, 12th Jul 2007

* According to a report from iSuppli, the IPTV market will grow from $779.2 million in 2006 to $26.3 billion in 2011. New services like high-definition TV, digital video recording, and video on demand, will drive growth, according to Frank Dickson, author of the report. These programming services alone will generate over $300 million this year. But the biggest single IPTV growth generator will be the 2008 Olympics. Dickson expects China to add more than 20 million new digital TV subscribers this year and more as the Olympics approaches next year. Note: no territory was specified. Source: Indian Television, 11th Jul 2007

* Demand for paid and ad-supported broadband video will grow into a multi-billion dollar industry over the next few years. ABI Research suggests that growing reach of new distribution models will expand the base of internet video consumers from roughly 300 million today to nearly 1 billion by 2012. For broadcast television and user-generated content, ABI anticipates that ad support will be the primary engine of monetization. Movie content new to the home video window will be largely consumer pay-supported. Expanding reaches of new syndication networks and "super-portals" such as Joost, alongside sites like MySpace, will rapidly enlarge the total user base for ad-supported video. Source: Ken Radio, 12th Jul 2007

* EM.TV AG has changed its name to EM.Sport Media with immediate effect. The German company announced plans to change its name last month. It is working to sell off its children’s and youth business and aims to up revenues from sports activities to €400 million in 2010, from €220 million last year. It is moving its headquarters to Ismaning, near Munich, where its sports assets DSF, PLAZAMEDIA and Sport1 are based. Source: Worldscreen, 12th Jul 2007

* The U.S. Grand Prix, the only F1 race in the United States, has been left off the grand prix schedule for 2008. Officials of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Formula One Management on Thursday said they failed to reach an agreement to extend their contract for the race. The U.S. Grand Prix has been run for the last eight years at Indianapolis, with Michael Schumacher winning five times. There was no U.S. Grand Prix from 1992-99 and previously the race was run in Phoenix, Dallas and Watkins Glen, N.Y., among other locations. Source: Earth Times, 12th Jul 2007


MORE NEWS

Elsewhere/General: Seppey Chooses Home Ground to Continue Fight with Acosta

A bitter power struggle between the FIVB, volleyball’s world governing body, and Jean-Pierre Seppey, its former general secretary, intensified today as Seppey announced the launch of a new national federation in Switzerland, home of the FIVB. The newly-created USVB, the Swiss Volleyball and Beach Volleyball Union, based in Lugano, is a direct competitor for Swiss Volley, the existing national federation which is a member of the FIVB.

Philippe Mayor, president of the new federation, acknowledged that the existence of the two federations ‘has something to do with’ the battle between Seppey and Ruben Acosta, the FIVB’s president, but claimed that the new federation would offer competitions and a ‘new spirit’ that do not exist under the auspices of Swiss Volley. Seppey said the addition of the USVB brings to 58 the number of national federations affiliated with his breakaway group, the FIABVB, the International Federation of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball Associations.

He said that 38 of these were newly-created and 20 were existing federations. The USVB, he claimed, was a particularly ‘strong example’ of the appeal of his new international federation because it was based in a ‘rich country.’ He also claimed that volleyball in Switzerland ‘has suffered from a lack of recognition by the media and politicians.’

The FIABVB was launched in September with the aim of deposing existing world body the FIVB. It held its first congress in Copenhagen, where some 80 founder members were claimed to have attended. The new federation announced the establishment of its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland and planned to gather support from the sport’s national federations and the IOC and ultimately to depose the FIVB, signalling an end to the controversial leadership of Acosta. Source: Sportcal, 12th Jul 2007

Asia/General: Chaotic Asian Cup

The All Indonesian Football Federation, the national soccer governing body, has vowed to open more ticket booths and keep fans better informed of how many tickets are available for Asian Cup matches, after fans broke into the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta when they were unable to get tickets despite plenty being available for the home team’s match against Bahrain. The federation was also forced to apologise for a floodlight failure during last night’s clash between South Korea and Saudi Arabia at the stadium.

Meanwhile, monsoon rains and traffic jams have contributed to disappointing crowds for matches at Bangkok’s Rajamangala National Stadium in Thailand, with many fans staying at home to watch the tournament on television. Only 5,000 spectators watched Australia’s 1-1 draw with Oman on Sunday. Indonesia and Thailand are jointly hosting the tournament with Vietnam and Malaysia. The final is due to be played in Jakarta on July 27. Source: Sportcal, 12th Jul 2007