Friday, 10th August 2007

THIS WEEK

Sun, 12th Aug 2007
AVP Crocs Tour 2007: Final Day – Manhattan Beach Open


DID YOU KNOW…?

Pakistan, Venezuela and Nigeria are among the most unstable emerging markets and rank the lowest on Eurasia Group's Global Political Risk Index, a political stability ranking for 24 emerging markets. The top three most stable countries are Hungary, South Korea and Poland, according to the group's scores on the Global Political Risk Index for August.

Tailored toward emerging markets investors, the index is produced by Eurasia Group and distributed in partnership with Citi Private Bank. The index is based on 20 indicators in four equally weighted categories : government, society, security and economy, which are combined into a single country score on a scale from zero to 100. The higher the score, the more stable the country.

Once again leading the ranking, Hungary has a score of 79, followed by South Korea with 76, Poland with 72, Bulgaria with 70 and Brazil with 69. With a score of 66, Turkey is also among the stable emerging markets, since the recent parliamentary elections brought some measure of political stability after months of turmoil. Pakistan is the most unstable country with a composite score of 46. Oil-rich Nigeria is the second most unstable country with a score of 50, though analysts at the Eurasia Group see President Umaru Yar'Adua's recent efforts to fight corruption as encouraging. Also at the bottom of the ranking are Venezuela with a score of 50, Iran with 51, Colombia with 56 and Saudi Arabia with 56. Source: Ken Radio, 8th Aug 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* Ten Sports has signed new long-term deals to show tennis’ US Open and the Sunfeast Open, India’s top women’s tennis event. The US Open agreement is for five years and involves Ten Sports broadcasting the event exclusively in the Indian sub-continent, including live coverage of all of the games of rising Indian women’s star Sania Mirza. Ten Sports’ coverage of the Sunfeast Open involves a week of live coverage, highlights and promotional activities. Other tennis events shown by Ten Sports this year included the Dubai Tennis Championships. Source: Sportcal, Indian Television, Economic Times, DNA India, 9th Aug 2007

* Dutch midfielder Royston Drenthe is to join Real Madrid after they came to agreement with Feyenoord, according to Spanish press. Sports newspaper AS said that the Spanish champions will fork out €13mil for the player with Marca quoting €14mil. The 20-year-old, also rumoured to be a transfer target for Chelsea, had been putting pressure on the Dutch club to let him leave for one of Europe’s glamour teams. AS said he will be unveiled today on a five-year deal. The Spanish season begins on Aug 25. Source: The Star MY, Slam Sports, 10th Aug 2007

* Broadcasters could be asked to pay rights fees for the Southeast Asian Games for the first time after Suntipab Techavanij, rights division chairman for this year’s games in Thailand, said that extra TV revenues were needed to cover cost of staging the event, estimated at $6.6 million. Under the present games regulations rights are shared equally among the national Olympic committees of participating countries free of charge, and the NOCs then allocate them to national broadcasters. This year’s games, which will feature 43 sports, are scheduled for December 6 to 16. Source: Sportcal, Thanhnien News VT, 9th Aug 2007

* Taiwan’s Government Information Office (GIO) will launch a new English-language TV channel next year to promote Taiwan. Initially, the channel would be operated as a private firm with government funding. GIO will spend approximately eight to 12 months setting up the new TV channel and a budget of NT$2 billion (US$61 million) will be needed for its establishment. Several local TV managers compared the efforts to Japan's NHK and Qatar's al-Jazeera. The government said would not get involved in the management, although the channel would rely on the government for funds. Source: Taipei Times, 9th Aug 2007

* Japan's digital content service market expanded 8.3% in 2006 from the year before to a record 2.77 trillion yen (€18.3bn) on the growth in services for the Internet and mobile phones, the Digital Content Association of Japan reported. Sales grew in all four categories of content - videos, music titles, games and books. The association is forecasting that the Japanese digital content market will exceed three trillion yen this year. Source: Advanced Television, 9th Aug 2007

* Union Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad has voiced support for the Indian Cricket League (ICL). At a press meet, Prasad said Railways’ would offer its stadiums to the ICL for holding the proposed Twenty-20 tournament and charge less. Mr. Prasad said: “It is a good initiative for cricket and its growth.” The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not yet stated its position on whether ICL can access the stadiums. However, in a move that indicates BCCI’s reluctance to share resources, it recently stated that any person associating himself with “any other organisation” would not be entitled to derive any benefits from BCCI or “be connected with any of its activities”. Source: The Hindu, Business Line, 9th Aug 2007

* Prasar Bharati thinks 20twenty World Cup matches qualify as ODIs and that a live and clean feed of the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup should be mandatorily shared with Doordarshan. Both Prasar Bharati and ESPN-Star Sports are yet to clear the air on the matter. A Prasar Bharati thinks that the laws enacted clearly states an event of national importance where India is playing should be shared with Prasar Bharati and since this is a World Cup event it qualifies to be shared with the DD. ESPN-Star Sports officials refused to comment. Prasar Bharati expects to share a clean and live feed of not only all matches in which India plays, but also the semi-finals and final matches irrespective of whether India makes it to the finals. Source: The Economic Times IN, 9th Aug 2007

* IOC President Jacques Rogge recognised that Beijing's air pollution could force the delay or postponement of some outdoor endurance events during the 2008 Olympic Games. He said in a CNN interview that endurance sports such as cycling may have to be delayed if the air quality was not good. Rogge’s comments came as the Beijing organisers celebrated the one-year countdown to the Games Opening Ceremony. Source: Sport Business, China Economic Review, 9th Aug 2007

* The International Association of Athletics Federations said it is close to completing television rights sales for this month’s edition of the biennial World Championships in Osaka, Japan, with a possible large deal for several Asian territories still under negotiation. It is understood that if this is successfully completed, the total number of territories showing the event will exceed the 187 that showed the last edition in 2005. The IAAF said that the championships would appear on terrestrial television in about 85% of the territories in which it will be shown. Source: Sportcal, 9th Aug 2007

* Australia’s broadcasters are gearing up for a battle to land rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games. Australian media report there could be developments in the next couple of months with broadcasters having made informal inquiries to the IOC. Some commentators predict the rights could be worth up to A$100 million. Two years ago, the IOC suspended talks in Australia as it was reported to have been disappointed by the level of the offers. Australia is one of the last countries to negotiate for the 2010 and 2012 rights. The Seven network will cover the 2008 Beijing Games. Source: Sport Business, 9th Aug 2007

* Deutsche Telekom said that it had decided to continue to honour its sponsorship of the T-Mobile cycling team despite the doping scandals that marred this year’s Tour de France. T-Mobile, the mobile arm of Deutsche Telekom, announced that it would maintain its commitment to the cycling team, estimated to be worth between $16.5 million and $18 million a year, but with the unprecedented proviso that riders and team managers contribute a certain percentage of their salaries to the fight against doping. These contributions will be topped up by T-Mobile to make €1 million. Source: Sportcal, 9th Aug 2007


MORE NEWS

Hong Kong/Broadcaster: HD on Mobile

Hong Kong’s PCCW is launching what it calls “HD on mobile” – a high-quality mobile television service. PCCW mobile will offer mobile TV coverage of the English Premier League and other football based on H.264 QVGA 320x240-pixel video streaming. The technology is a “brand new high-quality viewing platform available only from PCCW mobile.” However, live broadcasts will be available only on certain mobile handsets that support the level of streaming PCCW is offering.

Seven channels will be available, although four will operate only on weekends, providing Premier League coverage. The remaining three channels will offer other sports including volleyball, snooker and bowling as well as Italian and Japanese football, and Premier League preview and highlights programmes. The package costs HK$98 per month (US$12.50), free to those on monthly packages of HK$198 or above. Source: Rapid TV News, Advanced Television, 9th Aug 2007

India/Rights: Nimbus Sport Wins EPL New Media Rights

Nimbus Sport has acquired the mobile and Internet rights of the English Premier League for over 80 countries. The rights to the football league, which features 20 clubs including Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool, are for the next three years. It will cover 1,140 matches that will be played until the end of the 2009.

“This is the first time that the Premier League has offered Internet rights separately from broadcast rights, and Nimbus Sport is delighted to be a pioneering commercial partner for the world’s leading football property… We have already closed major deals with licensees in Italy, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, Hong Kong and many other major markets,” said Mr Digvijay Singh, CEO, Nimbus Sport. The company will market these rights in association with PA SportEV, a subsidiary of PA Sport.

The rights are for 80 countries including China, Japan, Thailand and India in Asia, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Algeria in West Asia and North Africa and Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Belgium in Europe. It also covers Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. Source: Business Line, 9th Aug 2007