Monday, 13th August 2007

RESULTS

Source: AVP Official, 13th Aug 2007
Third-seeded Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser beat eighth-seeded Dax Holdren and Sean Scott, 20-22, 21-16, 15-11 to successfully defend their AVP Crocs Tour Manhattan Beach Open presented by Bud Light title and win their tour-leading seventh tournament of the year. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh battled Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh in a women's final and May-Treanor and Walsh overcame an inspired Youngs and Branagh and a late three-point deficit before pulling out a 15-21, 14-7 (retired), 15-10 victory.


THIS WEEK

Mon to Thu, 13th to 16 Aug 2007
Badminton World Championships 2007: Preliminary Rounds

Fri, 17th Aug 2007
Badminton World Championships 2007: Quarter-finals

Sat, 18th Aug 2007
Badminton World Championships 2007: Semi-finals

Sun, 19th Aug 2007
Badminton World Championships 2007: Finals
AVP Crocs Tour 2007: Final Day – Boston Open
BTCC 2007: Race Day – Brands Hatch, UK


SPORTS SHORTS

* The pro volleyball tour is kicking sand in the face of winter. The AVP will launch the "Hot Winter Nights'' tour in January, bringing more than 200 tons of sand and some of beach volleyball's biggest stars to indoor venues nationwide. Two-player teams will compete in a round-robin format alongside a beach festival. The 2008 tour starts Jan. 10 at Oklahoma City's Ford Center and ends Feb. 23 in Las Vegas at Orleans Arena. Source: MS-NBC, 10th Aug 2007

* Sina Corp. has picked up online broadcasting rights for China to English Premier League and Italian Serie A soccer. Sina’s Broadband service will carry live, online coverage of all 1,140 English Premier League matches for the next three seasons until 2010. Web users will be able to subscribe on an annual, monthly and per-game basis. In addition, Sina Sport Channel will also replay the most exciting action free-of-charge. Matches can be viewed on pay TV in China. Sina has also acquired rights to provide live, online broadcast of the Serie A in China. Source: Worldscreen, Variety Asia, CNN, China Tech News, 10th Aug 2007

* Indian satellite TV, Tata Sky, has signed up its millionth subscriber. The landmark was passed almost exactly a year after launch. Since its launch, it has more than doubled its channels to 120 nets and has added several interactive functions. Tata Sky, which required an investment pegged in the region of $250 million, is country's third DTH operation after Zee's market leader Dish TV and pubcaster Doordarshan's platform. Publishing empire Maran and Malaysia's Astro will also team to launch Sun Direct TV at the end of the year. Two other groups are also considering entering the market. Source: Variety Asia, 10th Aug 2007

* South Korea’s Hanaro Telecom is planning to launch “real IPTV” in November, after claiming success in its first year of “pre-IPTV”. Around 500,000 subscribers have signed up to HanaTV, which offers programming and films on demand, but as yet has no linear channels. The company cited IPTV pioneer PCCW – which took two years to reach 500,000 subscribers – as proof of its own success. The company hopes to achieve revenues of Won180 billion to 190 billion ($195 million - $205 million) in 2008 if the broadcast channels plan goes ahead. However, a bill to make broadcast TV over telecoms lines legal is still pending in the National Assembly. Source: Rapid TV News, 10th Aug 2007

* The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has unveiled its official website www.indiancricketleague.in. The website will help aspiring cricketers to apply directly to the ICL.. The ICL will identify young talented players across India, training to compete at the highest levels and then playing for their respective regions alongside top international stars. The ICL will also make a foray in creating nation wide infrastructure (cricket academies) which will be equipped with state of the art facilities headed by international / domestic coaches under the supervision of a national director of academies, BS Sandhu. Source: Indian Television, DNA India, 10th Aug 2007

* Ten Sports has flagged off an interactive contest titled ‘Idea & Ten Sports On Tour’ through the mega campaign that will be centred around each month's most popular sporting event. The campaign is centred around Idea's tagline 'An Idea can change your life'. The contest will kick off on 19 August and continue till February 2008. To win, participants need to tune into Ten Sports every day and answer a question based on the sporting event for the month. The winners will get to watch their favourite sportstars in action at various corners of the globe. Source: Indian Television, 11th Aug 2007

* Argentinian Primera División clubs are poised to negotiate fund distribution after the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) agreed a historic new television deal. In the past, only six matches from the 10 games played in each round of fixtures have been televised, but the new deal with satellite broadcaster, Television Satelital Codificada (TSC) means every game will be broadcast live for the first time. The new deal will increase the collective income of top flight clubs from US$29.3 million to $47.8 million. Boca Juniors and River Plate are reportedly seeking the lion's share of the revenues. Source: Soccerex News, 10th Aug 2007

* APT Worldwide has secured the international distribution rights to the high-definition travel series Equitrekking produced by DCN Creative in association with KNME-TV. Hosted by Darley Newman, the 13x30-minute Equitrekking is the first travel series to explore the globe on horseback. Newman, an equestrian travel columnist for True West and Practical Horseman magazines and managing editor of Equitrekking.com, also serves as producer for the series. Source: Worldscreen, 10th Aug 2007

* Everton FC is planning to add to its existing web video channel with its own pay-TV service, after being granted a licence by broadcast regulator, Ofcom. Portland Interactive has been granted a licence to broadcast the Everton TV channel, which - if it launches - will go head-to-head with channels from rival clubs. Everton TV would add to channels from other premiership clubs, including Manchester United's MUTV, Chelsea TV and Sky's LFCTV, the soon-to-be-launched offering from Liverpool FC - traditionally Everton's arch rival. Source: C21 Media, 10th Aug 2007

* Paris St. Germain (PSG) has announced the launch of its own web TV channel, www.psg.tv, airing delayed coverage of PSG matches in their entirety, according to the Ligue 1 Orange club. The games are available for access from midnight following a match day, stated a press release from the club. Archived action, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with players and club officials are also on offer. Olympique de Marseille, Olympique Lyonnais, St Etienne and Racing Club de Lens also have their own web channels. Source: Soccerex News, 10th Aug 2007

* Chelsea and England footballer Frank Lampard will have his own TV channel. frank tv will be available to 1.3 million 3G Orange customers on their handsets through the Orange TV platform. The first installment on the channel will be a 50-minute programme filmed by the midfielder on his 3G mobile phone over the past year. The programme will be in the form of a video showing Lampard at home, with team-mates and at training. The frank tv concept was developed by Orange and sports marketing agency M&C Saatchi Sports & Entertainment. Source: Brand Republic, C21 Media, 10th Aug 2007

* The inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010 could feature fewer than the 26 sports comprised by the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee has confirmed, adding that all competitions must be held in the host city. But guidelines issued do not set out a minimum required number of sports, which could leave cities, which are not permitted to build new stadia for the occasion, in the dark over whether they are suitable to hold the games. The IOC today issued the candidature procedure and questionnaire for the first summer Youth Olympic Games in August 2010. Source: Sportcal, 10th Aug 2007


MORE NEWS

Vietnam/Rights: Trouble in Race for SEA Games Broadcast Rights

The race among TV stations in Vietnam for the broadcasting rights of the 24th SEA Games has seen new developments – very complicated developments. Different from the AFF Cup or Asian Cup, the broadcasting rights of the 24th SEA Games must be bought through an intermediate agency, the Vietnam Olympic Committee. Unable to control the situation, this committee has asked for the intervention of the government.

According to the latest news from the website of the organising board of the 24th SEA Games, Suntipab Techavajij, head of the 14th SEA Games Strategic Vision Committee, has stated: “For the first time in the history of SEA Games, Thailand will not provide free of charge TV broadcasting rights but will sell it.” Mr. Suntipab also revealed that some Vietnamese TV stations wanted to buy the broadcasting rights on Free TV and Cable TV. After quoting Mr. Suntipab, the above website says that 20 sports will be broadcast live. According to the organising board, the games will account for around 210 hours on the system of Free TV, Cable TV channels. However, the board hasn’t fixed the broadcasting right fees yet and it is awaiting the final decision from the government.

Hoang Vinh Giang, Vice Chairman cum Secretary General of the Vietnam Olympic Committee, head of the Vietnamese sports delegation at the upcoming 24th SEA Games, said that similarly to the Olympics or Asiad, selling broadcasting rights of SEA Games was an irreversible trend but the plan of the organising board of 24th SEA Games was not approved by the Thai Olympic Committee and the Southeast Asian Sports Confederation.

Under the rules of the Southeast Asian Sports Confederation issued in 2007, any TV station of member countries that wants to buy broadcasting rights of 24th SEA Games must be recommended by the Olympic Committee of that country. Some Vietnamese TV stations didn’t know that rule and directly negotiated with the organising board, Mr. Giang said.

He also said that National Olympic Committees had the right to collect an amount of money from the fees for broadcasting rights paid by TV stations. “I know that the Olympic Committee of the Philippines will receive around 20% of the total broadcasting right fees but perhaps the Vietnamese Olympic Committee will not earn money in this way,” Mr. Giang said.

The committee has submitted to the government a document on the selection of TV stations buying broadcasting rights of 24th SEA Games. According to some sources, both the Vietnam Television (VTV) and VTC have directly made contact with the organising board of 24th SEA Games. VTC even signed a memorandum of understanding to be the exclusive owner of the broadcasting right of this event in Vietnam like at AFF Cup and Asian Cup at a price of $300,000. VTV, after failing in negotiations with the Thai partner, has asked the assistance of the Vietnam Olympic Committee. Source: Vietnam Net, 9th Aug 2007

Japan/Rights: Outlook Grim for Coverage of EPL Openers

Premier League fans' hopes of watching live games on satellite television this opening weekend are pretty much dead in the water, but Soccer Scene has learned all is not lost for the season ahead. SPORTFIVE, the television rights holder for live Premier League matches in Japan, is hopeful a deal can be thrashed out soon with J Sports or another Japanese broadcaster despite an impasse in negotiations that has left fans fretting.

"J Sports is one of the broadcasters we are in talks with. It is not the only one. We are working on a solution with these broadcasters," Lutz Tigges, SPORTFIVE senior director, international leagues, told Soccer Scene by telephone from his office in Hamburg, Germany. Unfortunately, Tigges said it looked as though a deal would not be done in time for this weekend's fixtures.

J Sports broadcasts on channels J sports 1, J sports 2, J sports Plus and J sports ESPN.

A J Sports public relations employee who wished to remain anonymous said in a phone call with Soccer Scene on Friday that the broadcaster doesn't want to say it is in negotiations, announce anything while negotiating or before anything becomes official, or say over which leagues the broadcaster is negotiating. The employee did say, though, there have been examples in the past where live game coverage has begun after the start of the season and that live Premier League games could be televised after the season starts.

Soccer Scene has learned SKY PerfecTV, last year's broadcaster of live Premier League matches, is not one of the companies in negotiations with SPORTFIVE, despite recent reassurances to the contrary from operators working for its customer helpline. "SKY Perfect are not negotiating with the Premier League. They did this till the end of last season. This year, J Sports are negotiating with the Premier League," said public relations employee Yoshihide To on Thursday.

To was less optimistic than Tigges a deal could be worked out between a Japanese broadcaster and SPORTFIVE. "As long as I know, the Premier League has been asking for huge amounts of money to broadcast the games. So in my personal opinion that means I think the negotiations are not going well," said To. "At the 2002 World Cup we (SKY PerfecTV) got the right to broadcast the games and we paid ¥17 billion ($144 million) and since then the amount for television rights has been growing."

According to Tigges, SPORTFIVE owns the Premier League rights for Japan for the next three years and said the sale of the rights to broadcasters in Japan is not the responsibility of the Premier League.

The lack of live satellite coverage of Premier League matches in Japan could cause difficulties for businesses such as pubs and bars that depend on live soccer coverage for attracting customers. There are some ingenious ways around this, though. Some bars will no doubt try to show games using Internet coverage. Source: The Japan Times, 11th Aug 2007

Asia/New Media: Barca Offers More to Overseas Fans

FC Barcelona has announced plans to revamp its official Chinese and Japanese language websites in a bid to further reach out to its Asian fans. The Primera División giant is currently on a pre-season tour of the continent and has sealed deals with the Rakuten and Sports CN corporations. The new version of the Chinese language site (fcbarcelona.guanwangcn.com) will be developed in association with Sports CN, a leader in the online Chinese market that forms part of the multinational MIH media group.

The website will incorporate the latest Barcelona team news, corporate and historical information about the club, as well as specific information directed at the Chinese market. The new offering supplants the existing site established three years ago, which offered only basic Chinese language content. Rakuten is behind the redesign of the Japanese site (www.fcbarcelona.jp ) so it is in line with the main website. Apart from the website agreement, the Catalan club has been involved in a number of different projects with Rakuten including a Visa Barça credit card and an official Japanese language magazine.

Barcelona will now seek to establish Korean and Arabic language sites. The Arabic site will be developed by LinkDotNet, following a deal signed during Barcelona's trip to Cairo last season to celebrate Egyptian giant Al-Ahly's centenary. The site will be launched in a few weeks' time and will bring the club into contact with the huge market in the Arabic speaking world. Source: Soccerex News, 10th Aug 2007

China/Broadcaster: Boom time for China’s Olympic Games

Next year's Olympic Games in Beijing is already impinging on media coverage, with stories abounding about failings in general organisation and the city's infamous smog posing problems for athletes and visitors. Meanwhile, in the background, preparations for covering the event continue. Leading Chinese broadcasters and facilities groups have commissioned new HD OB trucks, all of which feature digital audio mixing consoles to offer 5.1 surround sound to international TV stations.

CCTV, Guangdong TV and Beijing TV have all built HD trucks that feature Studer Vista 8 desks audio consoles, which will be used for both live transmissions and production work during the Games. CCTV, China's biggest television company, has installed a large format Vista 8 in its flagship HDTV vehicle. The Guangdong TV vehicle features a 32-fader Vista 8, while Beijing TV's truck will have two desks, a 52-fader Vista 8 and an OnAir 3000.

This combination has also been chosen by facilities company Shanghai Media Group, whose HD van will feature a 42-fader Vista 8 and a 24-fader OnAir 3000. The company is also installing a 32-fader Vista 5 console into a 5.1 audio van, a lead followed by four regional TV companies. The HD OB truck boom extends beyond Beijing with Jinan TV, Heilongjiang TV in Jarbin, Inner Mongolia TV and Dalian TV all launching new HD vehicles for live broadcast and production. Source: Rapid TV News, 10th Aug 2007

Singapore/Broadcaster: TV Tug of War

Singapore has a unique pay TV battle brewing -- a face-off between digital cable and Internet Protocol TV, by implication also digital. Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) recently launched mioTV on broadband Internet with 33 channels and technical and service innovations, including the world preem of two BBC channels. The very threat of this competition has sent dominant cabler StarHub on a yearlong growth spurt. StarHub now offers more than 100 channels and has spent lavishly on content for its 490,000 subscribers. Most notably it outbid ESPN-Star Sports for rights to English Premier League to lure soccer-mad locals.

A technical evolution has allowed this rivalry to happen, in a country of 4 million where pay TV penetration is less than 40% of TV households. Singapore is one of the most wired countries in the world. But in the 1990s, when telcos first looked at video-on-demand, connections were too slow, compression technology not good enough and set-top decoders too expensive. Like Hong Kong's world-leading IPTV service, which started life allowing viewers to select only the channels they wanted, mioTV preems with a largely a la carte menu.

IPTV's flexibility allows SPTI to operate three business models on mioTV; a general entertainment channel that is a cousin of its Sony Entertainment Television net in India; a subscription video-on-demand channel that offers unlimited access to some 20 movies per month; and a pay-per-view service. Company is also experimenting by offering studio movies on PPV simultaneously with their DVD release in Singapore.

StarHub prepared for competition by using digital technology to add services, including a personal video recorder and HubStation, a device that allows consumers to watch, surf and talk simultaneously. "Hubbing has enabled us to reach out to an increasing number of customers taking on two or more of our services, increasing customer loyalty and reducing churn," says Patrick Lim, StarHub's VP of Cable TV Services.

On other fronts there is little to pick between the two. SingTel claims an equivalent of hubbing. "We can now offer everything on one phone line and have 96% household penetration," says a spokesman, who argues this will help mioTV score in the city-state's less affluent heartlands. To appeal here it will offer more Cantonese nets from Hong Kong and Mandarin-language nets from Taiwan. StarHub hit back by launching its own Malay-language general entertainment channel.

Both services emphasize high-definition programming,reflecting a need for gimmicks as well as the Singapore government's push to develop expertise in HD program production. Competition between the two turned litigious when SingTel challenged StarHub's right to sign exclusive contracts with content suppliers. Appeal court judge last week ruled that exclusive deals were not anti-competitive and that the market was big enough for both groups. The decision was widely applauded by foreign media congloms. Source: Variety, 10th Aug 2007

Elsewhere/General: Scudamore Predicts £200k Wages

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore believes top players could earn £200,000 a week by the end of the decade. Scudamore predicts Premier League TV rights will continue to rise from the record £2.7billion three-year deal agreed in January 2007 and potentially break through the £3billion mark. Scudamore told the Daily Express: "Is there no end to the money going up? I don't think so. Football provides entertainment. People want to watch it. "It has been like that for the 16 years since the Premiership began."

Chelsea captain John Terry has reportedly become England's highest-paid player on wages of around £130,000 a week and Scudamore can see players getting up to £200,000. "I can see the day when one or two are earning £200,000 a week but only the biggest superstars. "The average now is just under £19,000 a week which means some are earning under £10,000 a week."

Scudamore also insists the European Commission's proposed shake-up of the selling of TV rights gave him more concern than all the issues he faced, including the Carlos Tevez saga, over the last year. As well as the Tevez issue, which has rumbled on throughout the close season, there has been the Lord Stevens bungs investigation and questions over Thaksin Shinawatra's takeover of Manchester City. Scudamore insists the worst moment was when the PFA called for a strike in December 2001 to get what they thought was a fair share of TV cash.

"I've had worse moments. Only the threat of a PFA strike felt worse than it has done recently. "Yes, this year it has been administrative challenges and legal complexities but the PFA strike was the worst. I never felt under so much pressure. Then, there was the European Commission issue over our right to sell TV rights collectively as a league, more important than all the issues put together that emerged this year.”

"Nobody can exist in isolation. If clubs then, or even now, think there is a promised land out there that it might be better that they broke away, then I can assure you it is not. "Of course we have had problems with issues such as Tevez, but we've been following the road map of our rule book and that is all we can do." Source: Sporting Life, 10th Aug 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

£4bn Battle to Win Hearts (and wallets) of Armchair Fans
Nick Harris writes for The Independent UK, 10th Aug 2007

While Manchester United and Chelsea are eyeing the top spot on the pitch, two less well-matched adversaries, the giants of BSkyB and the relative minnows Setanta, will be battling for an altogether bigger prize: domination of a pay-TV sports market in Britain potentially worth £4bn or more a year.

Sky has bankrolled the Premier League since it started in 1992 and can claim to have been the driving force in making it the world's richest, most popular league. Top-flight football was the battering ram that opened up a nation's homes to pay-TV. Sky has grown to have 8.5m subscribers, more than 5m of them paying for sports content. The broadcaster earns more than £2.5bn from sport, mostly Premier League fans, per year. It is an eye-popping figure for a sector that was virtually non-existent 15 years ago. That is why spending £433m per year on keeping the majority of live Premier League rights was a no-brainer for Sky.

It is also why Setanta, an Irish firm founded in 1990 in order to screen an Ireland World Cup match in an Ealing pub, is spending £130m per year (£392m to 2010) for 46 live Premier League matches per season. Sky will still have more games for now, 92 per season, but for Setanta the forthcoming campaign is only the start. "This season is massively important for us," Setanta's director of sport, Trevor East, said yesterday. "The Premier League is one of the main building blocks going forward."

Setanta's £5m marketing campaign, spearheaded by Des Lynam, has been underway for almost a fortnight. The live match programming, which kicks off with Aston Villa versus Liverpool at 5.15pm tomorrow, will be anchored by Angus Scott, poached from ITV, and feature pundits including Steve McManaman.

Setanta also plan to go head-to-head with Sky by screening a live Saturday results show, and starting a 24-hour sports news channel. Setanta's co-chief executive, Michael O'Rourke, insisted that Setanta are "not out to get Sky" and added "we believe there's a large constituency of disenfranchised viewers who want premium live sport and have been priced out by current providers."

In other words, there are people who cannot or do not want to pay £34 a month or more for Sky's sport, but do want pay-TV sport, now including live Premier League games, for the £9.99 Setanta charge. "We're in there to live alongside Sky," East said. He did not disagree however, that a successful first stint as a Premier League rights holder would whet the appetite to take on Sky in a larger way.

Setanta has one major hurdle to clear, its niche status to date as the home of the Scottish Premier League, lesser European leagues, American sports and horse racing. Its purchase of USPGA golf rights – trumping Sky – started to change that, as did a deal for Ricky Hatton fights and then for Premier League football. As East acknowledges, "our biggest problem is helping the potential customer understand what is out there in the market."

A recent deal with Virgin Media means that 1.4m subscribers to Virgin's top-tier cable package will get Setanta free. Another 1.1m subscribers have also already signed up to Setanta Sports, either via Freeview, BT Vision, broadband, Sky or existing Setanta packages."All the signs are very positive," said East.

Money-Talk in EPL
Commentary on The India Times, 10th Aug 2007

2007 is a landmark year for the Premiership. Dubiously touted as the best league in the world, it has acquired another hefty accolade this summer that is not the subject of conjecture: the English top flight is now the richest league in the world. Fittingly, even its name has been amended for commercial reasons. The Premiership is dead, long live the Premier League.

The league is awash with money. A new TV deal with Sky Sports and Setanta has brought an unprecedented £1.7bn windfall, further augmented by £625m from overseas television rights. If the headlines were dominated by the emergence of Setanta and the end of Sky’s monopoly, the bottom line is that the club finishing bottom of the Premiership this season will earn around £25m in 'prize money' - almost as much as Chelsea received for buying the 2005-06 title. It’s boom time.

While the prospect of new riches will be appreciated by cash-hungry chairmen and players, the avalanche of money will not be universally celebrated. Nor should it be. An undesirable consequence has been a flurry of overseas businessmen launching big-money takeovers, a business-led process that inevitably serves to further alienate clubs from their supporters.

Granted, a few clubs have imposed a freeze on tickets, but this is the consequence of cynical economics: once total match-day revenue is considered, it is far better for 20,000 fans to spend £15 on a ticket than 15,000 on £20. Meanwhile, the gap between the top flight and the rest of the Football League will widen into a vast chasm. The Premiership’s £92m donation was mere loose change.

The volume at which the money will talk within the league will largely be decided by how well it is spent. Yet there is good reason to suspect that the league is already eyeing the pursuit of a new, and different type of, money. With a fanbase of half a billion people, the Premiership is recognised as the world’s most popular sporting league. The fact that only three of its clubs did not embark on overseas pre-season tours indicates where they believe their next £1bn windfall lies (the new overseas deal, announced in January, represented a two-fold increase). Dollars rather than sterling could soon become the league's currency of choice.

To that end, the scenario in which certain clubs schedule certain games specifically to cater for an overseas TV audience is no longer ludicrous. Nor that the words 'football club' will be replaced by something more appropriate. ‘Franchise’, perhaps. And ‘United’ may become 'Union' as clubs ponder the potential rewards of globalisation.

Money may have indeed made the Premiership the best football league in the world but at what cost? The symptoms of suffering from too much of a good thing are already unmistakable and will only worsen.