Wednesday, 15th August 2007

RESULTS

Channel News Asia, 15th Aug 2007
China's assault on the world badminton championships started Tuesday in commanding style, with world number four Chen Jin demolishing his hapless opponent in 21 minutes. China's shuttlers, who dominate the world rankings, are seeking a clean sweep of all five titles here as they attempt to tighten their grip on the sport ahead of next year's Beijing Olympics. With the Red Army's stars not taking to the courts until Wednesday, it was left to formidable foot soldiers Chen and world number seven Chen Yu to kick-start the proceedings in the first round. Chen Jin never even got out of first gear against unseeded Marco Vasconcelos from Portugal, winning 21-9, 21-5 to move into the second round.

Channel News Asia, 15th Aug 2007
Peter Gade, the only European considered capable of standing up to the Chinese juggernaut, also moved into the second round after a tough 21-18, 21-10 workout against England's unseeded Andrew Smith. The Dane, a veteran of these championships with one silver and two bronze medals, said he was satisfied with his performance and confident of his chances in Kuala Lumpur after winning the Malaysian Open earlier this year.

The New Straits Times MY, 15th Aug 2007
VETERAN Malaysian shuttler Roslin Hashim made a cautious start but wants to make his presence felt by securing an upset win over China’s third seed Chen Jin in the second round of the World Championships at Putra Stadium. Roslin, who is playing in the event courtesy of a wildcard from the BA of Malaysia (BAM), beat Magnus Sahlberg of Sweden 21-17, 21-9 to set up what could be a tough encounter against Chen Jin, one of the title contenders here. The Malaysian has never played Chen Jin before but Roslin is looking forward to the clash after having prepared well for the tournament.

The Hindu News, 14th Aug 2007
Chetan Anand and Trupti Murgunde bowed out after losing their first round singles matches in the World Badminton Championships at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. National champion Anand put up a brave front against ninth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia but went down 11-21 21-14 21-18. Murgunde lost to Pui Yin Yip of Hong Kong 21-17 21-13 in women's draw. The only Indian win today came through the men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas who beat France's Svetoslav Stoyanov and Mihail Popov 21-9 21-15. The duo will meet Hendra A Gunawan and Joko Riyadi of Indonesia in the second round. Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal will play their second round singles matches tomorrow.


COURTSIDE: THE BADMINTON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2007

The New Straits Times MY, Bernama MY, 15th Aug 2007
THE BA of Malaysia (BAM) will introduce a stringent selection process, including fitness tests, for future major tournaments such as the World Championships and the Olympics. The decision was proposed during the coaching and training committee meeting and was later endorsed in the executive council meeting. Both meetings were chaired by Datuk Nadzmi Salleh. BAM previously based their selection on the world ranking and to an extent, on results, and this resulted in players who were not physically fit and unprepared performing poorly in major events.

The New Straits Times, 15th Aug 2007
The partnership of US-based Tony Gunawan and Indonesian Chandra Wijaya sends shivers down the spines of opponents. Their presence at the World Championships is a sure sign that they still have some good badminton years left in them. It’s truly unique that Tony and Chandra have won numerous titles and championships despite not training together as a pair. Although for almost two years Chandra has been training in Indonesia and Tony trained in the US the pair has produced some stunning results. Chandra won his first World title in 1997 when he partnered Sigit Budiarto to beat Malaysian pair Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock in Glasgow. In the 2003 edition in Birmingham, Chandra-Sigit were the losing finalists to Danish pair Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen. But the most interesting epic came in the 2005 World Championships in Anaheim, California when Tony Gunawan-Howard Bach beat Chandra-Sigit in the final.


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


DID YOU KNOW…?

Ultra-thin Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has been tapped to play a chubby bridesmaid on ABC's hit comedy, "Ugly Betty." The wife of British-turned-U.S. soccer sensation David Beckham told the Daily Star she will portray herself on the small screen next season -- but in a fat suit. "Everybody at the wedding will be expecting skinny, beautiful Posh to show up," an ABC spokesman told the newspaper. "But they'll be horrified to see she's piled on the pounds because of major comfort-eating and American junk food." Beckham admitted acting is hardly her long suit but she noted it really won't be acting since,"I'll be playing myself." Source: Earth Times, 14th Aug 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* Former wrestling tag team champion Brian "Crush" Adams was found dead at his Florida home. "Crush," Adams, 44, was scheduled to join next month's reunion of Demolition, with partner Bill "Ax" Eadie. Paramedics responding to an emergency call at his Tampa home, found the 6ft 6in, 300-pound Adams unconscious and unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene. The Hawaii-born Adams, who boxed in the U.S. Air Force, also wrestled under the name Kona Crush for the former World Wrestling Entertainment, and was a member of the tag team Kronik. Adams retired in 2003 because of a spinal injury. Source: Earth Times, 14th Aug 2007

* Hong Kong broadcaster TVB may lose a HK$50 million deposit paid out to secure a pay-TV licence after failing to meet investment targets. Under terms of the licence, TVB was duty bound to invest HK$5 billion in its pay-TV operations, TVB Pay Vision, before August 23 this year but is unlikely to meet that target. The unit is loss-making, losing HK$163 million in 2006. TVB Pay Vision, formerly Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting, offers over 40 channels on cable and satellite, as well as transmitting via broadband networks including PCCW. Source: Rapid TV News, 14th Aug 2007

* China is set to overtake Germany and the UK to become the third-largest advertising market within the next year, according to Group M (WPP). A report, ‘This Year, Next Year,’ forecasts that China will account for 6.8% of global advertising by the end of next year, behind only USA (36.6%) and Japan (8.5%). Television commercials will account for 71.7% of China’s advertising spend by the end of next year, with the country’s television advertising market set to grow by 20% this year and 30% next year to be worth about $22.3 billion. Across Asia Pacific, ad revenues are slated to rise 8% this year to $100.1 billion and 11% in 2008 to $111.2 billion. Source: Sportcal, Worldscreen, 14th Aug 2007

* The World University Games 2007 (Universiade) in Bangkok, Thailand is the latest major multi-sports event to be hit by doping, with the head of the games doping commission confirming that there had been positive tests. However, Lawrence Rink, chairman of the FISU medical commission, said that he would give no more details until an appeals process had been completed. The games were also hit by a brawl during a soccer match between Thailand and Brazil, with four players sent off following a melee which also involved spectators. Source: Sportcal, Sydney Morning Herald, 14th Aug 2007

* A random group of sports officials and athletes questioned by Chinese news agency, Xinhua, during the Universiade in Bangkok showed ignorance of the official website for next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing and received most of their information from other sources. Others cited the media, including unofficial sites, as their main sources of information on the games, while some said that the information on the official site was inadequate. Source: Sportcal, 14th Aug 2007

* India’s Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is aiming to pump television content through its broadband connections to reach 50,000 subscribers in 18 months. It will be aided by interactivity and an ad model dubbed A Tube. Subscribers now number less than 1,000 for MTNL, but it hopes for a high conversion rate as broadband connections grow to a target of 500,000 each in Mumbai and Delhi. Currently, MTNL has 225,000 broadband lines out of a total of 4.5 million fixed line subscribers in the two cities. Source: The Hindustan Times, IPTV News, 13th Aug 2007

* Ligue 1 club, Stade Rennais, yesterday launched its own internet television channel, following in the footsteps of rival clubs Bordeaux, Nice Sochaux and Paris St Germain. The channel, launched in partnership with Sportfive, the international sports agency, will enable the club to show its matches in full after midnight on the day of the match, together with highlights and news reports. Source: Sportcal, 14th Aug 2007

* ESPN will premiere the third season of the boxing reality show The Contender on 4 September. The Contender's second season finale, which featured Grady Brewer and Steve Forbes, was viewed by 2.3 million people and was the highest-rated boxing telecast on ESPN in nine years. Boxing legend and five-time world champion Sugar Ray Leonard will return as host and mentor, guiding the boxers through the most intense training of their careers and the most challenging experience of their lives. Source: Indian Television, 14th Aug 2007

* Brazil is replacing Mexico as opponents for the US soccer team in a friendly next month. The USA was due to play Mexico in Mexico City on Sep 9, but the match was cancelled reportedly because of a conflict over television coverage between US Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, which holds the rights to Mexico games, and rival Univision, which planned to screen the friendly. The match between the USA and Brazil will take place in Chicago three days before the South American team takes on Mexico in another friendly in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Sep 12. Source: Sportcal, 14th Aug 2007


MORE NEWS

Don King: King Sets up 'Megafight' for Jones Jr and Trinidad

Don King has announced plans for a contest between American star Roy Jones Jr and Puerto Rico’s Felix Trinidad, who is coming out of retirement for the second time for what could be one of the biggest pay-per-view fights of next year. The bout is likely to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on January 26. The 38-year-old Jones has won world titles at four different weights and 51 of his 55 contests, including last month's points victory over the previously undefeated American Anthony Hanshaw.

The 34-year-old Trinidad has won 42 of his 44 fights and titles in three divisions, but has not entered the ring since losing to the USA’s Winky Wright in May 2005 and will meet Jones at 170 pounds (77 kilograms), despite never having fought above 160 pounds. Unusually, King has organised the fight without first agreeing a television deal, but there is expected to be considerable interest from pay channels.

Appearing alongside Jones and Trinidad, the King said: ‘The TV we have not got yet. We got to talk to HBO, talk to Showtime, got to talk to ESPN, talk to Rupert Murdoch, anyone who wants to broadcast it. You make the fight and figure it out, but the deal is real.’ Jones said: 'The sport needs another megafight and that's what this is.’

The biggest fight of this year has been the light-middleweight contest between Americans Floyd Mayweather Jr and Oscar De La Hoya on HBO, which was watched by 2.15 million viewers, a record for a pay-per-view contest. Source: Sportcal, Seconds Out, 14th Aug 2007

China/New Media: Mobile Value-added Service Sector More Diversified

China’s mobile value-added service sector is getting more diversified. In 2006, SMS accounted for 72% of mainland’s mobile telecom market. Other services such as ring back tones, MMS, WAP and IVR have demonstrated steady growth, representing 90% of the other 28% of the mobile market share. Value-added services reached 23.5% of China Mobile’s annual proceeds total in 2006. Service portfolios also expanded from the core categories such as SMS, ring back tones, WAP and IVR, to mobile gaming, mobile television, mobile payment, mobile IM, GPS, etc.

As the mobile phone user base continues to expand in mainland China, user mass of various value-added services are growing at a fast pace. iResearch’s latest statistics indicates that China had more than 0.37 billion mobile value-added service users last year, which is about 80% of the mobile phone user total in the nation. It is estimated that by the end of 2008, China will have 0.51 billion people, 87% of all mobile phone users, using mobile value added services.

The country’s mobile value-added services generated USD 13.2 billion earnings in 2006, and this figure is projected to exceed USD 19.8 billion after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Over all, this sector has shown a clear pattern of fast growth. Source: Entertainment Asia, 14th Aug 2007

China/General: Chang Opening Tennis Academy

Michael Chang, the youngest male player to win a Grand Slam tennis title, will open an academy in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, media reported Tuesday. The announcement of Chang's plan came as China is counting down for the Beijing Olympic next August. A Chinese-American, Chang said he aimed to nurture young Chinese players in a bid to bring the level of Chinese tennis up to the international standard, the official news agency Xinhua quoted him as saying in a press conference Tuesday.

"I have a wish, which is to contribute my experience accumulated from playing in world tournaments to the development of tennis in China," Chang was quoted saying. "I believe I have the ability to do that." He planned to open his academy in Shenzhen's Mission Hills Country Club, where there are 51 tennis courts.

Chang, who retired in 2002, has worked with Peng Shuai, one of the country's tennis hopes in next year's Beijing Olympics, since March. After winning the French Open, his only career major, in 1989 at age 17 years and three months, Chang rose to a career-high No. 2 ranking in 1996. He finished seven seasons inside the top 10 and won 34 tour titles, also reaching Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros in 1995 and at the Australian Open and U.S. Opens in '96. Source: Fox Sports, 15th Aug 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Canal+ Wins Men's US Open Tennis Rights

French pay-television broadcaster, Canal Plus, has won the rights to the men’s tournament at tennis’ 2007 US Open. The broadcaster’s Canal+ and Canal+ Sport channels will show live coverage of matches from the Grand Slam competition, starting on August 27 and concluding with the men’s final on September 9. Canal Plus already has rights to the Wimbledon tennis championships, another of the sport’s four Grand Slam tournaments.

Eurosport, the pan-European cable and satellite broadcaster, last year extended its contract for the US Open until 2012, but is reported to have swapped the men’s 2007 rights for highlights clips from various European soccer leagues to be broadcast on Téléfoot, the weekly soccer highlights show on TF1, the French commercial broadcaster that owns Eurosport. Consequently, Eurosport will broadcast only the ladies’ matches from the 2007 US Open. Source: Sportcal, 14th Aug 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Primera Liga Blackout Threat in TV Rights Row

The start of Spanish Primera Liga 2007-08 could be hit by a domestic television blackout, in a continuing row over broadcasting rights, according to Spanish media reports. With less than two weeks to go before the start of the season, television group, Sogecable, and media rights agency, Mediapro, must give their approval for matches to be shown but are refusing to communicate over the row that started last month, according to financial newspaper Expansion.

The relationship between the two companies broke down when Mediapro announced deals with 39 of the 42 teams in the country’s top two soccer leagues starting from the 2009-10 season. Sogecable threatened legal action over the claims, on the basis that it holds a majority of Spanish soccer television rights through Audiovisual Sports, in which it has an 80-per-cent stake. It claims to have ‘numerous contracts with soccer clubs running through to 2013.’

Observers predict that a breakthrough should be reached in time for the opening matches of the season to be aired. Clubs would need to be paid for the rights whether the games are aired or not, a fact that could force the antagonists into reaching an agreement. Mediapro holds the rights for this season for the home matches of Bilbao, Levante, Murcia, Santander, Sevilla, Valencia, Villareal and Zaragoza, while Sogecable has the rest.

Mediapro, which has a stake in commercial broadcaster La Sexta, previously announced that it had acquired rights to the league matches of Real Madrid and Barcelona (from the 2008-09 season) in long-term deals worth more than €1 billion ($680 million). La Sexta presently shows one live match per week as part of a three-year deal worth €150 million a season, which expires at the end of the 2008-09 season.

Sogecable’s Digital Plus pay-television service relies heavily on airing the Primera Liga to attract subscribers. The latest developments could represent a further blow after subscriber numbers already dropped slightly between April and June. The season kicks off on August 25 with the derby between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Source: Sportcal, 14th Aug 2007

Elsewhere/General: Duisburg in the Running for World Games 2013

The German city of Duisburg has expressed its interest in bidding to host the 2013 World Games, the quadrennial multi-sports event for non-Olympic sports, again despite hosting the event as recently as 2005. Adolf Sauerland, the city’s lord mayor, admitted for the first time publicly that preliminary discussions had been held regarding a bid in 2013.

Sauerland said that opening talks with the DOSB, the German Olympic Sports Federation, and the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen had already taken place, while he met with Ron Froehlich, president of the International World Games Association, in Duisburg last week. Duisburg would be likely to face competition from USA and Lithuania to host the 2013 World Games after Edinburgh in Scotland and Moscow in Russia pulled out of the race.

Organisers of the 2005 World Games in Duisburg announced a deficit of €1.5 million ($2.04 million), although Sauerland claimed that hosting the games had been a valuable exercise in raising the city’s profile. Candidate cities must submit their initial bids and completed questionnaires to the IWGA by August 30 and the hosts will be unveiled in June 2008 after the IWGA’s annual general meeting. Source: Sportcal, 14th Aug 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

Tragic Finale for Premiere
Commentary on Forbes, 13th Aug 2007

Investors in German subscription television company Premiere desperately hoped to change the channel on Monday when charismatic Chief Executive Georg Kofler announced his surprise resignation from the firm he helped to turn around.

"I have experienced the media business in many details," said Kofler. "Now I am looking forward to focus my attention and energy on new topics.” Premiere (other-otc: PMREF - news - people ) has already appointed Chief Financial Officer Michael Boernicke in his place, whom Kofler said was his "closest partner and companion at Premiere."

Shares in the pay TV firm fell 57 eurocents (78 cents), or 3.1%, to 17.97 euros ($24.49). Kofler will leave the firm at the end of August.

Kofler, 50, first took over struggling Premiere in February 2002, only two months before the company's co-owner Leo Kirch declared his media empire KirchGruppe bankrupt. With buyers like News Corp (nyse: NWS - news - people ) waiting in the wings to gobble up the different media units, what then ensued was somewhat of a fairytale: Kofler teamed up with private equity firm Permira to buy out the company, keeping a 20.9% stake for himself, and ramped up the company's profitability until its successful 1.2 billion euro ($1.7 billion) initial public offering in 2005.

The problem with the Kirch days was that Premiere had too little in the way of sales to support its cost burden, as it was weighed down by over-priced Hollywood movie contracts and a small subscriber base. The Kofler era saw cost-cutting, restructuring and a new money-spinner in the form of the broadcast rights to the German Bundesliga soccer league.

Although two years ago Premiere lost the Bundesliga rights to rival Unity in February of this year Kofler relieved investors with a quick fix before the next auction. Premiere agreed to sub-license the rights from Unity as part of a distribution partnership, which included Unity's purchase of a 16.7% stake in Premiere.

Now that Boernicke has taken the reins, all eyes will be on the next auction for the rights to broadcast the Bundesliga until 2012. "It's probably the most interesting single set of rights that is available for any pay-TV operation in Germany," said an analyst requesting anonymity.

How UK TV Sports Channels Match Up
Emma Lunn writes for The Telegraph UK, 14th Aug 2007

The bidding war for football coverage has been more heated this year than a local derby, but the real winners should be the fans. BSkyB had the monopoly on live Premiership matches but from the new season onwards, Irish sports broadcaster Setanta is in on the action. BSkyB still has the rights to 92 live matches and Setanta the remaining 46. But deciding which channel offers the best-value Barclays Premier League viewing can be as complicated as Sven deciding on a 4-4-2 or diamond formation for Manchester City.

Steve Weller, head of communication services at uSwitch, says this year competition for football rights has been like no other. "As a result there's a vast range of TV package options available and finding the right one can be quite daunting. BT Vision, Tiscali TV, Setanta and Virgin Media have joined Sky by offering sports programmes and there are over 20 different combinations to choose from."

Virgin Media and Setanta

They are offering existing customers taking Virgin's XL TV package six Setanta Sports channels. These will include live games from the Barclays Premier League plus 60 matches from the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League, the US PGA Tour golf, European League football, rugby and horse racing. It costs £20.50 a month, plus £11 line rental. Other Setanta channels can be added for £8 a month.

Subscribers to Virgin Media's medium TV package will pay a total of £26 a month and customers subscribing to the large package £35.50 a month - so these customers would be better off switching to the XL deal and getting the Setanta channels for free.

Sky

Sky has traditionally been the home of TV football and still has exclusive rights to 92 games. But Sky Sports channels are also available through Virgin Media and Tiscali TV.

If you have a Sky dish and box and just want to see the matches screened by Sky Sports, you can get packages (including other Sky channels) starting at £34 a month which include Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and Extra. If you are a Sky customer and also want to see the matches shown on Setanta, packages start at £43.99 a month. Sky's high-definition (HD)TV will set you back £299 plus £30 for installation, plus £10 a month.

BT Vision

If you are not bothered about watching all the matches live then BT Vision offers a catch-up service. BT's "near live" service includes 242 Premier League matches per season and up to 125 Coca-Cola League and Carling Cup games; it costs £4 a month but customers also have the option to pay £1.99 per near-live match. BT Vision customers can also subscribe to Setanta sports for £9.99 a month - getting its 46 Premiership matches live, plus all the other sport it offers.

Customers wanting near-live Premiership matches plus Setanta channels can get a package for £12 a month.

But to get this service, you must have BT Broadband. The BT Vision box offers all the Freeview channels plus a hard-drive that can record 80 hours of TV as well as pause and rewind live television. Users can also get pay-per-view films.

Tiscali

Although not available across the whole country, Tiscali TV offers customers a viable alternative to Sky or Virgin Media as you can get Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and Extra for £26.50 a month on top of a basic TV package which costs £14.99 a month and includes broadband.