THIS WEEK
Wed, 12th Sep 2007
Euro 2008 Qualifier: Spain v Latvia
Sun, 16th Sep 2007
WWE: Unforgiven: Memphis
AVP Crocs Tour 2007: Final Day – San Francisco Best of the Beach
SPORTS SHORTS
* VTV, the national television station in Vietnam, is reported to be close to a deal to acquire the rights to show soccer’s Euro 2008 Championships competition. VTV is said to have agreed a record fee to acquire the rights, although the figure is still less than the $2 million that Sportfive, the international sports agency that is distributing the rights, was seeking. The rights would offer some compensation to VTV for its recent loss of the rights to show English soccer’s Premier League and this year’s Asian Cup competition. Source: Sportcal, 11th Sep 2007
* Ten Sports will bring live and exclusive the ICC World Twenty20 South Africa 2007 to the Middle East. The inaugural ICC World Twenty20 starts September 11 in South Africa. Semi-finals will be played on September 22, and the final is scheduled for September 24 in Johannesburg. Australia will start as favourites to win a unique triple of ICC trophies - they already are the reigning ICC Cricket World Cup champions and ICC Champions Trophy winners. Ten Sports is available to subscribers in the Middle East and via cable systems such as Evision in the UAE. Source: AME Info, 10th Sep 2007
* STAR India has reached a deal to pre-load its recently launched PLUS mobile application, featuring lifestyle, movie and sports content, among other genres, on a range of Sony Ericsson phones in India, reaching more than 10 million mobile subscribers in the region. This is the biggest partnership between a handset company and a content provider in the Indian mobile market. The PLUS application from STAR will be pre-loaded on Sony Ericsson’s Walkman and Cyber-shot handsets from November 2007 onwards. Source: Worldscreen, 11th Sep 2007
* Lynne Frank, ESPN’s current managing director for Europe, has been promoted to senior VP of ESPN International, based in London. Frank will continue to oversee ESPN’s expanded business in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She adds to her remit the operations of ESPN Classic Sport; ESPN’s channel business in the Middle East, Africa and Israel; the overall syndication sales effort in the region and managing the London headquarters. She also oversees soccernet.com, which recently expanded with the launch of French, German, Spanish and Italian versions. She will report to Russell Wolff, the executive VP and managing director of ESPN International. Prior to her promotion, Frank led ESPN’s acquisition of NASN, the only European channel dedicated to North American sports; cricinfo.com, the world’s leading cricket website and scrum.com, a leading rugby portal. Source: Worldscreen, 11th Sep 2007
* The men’s round in Indonesia volleyball’s Swatch FIVB World Tour has been cancelled due to a lack of sponsors. Events were planned in Bali in 2007 and 2008, but these have been called off, with the organisers citing ‘difficult financial circumstances.’ This year’s competition was due to take place from October 31 to November 4. The last men’s event of the season will now be the Brazil Open, which also features a women’s tournament, from September 25 to 29. The final women’s competition of the season, the Phuket Thailand Open, will go ahead as planned from November 1 to 4. Source: Sportcal, 11th Sep 2007
* The Ski Channel acquired the premiere rights to 26 new one-hour episodes a year of “Ride Guide” over the life of the multiyear deal. It also gets rights to Ride Guide’s library of 300 episodes and hundreds of hours of clips. “Ride Guide” focuses on skiing and mountain biking, bringing viewers to remote and interesting places. “Ride Guide” is produced in cooperation with CanWest Media Works. Ride Guide programming had been appearing on Havoc, the video-on-demand and online service specializing in music and extreme sports. Source: TV Week, 10th Sep 2007
* Former chief executive of Team Marketing, Richard Worth, is close to being named as chief executive of the Sportfive. Worth’s name was among a shortlist of three for the job, but it is understood that he is now regarded as the overwhelming favourite, with Sportfive set to announce an appointment within the next two weeks. The position has been vacant since February this year, when Philip Cordes left Sportfive amid a major reorganisation of the agency’s management. The reshuffle was aimed at simplifying the agency’s complicated management structure, following French media group Lagardère’s acquisition of the agency late last year. Source: Sport Business, 11th Sep 2007
MORE NEWS
Elsewhere/Rights: ESPN STAR awards UK rights to Twenty20 World Cup
ESPN STAR Sports has signed broadcast rights partnerships for the United Kingdom and Ireland for the first edition of the ICC World Twenty20. The rights for the maiden edition of the tournament have been awarded to BSkyB Limited & Independent Music Group Limited (Geo). BSkyB acquired the television broadcast rights exclusively in English language and Mobile and Internet for all languages, while the Independent Music Group Limited (Geo) has been awarded the television broadcast rights exclusively for all languages other than English.
ESPN STAR Sports and its affiliate have already secured global coverage for the tournament with over 110 countries slated to showcase the inaugural edition of ICC World Twenty20 spanning North America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Cyprus, Mauritius, South Asia, North Asia - including China for the first time - and the Indian subcontinent.
“The ICC is extremely pleased to have a committed partner in ESPN STAR Sports, who has helped further extend the reach of this tournament by continually setting new standards in global distribution and coverage of cricket,” said ICC CEO Malcolm Speed. “I’m confident that these broadcast partnerships will further grow the popularity of cricket in core cricket market like UK and the new emerging market like Ireland thus ensuring that our strong sport grows even stronger.”
Scheduled to take place in September 2007 in South Africa, the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 will be the first event to be broadcast by ESPN STAR Sports as a part of its eight-year agreement with ICC. Source: Sport Business, Indian Television, 11th Sep 2007
Wed, 12th Sep 2007
Euro 2008 Qualifier: Spain v Latvia
Sun, 16th Sep 2007
WWE: Unforgiven: Memphis
AVP Crocs Tour 2007: Final Day – San Francisco Best of the Beach
SPORTS SHORTS
* VTV, the national television station in Vietnam, is reported to be close to a deal to acquire the rights to show soccer’s Euro 2008 Championships competition. VTV is said to have agreed a record fee to acquire the rights, although the figure is still less than the $2 million that Sportfive, the international sports agency that is distributing the rights, was seeking. The rights would offer some compensation to VTV for its recent loss of the rights to show English soccer’s Premier League and this year’s Asian Cup competition. Source: Sportcal, 11th Sep 2007
* Ten Sports will bring live and exclusive the ICC World Twenty20 South Africa 2007 to the Middle East. The inaugural ICC World Twenty20 starts September 11 in South Africa. Semi-finals will be played on September 22, and the final is scheduled for September 24 in Johannesburg. Australia will start as favourites to win a unique triple of ICC trophies - they already are the reigning ICC Cricket World Cup champions and ICC Champions Trophy winners. Ten Sports is available to subscribers in the Middle East and via cable systems such as Evision in the UAE. Source: AME Info, 10th Sep 2007
* STAR India has reached a deal to pre-load its recently launched PLUS mobile application, featuring lifestyle, movie and sports content, among other genres, on a range of Sony Ericsson phones in India, reaching more than 10 million mobile subscribers in the region. This is the biggest partnership between a handset company and a content provider in the Indian mobile market. The PLUS application from STAR will be pre-loaded on Sony Ericsson’s Walkman and Cyber-shot handsets from November 2007 onwards. Source: Worldscreen, 11th Sep 2007
* Lynne Frank, ESPN’s current managing director for Europe, has been promoted to senior VP of ESPN International, based in London. Frank will continue to oversee ESPN’s expanded business in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She adds to her remit the operations of ESPN Classic Sport; ESPN’s channel business in the Middle East, Africa and Israel; the overall syndication sales effort in the region and managing the London headquarters. She also oversees soccernet.com, which recently expanded with the launch of French, German, Spanish and Italian versions. She will report to Russell Wolff, the executive VP and managing director of ESPN International. Prior to her promotion, Frank led ESPN’s acquisition of NASN, the only European channel dedicated to North American sports; cricinfo.com, the world’s leading cricket website and scrum.com, a leading rugby portal. Source: Worldscreen, 11th Sep 2007
* The men’s round in Indonesia volleyball’s Swatch FIVB World Tour has been cancelled due to a lack of sponsors. Events were planned in Bali in 2007 and 2008, but these have been called off, with the organisers citing ‘difficult financial circumstances.’ This year’s competition was due to take place from October 31 to November 4. The last men’s event of the season will now be the Brazil Open, which also features a women’s tournament, from September 25 to 29. The final women’s competition of the season, the Phuket Thailand Open, will go ahead as planned from November 1 to 4. Source: Sportcal, 11th Sep 2007
* The Ski Channel acquired the premiere rights to 26 new one-hour episodes a year of “Ride Guide” over the life of the multiyear deal. It also gets rights to Ride Guide’s library of 300 episodes and hundreds of hours of clips. “Ride Guide” focuses on skiing and mountain biking, bringing viewers to remote and interesting places. “Ride Guide” is produced in cooperation with CanWest Media Works. Ride Guide programming had been appearing on Havoc, the video-on-demand and online service specializing in music and extreme sports. Source: TV Week, 10th Sep 2007
* Former chief executive of Team Marketing, Richard Worth, is close to being named as chief executive of the Sportfive. Worth’s name was among a shortlist of three for the job, but it is understood that he is now regarded as the overwhelming favourite, with Sportfive set to announce an appointment within the next two weeks. The position has been vacant since February this year, when Philip Cordes left Sportfive amid a major reorganisation of the agency’s management. The reshuffle was aimed at simplifying the agency’s complicated management structure, following French media group Lagardère’s acquisition of the agency late last year. Source: Sport Business, 11th Sep 2007
MORE NEWS
Elsewhere/Rights: ESPN STAR awards UK rights to Twenty20 World Cup
ESPN STAR Sports has signed broadcast rights partnerships for the United Kingdom and Ireland for the first edition of the ICC World Twenty20. The rights for the maiden edition of the tournament have been awarded to BSkyB Limited & Independent Music Group Limited (Geo). BSkyB acquired the television broadcast rights exclusively in English language and Mobile and Internet for all languages, while the Independent Music Group Limited (Geo) has been awarded the television broadcast rights exclusively for all languages other than English.
ESPN STAR Sports and its affiliate have already secured global coverage for the tournament with over 110 countries slated to showcase the inaugural edition of ICC World Twenty20 spanning North America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Cyprus, Mauritius, South Asia, North Asia - including China for the first time - and the Indian subcontinent.
“The ICC is extremely pleased to have a committed partner in ESPN STAR Sports, who has helped further extend the reach of this tournament by continually setting new standards in global distribution and coverage of cricket,” said ICC CEO Malcolm Speed. “I’m confident that these broadcast partnerships will further grow the popularity of cricket in core cricket market like UK and the new emerging market like Ireland thus ensuring that our strong sport grows even stronger.”
Scheduled to take place in September 2007 in South Africa, the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 will be the first event to be broadcast by ESPN STAR Sports as a part of its eight-year agreement with ICC. Source: Sport Business, Indian Television, 11th Sep 2007
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