Tuesday, 2nd October 2007

SPORTS SHORTS

* Plans to stage an international badminton competition in the Indian city of Hyderabad have been put off until at least the second half of next year. The $150,000 Yonex Sunrise India Open was originally due to take place last month, but had to be postponed until January after terrorist bomb attacks in Hyderabad in August killed 42 people. The Badminton Association of India has now asked the Badminton World Federation for new dates and the event is not likely to be held until late-2008. (Juliana: In other words, there is still no confirmation on a replacement date.) Source: Sportcal, 1st Oct 2007

* Spanish bank, Banco Santander, is the new title sponsor of soccer’s Copa Libertadores, Latin America’s top clubs competition, after agreeing a deal that runs until 2012. Santander will replace Toyota as the main sponsor of the tournament, and will be renamed the Copa Santander Libertadores in 2008. The draw for next year’s competition will take place on December 19. Santander’s main sponsorship commitment is to the McLaren F1 motor racing team, a deal that is worth €50 million over five years and was the title sponsor of the British Grand Prix this year. It is also an official sponsor of the final of the Uefa Cup, European soccer’s second-tier clubs competition, until 2009. Source: Sportcal, 1st Oct 2007

* ESPN Star Sports will broadcast the 2007 Special Olympic World Summer Games in Shanghai, China, across the Asian region, beginning tomorrow. ESS will feature highlights of the Games on its ESPN and STAR Sports channels throughout Asia, including a ‘live’ broadcast of the Opening Ceremony on October 2 on STAR Sports. Daily highlights of personal triumphs will be shown every weekday on SportsCenter Asia news bulletins at 10 p.m. HKT on ESPN and a one-hour post-Games highlight special will air on October 18 on STAR Sports. ESPN, in the U.S. will cover the 2007 Special Olympic World Summer Games across its television channel, ESPN360.com and ESPN.com. Source: Worldscreen, 1st Oct 2007

* Sepp Blatter has said that China is capable of bidding for and hosting the World Cup in the future. Fifa will decide later this year whether to retain the rotational system under which the tournament passes around the different continents. Under the current policy, it would be North America’s turn in 2018, but there is pressure for the World Cup to return to Europe that year, while China, which is currently staging the women’s event, would be an appealing host for Fifa. A decision on the host will not be made until 2011. South Africa is to stage the World Cup in 2010, while Brazil is expected to be confirmed shortly as the host in 2014. Source: Sportcal, 28th Sep 2007

* Executives from Euroleague Basketball have met with city and sporting officials from Shanghai to forge sporting and business ties. Jordi Bertomeu, Euroleague Basketball CEO, was in Shanghai for the first CBA-Euroleague Challenge – an event facilitated by Infront Asia’s joint-venture with the Chinese Basketball Association. The parties discussed the joint development of events with the objective of promoting European basketball in Asia. Shanghai has already established a global presence as a host of international sports events, and this autumn will stage a Formula 1 race, the Special Olympics, a Masters Tennis tournament and NBA pre-season games. Source: Sport Business, Sport Business, 1st Oct 2007

* Indian retail giant, Future Group, has signed a 3-year broadcast sponsorship contract with Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus channels. It is the largest multi-year broadcast sponsorship contract in India. Future Group has option to extend the deal for a further two years. Neo already has two anchor sponsors in Hero Honda and Perfetti and is looking to close a fourth and final one next month. Future Group has also paid a reported Rs 100 million ($2.5m) to secure title sponsorship for the India v Australia series that starts September 29 and which has been named The Future Cup. The series involves seven one day internationals and one Twenty20 fixture. Source: Sport Business, 29th Sep 2007

* Shashank Manohar is set to become the new president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India once the present incumbent Sharad Pawar moves to the International Cricket Council next year as vice-president of the ICC. Manohar's fellow vice-president, Lalit Modi, supported his colleague's application, together with Pawar, who will become president of the ICC in 2010. Manohar was one of the key officials involved in working on new central contracts for India's top players that were announced yesterday. The new payment scheme, which encompasses 33 players, consists of four salary grades. The annual retainer of the highest-paid group of stars has risen by Rs1million ($25,221) to Rs6 million in the wake of India's victory in the recent World Twenty20 in South Africa, with smaller rises also introduced for lower-profile players. Source: Sportcal, 28th Sep 2007

* Doha in Qatar will deploy all the resources at its disposal to win the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Gerhard Heiberg of the International Olympic Committee had said on Friday that smaller countries are being unfairly excluded from the Olympic bidding process by cash-rich nations. Doha, which spent heavily to develop the infrastructure and venues necessary to host the Asian Games last year, have ample resources behind its bid for the games. Top bidding consultants have already been drawn to mastermind the campaign, led by public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. The bid will formally be launched on October 25 when its logo and key messages will be unveiled. Source: Sportcal, 1st Oct 2007

* BMW said it would enter the World Superbike championship for the 2009 season. The announcement was made by the German manufacturer's development vice president Peter Muller at the Mondial de Deux Roues motorcycle show in Paris. Muller, said: "In 2007 BMW returned to road racing after more than 50 years. In 2008 we will continue our activities in the endurance category. At the same time we will be preparing our entry into the World Superbike championship in 2009." The move is an undoubted boost to the series and provisionally takes the number of manufacturers in the championship up to eight. Source: Sport Business, 1st Oct 2007

* Mercedes-Benz has decided to end its sponsorship of men’s tennis’ ATP Tour at the end of next year in order to focus on other sports. The company has been a major sponsor of the Tour since 1996, agreeing a deal after research of its customers showed that tennis was their favourite sport. The Mercedes logo has appeared on nets at more than 40 tournaments worldwide and the firm has been providing transport at many events. Mercedes says it is implementing a new brand strategy and will now switch its attention to golf, equestrianism and soccer, as well as fashion and lifestyle. The company is already a title sponsor of golf tournaments on the European and US PGA Tours. Source: Sportcal, Sport Business, 29th Sep 2007

* Brazil will host of the final round of the 2008 edition of volleyball’s FIVB World League, the men’s national teams competition, from July 23 to 27 after Italy’s bid was rejected because it did not have a contract with a domestic broadcaster. The FIVB, the international volleyball federation, has made it clear that guaranteed television coverage is an important factor in the award of World League rounds. Following Argentina’s failure to present a television contract, an application from Spain has been requested. If neither country is able to offer a contract and master plan for a 2008 event within 15 days, then Portugal will step forward. Source: Sportcal, 1st Oct 2007


MORE NEWS

India/Rights: BCCI Profits Surge Despite Drop in TV Rights Revenue

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced a surplus of Rs2.31 billion ($58.1 million) for the last financial year despite having to accept a lower amount than envisaged from television rights holder Nimbus Communications. The BCCI has reported revenue of Rs6.52 billion as against expenditure of $4.2 billion for 2006-07. In the previous year, the surplus came to only Rs330 million, but the board has benefited from increased income from tours and interest from fixed deposits with banks.

BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan said that turnover from media rights fell from Rs3.41 billion to Rs3.14 billion as it had to renegotiate the terms of its contract with Nimbus following legislation forcing the company to share a feed of India’s home matches with state broadcaster Doordarshan. Nimbus originally won the rights to India games for four years until March 2010 with a bid of $612 million, but has managed to secure a reduction of $55 million. It also got an $8 million discount on the radio rights fee.

The BCCI reported that national team players were paid Rs430 million in the last year, but this is expected to rise to R550 million in 2007-08. The Indian team recently won the World Twenty20, their first success in a global event since the 1983 World Cup. Source: Sportcal, 1st Oct 2007

India/Rights: Neo Sports Offers up Internet Coverage of India-Australia Series

Neo Sports, the Indian pay-television channel which showcases the home matches of the Indian cricket team, has announced it is providing simultaneous internet coverage of the one-day international series against Australia. A video on demand and live streaming service is available at www.neosports.tv and is aimed at work-based cricket fans. The first match in the series took place in Bangalore in Saturday, but had to be abandoned due to rain. The internet packages include highlights every half hour for Rs30 ($0.75), a day pass for Rs50 and a series pass covering all seven one-day games and the Twenty20 clash for Rs150. The all-access live streaming service, which includes all the highlights packages, is priced at Rs100 per match.

The Neo Sports television channel is providing live coverage in English of the India-Australia series and there are multiple language feeds in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on sister channel Neo Sports Plus. Nimbus Sport, the Indian sports marketing company which owns Neo Sports, has now concluded a distribution deal with Kenya’s Channel 2 Group Corporation. Under the deal, which runs until March 2010, Channel 2 will provide live television and radio coverage in Kenya and radio coverage only in South Africa and the UK (in Hindi and Urdu) of India’s home international matches. Channel 2 has a terrestrial reach of about 85 per cent in Kenya and also acquires mobile and internet rights. Source: Sportcal, 1st Oct 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Premiere Acquires Multi-platform F1 Rights until 2010

German cable and satellite broadcaster, Premiere, has acquired multi-platform rights to motor racing’s Formula 1 World Championship until 2010. A deal for the exclusive pay-television rights in Germany, Austria and Switzerland was announced by Premiere yesterday to coincide with the Japanese Grand Prix. However, the deal does not include the free-to-air rights, which Premiere was also believed to have coveted. The contract covers training sessions, qualifying and the races themselves, and covers cable, satellite, internet, IPTV and mobile broadcast platforms. The value of Premiere’s new contract is reported to be worth around €30 million ($42.7 million) a year.

Premiere, whose existing deal was due to expire at the end of the 2007 season, will begin broadcasting Formula 1 races online from next year, live and on-demand on its internet television portal vod.premiere.de. The allocation of live and on-demand new media rights to Premiere marks a shift in strategy by Formula One Management, the rights-owner, which had previously been wary of the effect that internet or mobile coverage might have on television revenue.

Live television coverage of Formula 1 is available in Germany on both Premiere and RTL, the commercial network, although Premiere is able to offer coverage without advertising breaks and provides the viewer with a variety of different interactive viewing options. Premiere is understood to have wanted rights across both free-to-air and pay-television, a tactic employed successfully when it acquired the rights to European soccer’s top-tier Uefa Champions League. However, FOM was keen to negotiate a deal with a free-to-air broadcaster itself instead of allowing Premiere, which has no free-to-air outlet of its own, to sub-license the rights.

RTL will now come under increased pressure to tie up a deal for 2008, especially with advertisers seeking to set out their budgets for next year. Meanwhile, Premiere has signed a similar ‘platform-neutral’ deal for the GP2 Series, the support series to Formula 1, for the next three seasons. The GP2 deal does include both the pay-television and free-to-air rights. Source: Sportcal, 29th Sep 2007

Elsewhere/New Media: Joost Boosts Interface and Sports Content

Online TV network/application Joost has updated its user interface and has signed deals with sports leagues to add to its content roster. While Joost's Skype pedigree has given the company incredible buzz, Veoh is now a close second as the "most likely to replace YouTube" category. The new user interface of Joost is more Web 2.0-ish, according to Efluxmedia. The company also grabbed a deal to stream the baseball post season games after they are over to all of the world -- unless you live in the biggest markets for baseball, namely the U.S. and Japan. So that leaves Latin America, Korea, Canada and Australia as baseball-friendly countries that can see the games via Joost.

I'm surprised that the protective MLB granted rights outside of its own website, but I guess they are comfortable with Joost's ability to lock out geographies. We'll be seeing more of companies using online to target areas where TV can't reach. Joost will also broadcast games from the Canadian Football League.
Joost is slick, but it requires a large application download to take advantage of the peer to peer technology, and you can only see programs that the company has licensed.

Veoh, on the other hand, can grab any kind of content, so it could have broader appeal. Both companies have a chance to become profitable in their own niches, but Veoh is the more likely to have a chance at surpassing YouTube as a market force. Source: Marketing Shift, 28th Sep 2007

Global/Rights: Bundesliga Increases Worldwide Reach with ESPN+ Deal

The DFL, the German Football League, has announced a rights deal for soccer’s top-tier Bundesliga with ESPN+, the pay-television broadcaster, covering nine South American countries. ESPN+ is to show at least two live Bundesliga games per match day in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. In addition, the Bundesliga will also be aired on free-to-air television in Costa Rica and Guatemala.

The DFL can also cite increased demand for Bundesliga action in Asia, with companies in Indonesia and Thailand having secured broadcasting rights, with at least one match per week guaranteed to go out on a free-to-view platform. The rights were acquired in Thailand by UBC, the cable and satellite operator, and in Indonesia by Indovision Digital, the pay-television broadcaster. Furthermore, viewers in Sub-Saharan Africa have been able to watch Bundesliga games on Canal Plus Horizons, the African subsidiary of Canal Plus, the French pay-television broadcaster.

The clash between leaders Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 in mid-September was watched live in 142 countries, a record for the league. The Bundesliga, in co-operation with the Sportsman Media Group, the agency distributing the league's international rights, has made a concerted effort to increase the worldwide coverage of the league in the current contract period from 2006-07 to 2008-09. Source: Sportcal, 29th Sep 2007

Global/New Media: Mobile TV to Hit 120m Users, but ‘Hurdles Ahead’

Mobile broadcast TV by 2012 will attract almost 120m users in 40 countries, but a major new study states that service providers still face some major hurdles if they are to succeed in deployment and successfully building a business. The problem, says Juniper Research in its “Mobile TV; The Opportunity for Streamed & Broadcast Services 2007-2012”, is that while the quasi-mandation of DVB-H by the European Commission is a huge boost to that standard, “it does create uncertainty in the minds of those who might regard other technologies as more cost effective and might ultimately be counterproductive as a measure to promote mobile TV per se,” says report author Dr Windsor Holden.

The report also stresses the need for regulators to make optimal UHF spectrum available as soon as is practicably possible, and for vendors to ensure that broadcast TV chipsets are rapidly introduced into a wide range of mass market handsets to facilitate adoption. Holden added: “The key to the takeup of services such as SMS and, of applications such as cameraphones, has been their ubiquity: everyone can send an SMS, most people can now take a picture with their handset. If companies are serious about achieving widespread adoption of mobile TV, it is essential for chipsets to filter down very rapidly from top of the range handsets into the mass market models so that everyone has the opportunity, at least, to sample mobile TV services.”

Other findings from the report include:
• The US will be the largest single market for mobile broadcast TV services in 2012, followed by Japan and Italy
• Streamed TV packages will gradually evolve to complement mobile broadcast TV, functioning as an outlet for the “long tail” of minority viewing TV channels.
• Advertising will contribute an increasing proportion to overall mobile TV revenues, but in most cases will provide a supplementary revenue stream, with most services relying on both subscriptions and pay-per-view for the majority of revenues. Source: Rapid TV News, 28th Sep 2007

Global/General: Beijing Olympics to Boost Advertising Market

Next year’s Beijing Olympic Games will lift television’s share of the global advertising market to record levels next year, according to new advertsing forecasts. ZenithOptimedia’s World Advertising Expenditure Forecast, which will be released today, predicts that worldwide television advertising spending in 2008 will be $182.4 billion, up from $169.9 billion this year, thanks mainly to the increasing popularity of television advertising in Asia. Television is expected to have a 38.2% share of the global advertising market in 2008.

Zenith-Optimedia, the global media buying and planning unit of Publicis, the French advertising group, said: ‘We expect coverage of the Olympics in Beijing to give an extra boost to television in 2008, particularly in China and its neighbours.’ The agency has upgraded its forecasts for internet advertising, which has grown more rapidly than expected in emerging countries. It now forecasts 30% growth this year, up from a previous prediction of 28.6 per cent, thanks to the popularity of online video advertising and local search.

Meanwhile, a Chinese man who cloned a Beijing Olympics website and made around $50,000 from the venture has been arrested, reports China’s state-run news agency Xinhua. Liao Peigui's copy of www.beijing2008.cn, the official Beijing site which receives over 1 million visits a day, earned him a reported Yn400,000 ($53,300). Xinhua also reports that Beijing plans to close down at least 1,000 small unlicensed coal mines ahead of next year's games. All illegal coal mines in the vicinity of the city are said to have been ordered to stop operations immediately. Source: Sportcal, Rapid TV News, Worldscreen, 1st Oct 2007