HEADLINE NEWS
Badminton World Federation Drops Action Against President
The Badminton World Federation has decided not to proceed with plans to oust Dr Kang Young-joong, its current president, after a compromise was reached on his involvement with the World Badminton Foundation, an organisation set up to aid the development of the sport. BWF leaders have called off an extraordinary general meeting, in Kuala Lumpur this Friday, where they were to recommend that Kang, who hails from South Korea, be relieved of his post.
However, they faced opposition from continental bodies, notably Badminton Europe, and were able to resolve their differences with the president at a meeting in Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam over the weekend. The BWF Council had cited Kang’s actions as head of the foundation as grounds for his removal, but observers said the move was related to a power struggle between the president and Datuk Punch Gunalan, the deputy president and chief operating officer from Malaysia.
Kang has been at odds with Punch Gunalan, who last August supported a motion against the president, accusing him of failing to respect the majority in decision-making. Kang responded by criticising the running of the BWF, citing a lack of democracy and transparency, claiming that it could threaten badminton’s future as an Olympic sport. Badminton Europe opposed the action against Kang, seeing no clash between the roles of the BWF and the World Badminton Foundation, and claimed to have support from the Asian and African badminton confederations. Sportcal.com, 27th Feb 2008
INFO BOX
Top Spanish Clubs Most Popular in Europe
Barcelona and Real Madrid are Europe’s two most popular football clubs according to a new survey from SPORT+MARKT. SPORT+MARKT surveyed around 9,600 football fans in 16 European markets with an average of 600 respondents per country, and found that Barcelona had the most fans with 50.3 million, followed by Real Madrid with 45.9 million. Manchester United (32.8 million) and Arsenal (22.9 million) make up third and fourth places.
Spanish clubs are supported by an estimated 103.5 million while an estimated 99.2 million people across Europe follow English clubs. English clubs have a larger domestic fan base, but Spanish clubs pull in far more supporters from outside the country
Hartmut Zastrow, Executive Director, SPORT+MARKT said the survey results showed the following: “Along with Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona is the big winner amongst the top European clubs. Despite still having an unusually high fan potential, the main loser over the past five seasons, with 11 per cent less supporters, is Real Madrid.”
“The fact that Chelsea FC has increased its fan base by over five times, clearly shows what a fast-moving market football is. One can achieve a lot in a short amount of time.”
“Europe still offers massive potential for clubs. In Europe alone, clubs could increase their total revenue by four or five times in the next twenty years. In particular, this allows for new media framework to be created. The teams are no longer restricted to national television.Furthermore, in the big leagues, TV money has been all but exhausted. With new media, the clubs can, however, uncover new target groups.”
“There is a booming market of over 225 million football fans right on clubs’ doorsteps. It seems more promising to concentrate business here than in East Asia, where English, Spanish and Italian leagues and top clubs already have prominence.” Sportsbusiness, 28th Feb 2008
The Top 20 Most Popular European Clubs
Barcelona CF
Real Madrid
Manchester United
Arsenal London
AC Milan
FC Bayern Munich
Chelsea FC
Liverpool FC
Juventus Turin
Zenit St. Petersburg
FC Spartak Moscow
Inter Milan
Olympique Lyonnais
Olympique Marseille
ZSKA Moscow
Wis_a Kraków
Ajax Amsterdam
Galatasaray Istanbul
AS Roma
Werder Bremen
SPORTS SHORTS
* Korean broadcasters will stop transmitting analogue TV signals by December 31, 2012. A special committee on broadcasting and communication at the National Assembly approved a bill that confirmed the deadline. After the date, TV will only be transmitted via digital signals. The Ministry of Information and Communication and the Korean Broadcasting Commission first proposed the analogue transition in 2006. ATV, 28th Feb 2008
* Malaysia's integrated media investment group, Media Prima, is negotiating to buy a stake in a Chinese language radio station in China. MP also plans to expand into radio and TV in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam or Cambodia, according to sources. Meanwhile for TV3, there are plans to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange, possibly this year. The company owns TV stations including TV3, 8TV, NTV7 and TV9, radio stations Fly FM and Hot FM, the New Straits Times newspaper and outdoor billboard companies Big Tree and UPD in Malaysia. Marketing Malaysia, 25th Feb 2008
* China Telecom said that its extraordinary general meeting has approved the proposed scheme to absorb 20 wholly-owned subsidiaries of the company this month. The transformation of subsidiaries into branches by China Telecom is part of the preparation for telecom industry reshuffle and company transformation, noted Chen Yunhong, analyst with Guojin Securities. China Telecom is transforming itself from a mere internet service provider to a comprehensive information provider, which needs a highly effective corporate structure to implement integrated company strategies such as brand buildup and information application. telecomasia.net, 28th Feb 2008
* Vodafone is in talks to buy a 30pc stake in Bangladesh's second-largest mobile phone network, AKTEL, for around $300m (£152m). The discussions, which are at an early stage, underline Vodafone's determination to tap into Asia's fast-growing mobile markets to offset slowing growth in Europe. Vodafone has been given initial reassurances from the Bangladeshi telecoms regulator that it would be allowed to buy the 30pc stake from AK Khan, a privately owned textiles-to-telecoms company. The remaining 70pc of AKTEL is owned by Telekom Malaysia International. Vodafone recently played down speculation that it was seeking to acquire a stake in the Malaysian company. The talks to buy out AK Khan are thought to be one of a number of options Vodafone is considering to move into Bangladesh, the fifth-largest mobile market in Asia. Telegraph.co.uk, 27th Feb 2008
* Chinese sports fans may spend the next five months tracking medical bulletins after Yao Ming suffered a stress fracture in his left foot that might keep him out of the Beijing Olympics. The Houston Rockets said yesterday the 7-foot-6 Yao will miss the rest of the National Basketball Association season because of the injury. He'll be sidelined for about four months before beginning his rehabilitation in the weeks leading up to the Aug. 8 opening ceremony in Beijing. Yao's loss would deprive the Olympics host of one of its most recognizable sports stars internationally and most popular domestically. It would also harm China's chances of winning its first basketball medal and, according to the player, represent the biggest setback of his career. Bloomberg.com, 27th Feb 2008
* Cricket fans in the UK will be able to enjoy cricket action after Setanta Sports secured the exclusive rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in a five-year deal. Its exclusively live coverage of the new Twenty20 competition will start with all 59 games of the inaugural IPL season that takes place across India from April 18 to June 1. Indian cricketing stars such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly will all feature alongside Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jacques Kallis and Adam Gilchrist. Sports Media, World Screen, 26th Feb 2008
* Meanwhile, South Africa broadcaster SuperSport has secured rights to the inaugural Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket competition. The 44-day event, which is being contested by Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai, will begin on April 18 and feature 59 matches, all of which will be televised live on SuperSport. The SS2, SS6, SS7, SS10 and CSN channels will air the tournament, with the first match between Bangalore and Kolkata taking place on Friday, April 18. Sports Media, 27th Feb 2008
* The BBC is ready to challenge ITV and BSkyB for the right to broadcast Champions League football. Sports broadcaster Setanta is also expected to bid, but Virgin Media is thought unlikely to participate. Bids are due on March 12 and broadcasters predict that UEFA, European football’s governing body and the owner of the rights, will receive about £125 million (E168m) a year for the next three-year package, which begins in 2009. There may be several rounds of bidding and a final deadline has not been announced. ATV, Sports Media 28th Feb 2008
* The Australian Football League (AFL) could generate revenues of around A$1 billion (US$920 million) in broadcast fees when the competition is expanded to include 18 teams. The AFL has announced that two more teams will be added to the 16-team tournament within the next five years, and rights revenues could rise by at least 20% as a result. Influential media buyer Harold Mitchell told the newspaper that the AFL would benefit from an increasing appetite for content on new media platforms as well as the bigger competition. Sports Media, 20th Feb 2008
* A move away from collective to individual broadcast rights negotiations in the Barclays Premier League could be harmful for the future competitiveness of the competition. The Premier League’s current live TV rights deals will run until 2010, and with clubs now starting to take control by having their own TV channels, the prospect of a Spanish model of individual rather than collective negotiating could be a hot topic in a couple of years’ time. According to Dr Jeanette Findlay, a leading football academic at the Football Governance Research Centre in the UK, any such change would radically alter the face of English football. Sports Media, 20th Feb 2008
* Arsenal announced yet another strong set of financial figures on Friday and the positive news boosted the club's share price. Arsenal announced a pre-tax profit of £20 million for the six months ending November 2007. Broadcasting income, spiked by new and improved deals struck by the Premier League for overseas coverage, were up £6.5 million to £24.3 million while matchday income was up more than £3 million year-on-year, coming in at £41.4 million. Football Insider, 26th Feb 2008
* MP & Silva has been appointed to coordinate, market and commercialise the end-of-season Asia-Pacific tour by top Italian soccer club Juventus. MPS has exclusive rights for the tour, including all commercial rights. The itinerary for the tour has yet to be confirmed, but it will run from May 19 to 31. MPS says that it has begun discussions with Asian soccer federations, clubs, sponsors and companies about staging matches in different countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Juventus’ last visit was in 2005, when they played in Tokyo and Hong Kong. Sportcal, 27th Feb 2008
* MotorSport Vision (MSV) has signed a 10-year agreement with the Motorcycle Circuit Racing Control Board to be responsible for the organisation and promotion of the British Superbike Championship with immediate effect. MSV will take over the commercial rights from Dorna UK, a division of the company responsible for the MotoGP World Championship, while the operation will be run from MSV's Brands Hatch base. Sports Media, Sportsbusiness, 21st Feb 2008
* The Premier League delayed a meeting with football's world governing body, FIFA, over its controversial proposals to play a round of matches abroad. Premier League chief executive Richard Scudmore had planned to go Zurich this week to champion the merits of the '39th game' vision. But in a statement the Premier League said: “We will conduct further internal studies and consultation before seeking the advice of Fifa." FIFA said it was happy with the Premier League's decision to conduct further internal studies before meeting. Despite much opposition to the plan, the Premier League said: “We sincerely believe that the Premier League has much to offer the development of the game internationally as witnessed by the many federations and leagues that currently seek our involvement and advice. There never has been a rush to conclude these matters and we are more than willing to take time to develop our proposals further before seeking approval, without which it is not our intention to proceed". Sportsbusiness, 27th Feb 2008
* Plans to play a 39th round of Barclays Premier League games abroad would be popular in destination countries, according to a survey by Lightspeed Research. The report revealed that 21% of Italians said they didn't currently follow the Premier League, but the plans would encourage a change, while 13% in North America said the same. That compared to 19% in China, 10% in Japan and 15% in Australia. David Day, CEO Europe of Lightspeed Research said: "Our research indicates that were the Football Association to go ahead with this move, they have the potential to achieve their goal of tapping into a lucrative overseas fan base." Football Insider, 21st Feb 2008
MORE NEWS
Elsewhere/ General: Mobile TV Must Be Free
Consumer research firm Parks Associates and entertainment technology think tank Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) have released a new study suggesting that content owners should offer more free content on mobile devices in order to aggressively promote movies and programming on traditional media. They say free content is essential to prime the pump for future premium offerings.
Parks notes that less than 10 per cent of Internet users are willing to purchase a digital movie download at current price points. The white paper exhorts Hollywood to use Apple’s tactics of offering bargain content in order to sell higher margin products for its own benefit – in this case, to drive consumers to new theatrical releases, TV programming, and eventually made-for-mobile programming, or 'mobisodes'.
"Many content owners have tried re-purposing TV and movie content on mobile and have largely been disappointed by the revenues on those platforms," said David Wertheimer, Executive Director of ETC. "While we believe wholeheartedly in 'Anytime/Anywhere' availability of content, we also know that these devices, when content is created specifically for them, can create opportunities for marketing and selling content elsewhere, especially now, while consumer habits are just taking shape." ATV, 28th Feb 2008
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