Tuesday, 12th February 2008

DID YOU KNOW…?

You have been warned: Don't buy a car from an MP in Bangladesh. The CEO of NTV, a private television channel, has been arrested in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Enayetur Rahman Bappi was released on bail on Feb 8, having been charged with allegedly owning a car that had not had the correct tax paid on it. Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique told local news media that Enayetur received bail on Wednesday last week, but he could not be released as the related documents reached the jail late in the day. The car, reportedly, had been owned by a former MP, Harunur Rashid of Chapainawabganj. Rapid TV News, 11th Feb 2008


SPORTS SHORTS

* FIFA has hailed the growing importance of futsal and beach soccer as world football's governing body heard the latest progress in preparations for two upcoming events. This year will see the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup take place in Marseilles (France) in July, while Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia will stage the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil in September and October. "Futsal and beach soccer are growing very fast, as can be seen from the expansion of the FIFA Futsal World Cup to 20 teams and 20 days, and are in the process of attaining great importance within the football family," said FIFA Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee chairman Ricardo Terra Teixeira. FIFA also revealed that bids have been received from the Czech Republic, Egypt, Iran, New Caledonia, Portugal and Thailand to stage the next edition of the Futsal World Cup in 2012. Football Insider, 11th Feb 2008

* The Tiansheng European Football Channel recently aired two weeks of Barclays Premier League action free to viewers in a bid to entice more subscribers to its pay-TV service. Tiansheng is the Premier League rights-holder in China through to 2010, but German 1.Bundesliga and Serie A TIM football is available for a much smaller fee in China on CCTV-5. Sports Media, 11th Feb 2008

* France Télévisions, the French public-service broadcaster, has backed a political push to make short free-to-air highlights of French soccer’s top-tier Ligue 1 available on public television next season. The public-service broadcaster failed to hold on to its Ligue 1 highlights rights last week when the LFP, France’s professional football league, allocated the rights for the next four years to Canal Plus, the pay-television operator. France Télévisions acquired the highlights rights for the 2007-08 season at a cost of around €25 million ($36.4 million), but bid less than that during the first round of bidding for the highlights rights from next season. Sportcal, 11th Feb 2008

* Telewizja Polsat, the terrestrial and satellite broadcaster in Poland, has failed to agree a sub-licensing deal with TVP for the the public-service broadcaster to acquire rights to soccer’s Euro 2008. TVP has been in negotiations with Polsat, which last year acquired the rights for all 31 games for a reported €15 million ($21.7 million), but failed to meet a deadline to confirm a deal. Reports in Poland claim that Polsat was seeking €10 million for the rights for 15 matches, but that TVP bid €7 million. Polsat will offer live games from Euro 2008 on its free-to-air platform, and will also offer further coverage and highlights on Polsat Sport and Polsat Sport Extra, its pay-television channels. Sportcal, 11th Feb 2008

* Australian commercial broadcaster Ten Network acquired the live television rights for all the Twenty20 cricket matches in a five-year deal with the Indian Premier League. Ten is believed to have paid between $10 million and $15 million for the rights. Under the agreement, which begins on April 18, matches will be shown on free-to-air television and followed by repeats on Ten's high definition digital channel. The deal will provide a serious challenge to Channel Nine,which has dominated cricket broadcasting in Australia for the last 30 years. Sport Business, Sportcal, 11th Feb 2008

* Irish public-service broadcaster RTE is expected to secure the TV rights for the four remaining Gaelic Athletic Association packages after fending off competition from commercial rivals TV3 and Setanta. The GAA has been auctioning off five packages of games in a battle for rights to the national football and hurling championships. TV3 caused considerable upset in December when it won one package of games, suggesting that RTE could lose its grip on the key sports events. It is understood, however, that RTE will retain all the other main hurling and football matches, including the number one package which comprises the All-Ireland finals, semi-final and quarter-finals. RTE previously paid about €16 million for all broadcasting rights in a three-year deal with the GAA. It is believed that TV3 paid more than €6million for the third package alone. Sport Business, 11th Feb 2008

* The NexxNow media company is to establish a team in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) geared towards tapping into China's appetite for the sport. NexxNow, which is aiming to be the top exporter of US minor league basketball to China and Asia, plans to set up a new team in the North American CBA to appeal to Chinese hoops fans. NexxNow CEO Paul Riley said, "This team will be placed in a predominant area where the Chinese population is dense. We have identified several areas. The Chinese appetite for basketball is staggering and we feel it will be complimentary to the CBA media portfolio." Earlier this year NexxNow announced an agreement with CBA Properties to exclusively produce CBA games and CBA-related TV programming exclusively for distribution to mainland China. Sports Media, 11th Feb 2008

* Setanta Sports is bracing itself for a succession of takeover bids after an undisclosed European rival reportedly made an unsolicited bid of over €1 billion for the pay-television broadcaster. Setanta is understood to be looking for a valuation in excess of €1.3 billion. Interested parties are expected to include BT, ITV, Virgin Media and Disney. Setanta agreed to pay €500 million in a three-year deal to share live Premiership coverage with BSkyB. Over three million people currently subscribe to its channels, which include the Setanta Sports News Service jointly owned with Virgin Media. Football Insider, Sportcal, 11th Feb 2008

* CBSSports.com has developed and will host an official NCAA March Madness Brackets application that will be offered and promoted to the Facebook users for the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. The application, which is located at www.facebook.com/brackets, will allow users to fill out brackets with their picks for each round of the tournament, while also linking to tournament coverage from CBS Sports, CSTV, CBSSports.com and NCAA.com. In 2007, more than 2.6 million Facebook users joined at least one bracket group in a similar tournament brackets feature run by the site. Sports Media, 11th Feb 2008

* Fifa has agreed a deal with telecoms giant, Ericsson, to provide content management and service delivery platforms to enable broadcasters and telecoms operators to offer mobile content relating to Fifa events in 2009 and 2010. The next edition of the quadrennial World Cup is scheduled to take place in South Africa in 2010. Jerome Valcke, Fifa’s secretary general, said: ‘We are working hard to make our football content available to as many people as possible, on as many platforms as possible. We trust that Ericsson’s expertise and wide geographical reach will give our licensees a good opportunity to bring the excitement and action of various Fifa competitions to the mobile phones of fans all over the world.’ Sportcal, 11th Feb 2008


MORE NEWS

Global/Rights: French Tennis Federation Prefers to Keep Control Over Overseas TV Sales

The French Tennis Federation has said that it will keep control over the sale of broadcast rights outside Europe for the French Open, one of tennis’ four grand slams, selling the rights on a territory-by-territory basis, with the help only of a consultancy deal in Asia. Michel Grach, the director of the FFT’s media rights department, told Sportcal.com that a consultancy deal in Asia with IMG Media, the international sports marketing agency, was important in offering support for a far-away region, but that the federation liked to maintain control.

Grach said, ‘In Asia we have IMG Media as consultants, that is to say there is no minimum guarantee. We want to be able to decide and keep control.’ The support and knowledge of an agency is also important, said Grach, in fully maximising sales from the Asian territories, as ‘each market has its own logic.’

The 2007 French Open was broadcast in 195 countries, leaving few places where it is not available. Grach said that the final is ‘predominantly’ always shown live in each of the countries. In Europe, the FFT agreed a four-year, €56-million ($81.2-million) extension with the European Broadcasting Union, the umbrella body of mainly public-service broadcasters, last summer. The deal represented an increase of around 69 per cent on the previous deal, which expired in 2007, a rise attributed partly by Grach to competition in local markets like Spain, where Canal Plus, the pay-television operator, was keen to secure rights, thanks to the popularity of players such as Rafael Nadal.

In other countries, such as Germany, there was less competition, Grach said. Television rights in France for the French Open are held by France Télévisions, the French public-service broadcaster, until 2009. Grach said that the FFT was happy with the public-service broadcaster, but that it would have to await the results of a new tender due to be issued this year to discover whetehr it had retained the rights. He said: ‘We have a historic partner in France Télévisions and we are very happy but the tender will decide and we will have to see what happens.’

Meanwhile, Orange, the telecommunications group, holds the mobile and IPTV rights in France to the French Open. Commenting on the federation’s strategy of selling rights across a variety of platforms, Grach said that, ideally, he wants the event to be broadcast ‘to the maximum number of people on the biggest number of devices. Sportcal, 11th Feb 2008

Elsewhere/General: Scudamore Will Not Rule Out Overseas Expansion

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore yesterday refused to rule out the possibility of playing more than one round of matches per season on foreign soil. The radical proposal to extend the season to 39 games from 2010-11 has divided football, with top-flight clubs in favour of the move and some supporters' groups up in arms over the issue. The plan currently envisages only one extra round of games hosted by five major cities across the world during one weekend in January. However, there are fears global success could lead to more overseas games being introduced.

Scudamore told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek: "You can't sit here in the job I have and say never. We've said it is a six to 10-year deal and it will be three years before it starts. We think it is a 10-year play in terms of protecting our domestic position, because that is what it does. It allows us to grasp the globalisation nettle, which we cannot ignore. It is my duty not to ignore it. I would be criticised wholly if we let the League stray into the slow lane while others passed us in the fast lane. We have to do something. It is a strategic play."

However, Scudamore admitted any expansion of the scheme would be hindered by the current fixture list. "I don't envisage this being able to be expanded, not within the current structures," he added. "The calendar just would not allow it. We would be, by doing this, at the absolute limit in terms of being able to fit this into the calendar." Scudamore claims creating an 'international round' is crucial to avoid big clubs going it alone. He believes if the Premier League does not act now as a single entity, the top clubs will boost their bank balances by playing more games on foreign soil.

Scudamore also insisted there had been a "torrent of offers" from cities eager to host matches, despite the likes of Japan and Australia indicating they were not keen on the idea. Under FIFA statutes, any competitive fixture played in a foreign territory needs the approval of the body's executive committee as well as the football association of the country in which the match is to be played. UEFA president Michel Platini believes there is no chance of FIFA backing the plans when its executive committee meet on March 14 in Zurich. Platini told the Daily Telegraph: "I laughed because it will never be received by FIFA, by the fans and by the national associations. It's a nonsense idea." Football Insider, 11th Feb 2008

Meanwhile, FIFA's executive committee is to review the Premier League’s plan to host five competitive matches overseas from 2011 at its next meeting in March. FIFA has demanded to inspect the plans, which must also be approved by the Football Associations of the countries in which the games are to be played, according to FIFA statutes. The Premier League failed to consult FIFA before announcing the proposals, which call for overseas matches to start in the 2010-11 season with five cities hosting two matches each on the same January weekend. Sport Business, Sportcal, 11th Feb 2008