Wednesday, 13th February 2008

INFO BOX

Chinese Mobile Users Prefer Tunes Over E-Mail

Compared with users in the United States and Europe, Chinese consumers use their cell phones much less to check on e-mail messages or to send photos and videos. More than 30 percent of cell phone owners in Italy, Spain and Britain use their phones to send or receive photos and videos, but only half as many do so in China. More than a third of cell phone owners in China, the world's largest wireless market, use their handsets to listen to music, more than in Britain or the United States, according to a new survey.

About 35 percent of Chinese cell phone owners reported that they listened to music on their cell phones every month, compared with 20 percent in Spain, 18.9 percent in Britain and 5.7 percent in the United States, according to the survey, which was conducted by M:Metrics, a research firm that monitors cell phone media use. M:Metrics, which was founded in 2004, collects data from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain and the United States.

The survey, which was conducted in December, was the first of its kind, the company said. M:Metrics surveyed 5,163 Chinese cell phone subscribers from 13 to 54 years old in seven major cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Chengdu, Wuhan and Xian. Compared with users in the United States and Europe, Chinese consumers use their cell phones much less to check on e-mail messages or to send photos and videos. More than 30 percent of cell phone owners in Italy, Spain and Britain use their phones to send or receive photos and videos, but only half as many do so in China.

In the United States, 11.6 percent used their cell phones for e- mail, compared with 9 percent in Spain and Britain and only 2.5 percent in China. China is expected to issue third-generation licenses before the Olympic Games this summer, but the licenses may not be handed out until 2009, when its homegrown 3G standard, TD-SCDMA, is fully ready. As in the European and U.S. markets, people 18 to 34 years old are the biggest consumers of mobile content in China, accounting for 64.6 percent of those who used mobile browsers to receive news and other information, M:Metrics said. EcommerceTimes, 13th Feb 2008

Mobile TV tops Handset Wishlist

Mobile TV use is set to surge due to strong consumer demand, with the service ranked as the number one application users want on their phone, according to a consumer behaviour study conducted by Ericsson and news broadcaster, CNN. The results suggest that mobile TV is poised to become a mass market reality with more than a third (34 per cent) of respondents ranking it as the most in-demand application and almost half (44 per cent) of respondents set to adopt mobile TV in the next two years.

Other findings revealed that photo and video messaging look to be set for wide-scale adoption as consumer pricing and functionality improves. Fifty-seven per cent of respondents use photo technology to send and receive images on a monthly basis, making it the most popular activity. This trend is mirrored by popularity of CNN International’s user-generated content service - i-Report - which launched in 2006. The service garnered 50,000 submissions, including mobile phone footage and images, from 189 countries worldwide in its first twelve months, driving the worldwide trend for ‘citizen journalism’ and giving audiences a deeper connection to network news.

According to the report, nearly one in four (24 per cent) current mobile TV users watch daily with around half (52 per cent) tuning in on a weekly basis. At 77 per cent, news leads genre viewing patterns, followed by scheduled television at 48 per cent.

Jan Wäreby, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Multimedia Ericsson, said that although still in its infancy, mobile TV was clearly set to emerge as a mass-market service within the next few years. "Driven by consumer appetite for the service, together with new usage patterns, mobile TV represents one of the biggest networked multimedia opportunities for cable and telecoms operators," he claimed. ATV, 12th Feb 2008


SPORTS SHORTS

* ESPN Star Sports has introduced a new Olympic weekly show as part of an extensive line-up consisting of 5 distinct programmes on its channels. Leading into, and throughout the Games, ESS will be the fan’s destination of choice with five programmes that will give viewers an exclusive preview of the Olympiad and all the news as it happens in Beijing. ESS will broadcast a new weekly, half-hour show titled SportsCenter’s Countdown to Beijing featuring the latest updates from around the world and Asia as athletes prepare for the Olympiad. SportsCenter’s Countdown to Beijing will be shown across Asia every Tuesday at 2100hr HKT on ESPN and will run twice weekly in the final month before the Games. Sports e-Media, 12th Feb 2008

* Serie A club AC Milan and the MP & Silva agency launched AC Milan’s official Japanese mobile website. The Japanese-language mobile site (http://acmilan-mobile.jp) will offer a wide-range of valued-added services, including regular news updates, latest photos, match scores, downloads and a community section. The site will also offer a large selection of multimedia content, which include goals and highlights from Serie A and UEFA Champions League, and video clips from Milan Channel. Sport Business, Sportcal, 12th Feb 2008

* The International Cricket Council and Yahoo! have linked up to create the official website for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, commencing in Malaysia on Sunday. The iccevents.yahoo.com website features live ball-by-ball coverage, full scorecards, match reports, photographs and audio interviews with the key players and coaches during the tournament. There will be live audio commentary of 10 matches during the event, including both semi-finals and the final, via the official audio broadcast partners, hearcricket.com . Pranesh Anthapur, vice-president of Yahoo! India, said: "After the success of the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, we are now happy to extend our partnership to the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia." Sports Media, 12th Feb 2008

* US Soccer Federation chief Sunil Gulati warned that the US would only welcome staging overseas Premier League games with Fifa's permission. US Soccer chief Sunil Gulati told BBC Sport, “We understand it's a global sport but it's about nurturing the home game. If Fifa said 'OK, it's up to the relevant FA's, then we’ll look at the Premier League proposal and there's a lot of good reasons to look at it. But there are also some issues that we've got which would cause us to be very hesitant”. The comments follow announcement that the Premier League is considering using other countries to host its games. Gulati said that his federation have yet to be approached by the Premier League. Sport Business, 12th Feb 2008

* Argentina and Chile will host the 2009 Dakar Rally after agreeing a deal with organisers the Amaury Sport Organisation. ASO accepted a joint-offer from the South American countries to stage the event, which will start in Buenos Aires on January 3 and cover over 9000km, 6000 of which will be timed special stages. Despite starting in the city, most of the stage mileage will take place in neighbouring Chile before the event returns to mainly in Chile, before returning to the Argentine capital 15 days later. Both countries have experience of hosting similar events as the Atacama and La Pampas rallies both form part of the FIA Cross-Country World Cup. Sport Business, Sportcal, 12th Feb 2008

* Setanta Sports has refused to comment on reportedly receiving a £1 billion-plus takeover bid. The Irish company received the approach from an unnamed European media company before Christmas and the interest could spark a flood of rival offers. BT, Virgin Media and Disney are all mooted as potential bidders for the business. Setanta scored a major breakthrough in May 2006 when it broke BSkyB's monopoly on live Barclays Premier League football matches. It paid £392 million for the rights to 46 top flight games per season under a three-year deal which began in August 2007. The broadcaster now has more than three million subscribers, including two million via the Virgin Media platform. Sports Media, 12th Feb 2008


MORE NEWS

WWE: Posts 4Q Gains

For the fourth quarter, revenues at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) rose 23 percent to reach $132.6 million. Profit also rose for the period, to $21.5 million from $15.5 million, and operating income increased from $17.5 million to $24.7 million.

“We ended the year with solid fourth quarter performances from all of our operating units, resulting in a 23-percent increase in revenue over last year,” said CEO Linda McMahon. “The quarter capped off a very successful year in which we set an all time revenue high of $485 million. We expect our initiatives for international expansion and the continued improvement in our digital media and wireless businesses will help us sustain our growth momentum in 2008.”

Revenues from live and televised events were up 13 percent to $82.3 million. International events generated approximately $16.9 million of revenues as compared to $12.5 million in the prior year quarter. North American events generated $14 million of revenues from 49 events as compared to $11.9 million from 62 events in the prior year quarter. Pay-Per-View revenues were $19.9 million as compared to $18.7 million, and television rights fees revenues grew to $23.8 million. Revenues from WWE 24/7 were flat at $1.1 milion.

Consumer products revenues gained 48 percent to $35.3 million, of which $19.8 million came from home entertainment. Digital media revenues were flat at $11.9 million, and WWE Films contributed $3.1 million. Worldscreen, 12th Feb 2008