SPORTS SHORTS
* ESPN STAR Sports has inked a new seven-year contract for the Australian Open tennis up to 2014 covering cable & satellite, IPTV, DTH and terrestrial rights. As part of the deal, ESPN STAR Sports and Tennis Australia have also agreed to a ground-breaking collaboration for new media platforms such as mobile telephony and internet. The new contract gives ESPN STAR Sports rights for the entire territory including China for 2008, while beginning 2009 the rights will cover 23 countries across South Asia, South East Asia and North Asia with the exception of China. Sportsbusiness.com, 26th Feb 2008
* Disney has moved to increase its presence in the digital media market with the launch of its first subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service on PCCW-owned pay-TV platform Now TV in Hong Kong. The agreement is Disney's second broadband service launched in the region. Last month Disney Channel Taiwan began streaming full-length Mandarin-dubbed and Chinese-subtitled episodes online. C21media.net, 26th Feb 2008
* Vietnam's largest telecommunications company plans to invest $1 billion to upgrade the country's broadband internet network and keep pace with economic growth. Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group will expand and improve the network over the next two years, said Bui Quoc Viet, spokesman for the state-owned firm. The improved network will provide faster connections for Vietnam's nearly 19 million internet users, he said. Roughly one-fifth of the country's 85 million people use the internet. The Vietnamese government wants to expand the country's broadband network into previously unserved regions of the country and link public high schools and government offices to the network. telecomasia.net, 27th Feb 2008
* Indian satcaster Sahara One has launched a new channel called Firangi, which will air scripted content from around the world dubbed into Hindi. Firangi – a slang term for 'foreigner' – is aimed at 20- to 40-year-olds living in northern and western India. Sahara One plans to extend the new offering's output to include sitcoms, adventure series and movies soon. C21media.net, 26th Feb 2008
* Zhu Ling, Editor-in-Chief of China Daily, and Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile together launched China's first English-Chinese mobile paper at a ceremony and press conference held in Beijing Tuesday. Jointly produced by China Daily and China Mobile, China Daily Mobile News sends English-Chinese news to users' cell phones as multimedia messages through wireless technology. ChinaDaily.com, 26th Feb 2008
* LG Telecom, South Korea's smallest mobile service operator listed on the junior Kosdaq market, plans to move to the main stock exchange. According to a Reuters report, a move to the main bourse usually helps a company draw interest from funds and investors who choose not to buy Kosdaq shares due to price volatility and limited trading volume. LG Telecom, which competes with bigger rivals SK Telecom and KTF, has 18% of the South Korean market, where nine out of ten have a mobile phone, the Reuters report said. telecomasia.net, 27th Feb 2008
* Dubai has joined Denmark, Spain and France in offering to stage the 2014 men's basketball world championship. FIBA, the international basketball federation, launched the bidding process earlier this month and will select a host in April next year. Bidders must submit letters of interest to FIBA by April 30 and and will take part in a two-day workshop at the federation's Geneva headquarters on June 26 and 27. Japan hosted the last tournament in 2006 and Turkey will stage the 2010 edition. Sportcal.com, 26th Feb 2008
* The International Table Tennis Federation will stream online coverage of this year’s world team table tennis championships in Guangzhou, China. The tournament will be aired on the itTV section of the federation’s website, www.ittf.com. Fans can also access on-demand coverage of recent table tennis world events. ITTF president Adham Sharara said his federation was ahead of others in terms of online broadcasting, adding: ‘We try to find ways to show our sport in all continents.’ ItTV will also provide online coverage of this year’s ITTF Pro Tour. Sportcal.com, 26th Feb 2008
* Web search company Google Inc has agreed to build an undersea cable with five telecoms operators that will link the United States to Japan, and provide the capacity to sustain a surge in Internet traffic between the continents. Google and the five telecoms companies said in joint statement that the 10,000 km (6,200 mile) undersea fiber optic cable, connecting the United States to Japan, will cost $300 million. Google's partners in the consortium, dubbed Unity, comprises Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI Corp, Pacnet, and Singapore Telecommunications. The cable will provide much-needed capacity to sustain unprecedented growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the United States. The consortium said it has picked NEC Corporation and Tyco Telecommunications to construct and install the system, which is expected to be ready for service in the first quarter of 2010. Reuters, 27th Feb 2008
MORE NEWS
Asia/New Media: Educational Programs Lift Online Television in Asia
Companies selling interactive television over the Internet, soaring demand in Asia for high-quality education for children, as well as demand from people looking to change careers, offers a potentially lucrative market and the chance to lure customers away from cable television and the computer.
South Korea, where children spend hours studying in a gruelling battle to enter the top schools that can guarantee a job at the big conglomerates, is at the vanguard of educational television over the Internet in Asia. Tuition is expensive, with spending on after-school tutoring estimated to be the equivalent of 2.6 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
Educational programs lift online television in Asia. Private tutors, who are highly sought after, can earn a salary similar to a banker's pay. South Korean companies, like KT, which plan this year to upgrade their Internet-powered television services to full Internet protocol television, known as IPTV, are spearheading the move. KT says online education for children ranks among the most successful programs on its "MegaTV" system, which also offers after-school tutoring and adult education courses.
"The response is strong for kids' programs in which they learn by playing games and solving puzzles using a remote control," said Yang Jae Geon, KT's director of media. Young Choi, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities in Seoul, said educational programs generated about 20 percent of IPTV revenue.
Young said he expected IPTV use in South Korea to rise to five million subscribers by the end of 2009 from an estimated three million at the end of 2008. The overall market for IPTV could reach more than 55 million worldwide by the end of 2011, from an estimated 10 million last year, according to the research firm Ovum. PTV, with its immediacy, interactive features and easily navigable menus, bypasses the process of having to start up a computer and surf the Internet.
Across Asia, quality education is in constant demand and short supply. Students often fight for places at the best schools, workers pin their hopes on English skills to lift their careers and parents look for new ways to teach their youngsters. “Game content and educational programs have big potential because both target a very important group of people - that's the young generation," said Rocky Li, marketing director at BesTV, the IPTV unit of Shanghai Media Group.
Most IPTV companies have focused on popular television shows and sports events for growth. In Europe, operators like BT in Britain gained market share by offering customers free access to digital terrestrial television. PCCW of Hong Kong has the exclusive right to broadcast popular English Premier League soccer.
In China, where history and geography programs are already offered, education is set to become the fastest-growing part of BesTV's business, Lee said, referring to the IPTV unit of Shanghai Media Group. "In traditional TV, it's difficult to find these programs," Lee said, because of inconvenient times and limited slots. He expects overall IPTV users in China to reach two million by the end of 2008 from 600,000 now.
IPTV companies are also trying to add popular video games, from simple board games and racing to multiplayer online games, to attract computer users away from their computers. International Herald Tribune, 26th Feb 2008
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