Friday, 28th March 2008

DID YOU KNOW?

Former world champion Michael Schumacher is among the management committee members for the FIA’s newly-formed Motor Sport Safety Development Fund, the body which will distribute $60 million from McLaren’s ‘spy scandal’ fine, for the benefit of motorsport worldwide. The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council announced Schumacher’s appointment on Wednesday, along with those of FIA President Max Mosley (like Schumacher, a trustee of the FIA Foundation which will administer the Fund), Nick Craw, President of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States (representing National Sporting Associations), Jean Todt and Norbert Haug (from Ferrari and Mercedes as the manufacturers involved in the incident that gave rise to the original fine). The intention is to disperse the Fund over the next five years and to concentrate activities on a Young Driver Safety Scholarship Programme, an Officials Skills Safety Training Programme and a Facility Safety Improvement Consultancy Programme. McLaren were fined a total of $100 million last year, and excluded from the 2007 constructors’ championship, after it was decided they had exploited confidential technical information obtained from Ferrari. Formula 1, 26th Mar 2008


SPORTS SHORTS

* Premier League club Chelsea will play a Malaysian all-star team in Kuala Lumpur in July as part of a two-match Asian tour. The London club will play a side comprised of the best players from the Malaysian Super League on July 29 in the Malaysian capital, the club said in a statement. Details of the second Asian match will be announced shortly. The tour will be the first time Chelsea have played in Asia since May 2005 when their opponents were the Suwon Blue Wings, the K-League team owned by club sponsor Samsung. Sport Business, The Star, 27th Mar 2008

* Initial statistics for 2007 on the number of Chinese IPTV subscribers shows that by the end of 2007, Shanghai had 240,000 IPTV subscribers and that after large-scale promotion in January, this figure is now at 300,000 – the highest in the country. As a whole the country now has 1.2 million IPTV subscribers. Currently, over 90 per cent of provinces in mainland China have IPTV systems. However, coverage is not as complete in some provinces as in others, and some provinces are still undergoing trials before commercialising the service. ATV, 28th Mar 2008

* Japan’s giant public broadcaster NHK is following the BBC’s lead, but with a major difference. Helped by a revision in Japan’s broadcasting laws about to come into force, NHK Japan is to start offering some of its most popular programmes on the internet, and using MSO Jupiter Telecom as its distribution partner. The main difference between NHK and the BBC distribution model, however, is that NHK will be charging users to access its content. The programming, including drama, will be available for up to 10 days after initial transmission, while the total available archive will comprise 1000 older shows. The service will go live later this year. Rapid TV News, 27th Mar 2008

* The LFP, France’s professional soccer league, is set to generate an additional €10 million ($15.6 million) a season from the tender for the distribution of international broadcast rights for Ligue 1, the top-tier French soccer league. The league is set to generate a minimum of €10 million more a year than it presently receives from IMG Media, who is thought to have paid €22.5 million for the four-year deal from 2004-05 to 2007-08, including a minimum guarantee of €6.5 million for the present season. Sportcal, 25th Mar 2008

* Four bidders are competing to acquire the international broadcast distribution rights for Ligue 1, French soccer’s top-tier division, from next season, as rights are split up into several geographical zones. They are: incumbent worldwide rights holder IMG, Sportfive, Canal Plus Events and Eurosport. The LFP has divided the rights into four regions – Europe, Asia, Africa/Middle East and the Caribbean – with the four companies being candidates to acquire the rights for four seasons from 2008-09 onwards.It is not clear which rights packages each bidder has targeted. Sportcal, 26th Mar 2008

* The invitation to tender for domestic broadcast rights to the Jupiler League, Belgian soccer’s top-tier league, has been launched. Belgacom is the current live rights holder, paying €36 million ($56.7 million) per season, while RTBF and VRT, respectively the French and Flemish public service broadcasters, show highlights through a sublicensing deal with the company. RTBF is thought to have been paying €3.2 million a season for the highlights rights from 2005-06 to 2007-08. Sportcal, 26th Mar 2008

* Australian telecommunications provider, Telstra, agreed a $9 million deal with the Seven Media Group to show exclusive live coverage of the Beijing Olympics on its BigPond mobile service. Under the deal, Telstra’s Next G network will become one of four media partners for the Games along with Seven, its internet arm Yahoo7, and SBS. It will also become one of four Olympic broadcast partners, which will run ads on Seven, Yahoo7 and SBS. The packages are worth a reported $8.4 million, but it's understood the two parties have also struck a revenue-sharing arrangement that will vary depending on how many BigPond Olympics subscription packages are sold. Sport Business, 27th Mar 2008

* Online broadcaster MediaZone has launched IndyCar Race Control, a new online portal offering live coverage around the world of the 2008 IndyCar Series. The portal, which has been launched by MediaZone in partnership with the North American Series itself, ESPN and SportVision, allows a range of customisation and interactive features. The All Access Pass, priced at US$39.99, includes 15 races from IndyCar Race Control live featuring in-car cameras, plus 28 total races from the on-demand main race feed. The 2008 IndyCar Series season will get underway this coming weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Sports Media, 27th Mar 2008

* ASO, organiser of cycling’s Tour de France, has finally admitted what was first reported several weeks ago: it is in negotiations to acquire a stake in Unipublic, organiser of the Vuelta a Espana, another of the sport’s three annual ‘Grand Tours.’ The move looks set to strengthen ASO in its bitter power struggle with the UCI, the sport’s world governing body. ASO is already helping Unipublic with its media rights sales, introducing the Spanish organiser to its own broadcast partners, but sources at Unipublic and ASO had previously played down or refused to confirm ownership talks. The Grand Tours, which also include the Giro d’Italia organised by RCS, are embroiled in a long-running power struggle with the UCI, with ASO having controversially broken away to organise the early-season Paris-Nice race without the sanction of the UCI. Sportcal, 27th Mar 2008

* Almost one in three people in the developed world goes running or jogging at least once a week, yet this high level of participation is failing to arrest a long decline in interest in athletics, according to a major research study carried out by the International Association of Athletics Federations. The survey found that 31% of respondents jog or go running at least once a week, while 11% had taken part in a charity or fun run in the previous 12 months and 10% had taken part in a city marathon. The survey took place against a background of falling television ratings for athletics suggesting a serious disconnect between levels of participation and interest in watching the sport. Only 28% of respondents in the survey of 16 markets carried out by Sponsorship Intelligence classified themselves as ‘non-fans’ of athletics with 28% in the category of ‘casuals’, 20% ‘fans’ and 24% ‘max fans.’ Sportcal, 27th Mar 2008


MORE NEWS

Asia/General: Growth of Sponsorship in Asia Tops 50%

Sponsorship growth in Asia rose by 54 per cent in 2007, with net spend of $643 million, according to IVCast, Asia’s sponsorship monitor by OgilvyAction. IVCast monitors sponsorship throughout Asia and the latest results show an unprecedented rise in sponsorship activity in the region during 2007, driven in part by the Beijing Olympics. “This shows that last year’s growth wasn’t a flash in the pan. Asia is the continent that is driving the global average, quoted at 14 per cent,” said Ben Heyhoe Flint, OgilvyAction Sports & Entertainment’s General Manager.

“There’s no doubt that the Beijing Olympics is helping this as we’ve seen a lot of brands investing in 2007 to secure a long-term toehold for the Games this year, for example. $38.7 million has been spent on Chinese national teams - allowing them to activate with long lead times and also block competitors. But it’s not just the Olympics that’s swelling the numbers; we’ve recorded a large rise in the sheer number of deals being done in other Asian countries, 2,233 in 2007 versus 1,624 in 2006, showing that the popularity and relevance of sponsorship is infectious.”

The forecast for 2008 is currently showing a small decline of 9.5 per cent reflecting the unknown continuation of deals recorded in 2007. Flint said: “2008 will still be a solid year for sponsorship, but I think we could see a slowdown after the Olympic year.” Sport Business, Sportcal, 27th Mar 2008

India/General: Piracy Causes Huge Losses to Indian Economy

A new study from the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) has found that theft and piracy in India's entertainment industry are affecting the country’s economy, resulting in the loss of as many as 800,000 direct jobs and about $4 billion each year. The study, The Effects of Counterfeiting and Piracy on India's Entertainment Industry, was commissioned as part of the USIBC-FICCI Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative, which covers film, music, television and video games, and has been funded by the Global Intellectual Property Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The initiative involves the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The study was prepared for the USIBC by Ernst & Young India.

Ron Somers, the president of USIBC, commented: "This study is only the beginning. Now that we have documented the job and revenue losses to the Indian entertainment industry from piracy, we intend to continue fighting piracy across the board. We will strive to bring these findings to the attention of the average person in India. We will attempt to enlist more effectively the U.S. and Indian governments to cooperate in fighting the scourge of piracy in India, as well as in the U.S. and worldwide. We strongly support passage by India of optical disc legislation that will thwart piracy in this important industry. We are pleased to stand shoulder to shoulder with counterparts in India to help protect jobs and revenues that are now being needlessly lost to piracy."

Added FICCI’s secretary general, Dr. Amit Mitra, "This study shows that the best way to make the boom in the Indian entertainment bigger is to stop the affliction of piracy. For the average Indian who wants to increase his or her chances for being employed in Bollywood and associated industries, fighting piracy is a place where all our collective efforts must start. The media and entertainment industry in India is an industry of the future. India's entertainment industry already generates more than $11 billion annually for the country, growing at a combined annual rate of over 18 percent. If we can stop piracy, these industries will grow even faster and employ more Indian workers.” The U.S.-India Business Council, formed in 1975 at the request of the government of India and the U.S. government to advance U.S.-India commercial ties, is hosted under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. World Screen, 27th Mar 2008

Elsewhere/General: A1GP Aims for More Terrestrial Coverage

The man charged with selling A1GP to the world's broadcasters admits that while the burgeoning series is a hit with viewers, the terrestrial marketplace in Europe may remain a closed door to the 'World Cup of Motorsport' for some time to come, writes Jamie Strickland . Richard Dorfman, A1GP's broadcasting and media general manager, has been with the series from its inception in 2004, in which time he has brokered deals to broadcast the sport on a number of leading satellite platforms, including Sky Sports in the UK. While the series enjoys 52% terrestrial coverage globally, it is in the influential European market that A1GP has struggled to secure a free-to-air deal, and Dorfman concedes that the reach of the series is being restricted as a result.

"The next big step is to get more free-to-air coverage - that's where the viewing figures are going to spike," Dorfman told Sports Media . "When you are on the BBC or ITV or whatever, you are exposed to a lot more of your universe. Viewership in the UK is 28 million - Sky's got eight million. (Terrestrial coverage) was always explored from the beginning of the series. It's about 52% terrestrial and 48% 'other' at the moment. Most of the terrestrial coverage originates in Asia and the Middle East. It's very, very hard to get terrestrial coverage in Europe, simply because the amount of available airtime devoted to sport for terrestrial broadcasters is very limited. It's much more prevalent in Asia than it is in Europe just because of airtime considerations.

"Dorfman added that A1GP's role as a winter series means that it finds itself fighting a futile battle with football for live airtime, meaning that the series has had to resort to highlights packages to reach its non-paying audience. "What tends to happen is terrestrial broadcasters like ITV or RAI (in Italy) or RTÉ (in Ireland) tend to pretty much use those hours in the fall and winter for football," he continued. So it's tough breaking into terrestrial TV for Europe. What we have been able to do in the UK, for example, is have a live or delayed broadcast on Sky and then have a highlights package later in the week on Five. That's really the way it's developing terrestrially in Europe." Sports Media, 27th Mar 2008