INFO BOX
Spending on Mobile Media and Services to Top $102 Billion by 2012
Worldscreen, 18th Apr 2008
A new report from Strategy Analytics says that total spending on mobile media services by consumers and advertisers will jump from nearly $47 billion in 2007 to more than $102 billion by 2012, driven by web access, video and music products. The Strategy Analytics report, Global Cellular Media Forecast 2007-2011, projects that the population of cellular users engaging in mobile content and applications delivered over cellular networks will ramp up from 406 million to more than 870 million across the same period, with 25 percent of all cellular users using mobile media applications by 2012.
Growth in adoption and spending in mobile media will be enabled by a combination of rising 3G penetration, falling cellular data access prices, improvements in user experience and content availability, and a rising contribution from advertising.
Nitesh Patel, a senior analyst of global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics, noted: “The combination of falling mobile data pricing, an increasingly open approach from network operators towards partnering with popular consumer media brands, the lowering of barriers to off-portal service accessibility and improvements in device usability will lead to an improved environment for mobile content and service adoption. Consequently, over the next five years we project continued growth in consumer acceptance and spending across a range of media applications distributed over cellular networks, particularly web access, video, music and mobile TV.”
David Kerr, the VP of global wireless practice, added, “Relative growth in consumer spending on mobile media applications will be surpassed by advertisers, as they look to exploit the maturing cellular content channel as a means to deliver their marketing and advertising messages to key target segments.”
SPORTS SHORTS
* AC Milan has teamed up with Asian sports broadcasting giant ESPN Star Sports to launch a new Chinese language version of the club's official website. The acmilan.espnstar.com.cn site will see ESPN Star Multimedia China contribute to the editorial content of the website. The Serie A TIM giant intends to promote the initiative by touring seven Chinese towns over the coming months with its 'Tour del Milan Park' project. Milan Park aims to bring the club closer to its Chinese fan base. The addition of the new site ensures that ACMilan.com is now available in Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese. Football Insider, 18th Apr 2008
* Bollywood.tv won the exclusive global online rights outside of India for the Indian Cricket League's (ICL) Invitational Cup - the first ICL World Series in cricket history. The deal, which was an extension of the Bollywood.tv/Essel Group partnership for the (excluding India) worldwide online rights of the ICL Twenty20 matches that took place from March 9 to April 7, covered the tri-series tournament that ran from April 9-15 in Hyderabad. A Bollywood.tv statement said: "The development of this partnership between bollywood.tv and Essel Group displays the significance of a portal such as Bollywood.tv with its vast reach, global South Asian targeted audience and the importance of streaming matches live online." Sports Media, 18th Apr 2008
* Live Current Media has secured the rights to develop websites for the Indian cricket board as well as the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) for a combined cost of US$50 million. The deal, which will see $30 million go to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and $20 million to the IPL over 10 years, ensures IPL website IPLT20.com will be fully functional for the start of the Twenty20 tournament in Bangalore today. The deal includes extensive co-marketing and exclusive online content rights agreements for Live Current to build, launch and operate the official online destinations for the Indian Premier League and the BCCI, which is found at BCCI.tv . The BCCI will be guaranteed on a combined basis a minimum of $3 million annually and the IPL $2 million annually through revenue sharing agreements including percentages of advertising, sponsorship and merchandising sales. Sports Media, Sport Business, 18th Apr 2008
* Television Broadcast Limited (TVB) has joined hands with seven companies to launch a series of Olympics-themed events, programming and TVCs in an effort to promote the Beijing Olympics. China South International Industrial (Materials City), Coca-Cola China, E-max, Hong Kong Disney, Lenovo, Manulife and Mega Box will act as TVB's advertising, events and activities sponsors for the Torch Relay in May and during the Olympics period. TVB will use twice as much of last year's promotion budget in this year's Olympics investment. The group said the majority of the investment will focus on outdoor events and TVCs. They added they need a high volume of TVCs and promotion to upgrade their image and increase sales, and they believe TVB will help them in doing so. Marketing-Interactive.com, 17th Apr 2008
* Software piracy specialists Symantec says Saudi Arabia ranked as the leading country as a source and target for malicious piracy in the Middle East. The Symantec study (Internet Security Threat Report) says the United Arab Emirates has made significant progress in its own battle with cybercrime, but Saudi Arabia (ranked at No. 32 in the global piracy list) remained of concern. Saudi Arabia is also recognised as a problem region by the Federation Against Software Theft (FACT) in relation to DVD and music piracy. As for the activity of these Cybercriminals, Saudi Arabia is claimed to be both a source of criminality, and a target for hackers and malicious attacks. Rapid TV News, 18th Apr 2008
* For the first time in its history, M6 will offer a few matches of the French football team at football’s UEFA Euro 2008 Championships. Sharing the rights with TF1, M6 will not broadcast the opening match but the ones between France and Romania on June 9 and France vs Italy on June 17. Production costs excluded, the network has invested €50 million to get what it had waited 21 years for. M6 will broadcast 15 or 16 matches including two quarter finals and one semi final. Some matches will also be broadcast on M6’s DTT subsidiary channel W9. Rapid TV News, 18th Apr 2008
* UEFA has announced the publication of a trilingual football-specific dictionary that aims to break down the barriers of communication within the European game. The dictionary contains entries in German, English and French and includes about 2,000 terms in each language. These are "official" terms used by UEFA and FIFA, as well as terms used by professionals and ordinary fans. The terms contained in the dictionary come from various fields, related to the game itself, but also crossing into other fields such as stadia and security; equipment; medical matters; media matters; and management and administration. Each term is defined, with an explanatory note, example, synonyms and cross-references where applicable. Football Insider, 18th Apr 2008
* The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and Perform, launched the Championship of Darts - the first ever darts tournament to be solely broadcast on and funded by internet distribution. With a guaranteed £200,000 prize fund, the winner of the tournament, which forms part of the roster of PDC events, will receive a place in the PartyPoker.net Grand Slam of Darts. The decision to create a internet-only darts tournament follows the success of Championship League Snooker, a Perform/Matchroom Sports event which is broadcast exclusively on the internet, together with research which shows that betting turnover on events streamed live is up to five times greater than on matches that are not streamed live. The Championship of Darts will be the first event where the whole tournament is streamed live on the internet. Sports Business, Sportcal, 18th Apr 2008
* My Athlete, a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) and cellular technology-based personal location service, has completed the development of its real-time live tracking device. My Athlete announced that the Beta production units on the Boston Marathon course have been successfully tested, and the first generation beta production units will be available to a limited number of athletes for the Marathon proper on Monday. The system is lightweight, water resistant and designed to be worn on a race belt. Being Internet-based, it does not require any programme installation to operate and will automatically download data in real time. Sports Media, 18th Apr 2008
MORE NEWS
Japan/New Media: Fiber-optic Line Users Exceed ADSL
A government poll showed that the number of households using fiber-optic lines for internet connection has exceeded that of households using slower or ADSL for the first time in Japan. Fiber-optic line users at the end of last year accounted for 31% of households polled in January by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, up 4.1% points from a year earlier. The percentage for users of cable television lines for internet connection also increased to 16.6% from 12.5%. The percentage for ADSL users dropped to 18.9% from 27.7%.
The poll, which covered 3,640 households, showed notable gaps between regional household internet diffusion rates. The rate stood at 80.8% for the southern Kanto region including Tokyo and 75.4% for the Tokai region including Aichi Prefecture, against 66.8 % for northeastern Japan and 69.9% for Kyushu and Okinawa in southwestern Japan. The poll also found that the diffusion rate tripled from a year earlier to 21.6% for filtering services for juvenile mobile phone users to block access to internet sites with objectionable content. The result came as the minister of internal affairs and communications asked mobile phone service providers to toughen measures against such sites, a ministry official said. Telecom Asia, 18th Apr 2008
Korea/General: KidsCo Debuts VOD Service on HanaTV
KidsCo, the joint venture channel owned by NBC Universal, DIC Entertainment and Corus Entertainment is offering a VOD service on South Korean IPTV service hanaTV. KidsCo managing director Paul Robinson said, "Our relationship with hanaTV is a milestone because it is KidsCo's first video on demand service and is an example of how children are trailblazing consumers and key drivers of new technology services."
KidsCo's debut in South Korea follows the channel's carriage in Singapore, the Philippines, the Middle East, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Russia, Poland, and territories across sub-Saharan Africa. KidsCo is expected to be available in up to 40 territories including Europe and Latin America within the next 18 months. KidsCo offers animated and live-action TV series and features from independent animation programme suppliers DIC and Corus' Nelvana. DIC's programming library includes approximately 3,000 half-hours of series including Inspector Gadget, Strawberry Shortcake, Madeline, Dennis the Menace, and Care Bears. Nelvana Enterprises' catalogue comprises 3,200 half-hours of children's programming such as Babar, Franklin, The Adventures of Tintin and Rolie Polie Olie. Television Asia Plus, 21st Apr 2008
India/Rights: IPL Cricket Racks up US$2 Billion in Revenues
The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise-based 20 overs per side cricket tournament got off to a flying start April 18, 2008, having already won more than US$2billion in TV rights, promotion and franchises revenue, as Bangalore Royal Challengers took on Kolkata Knight Raiders in Bangalore.
Sony Entertainment Television India Ltd and Singapore-based World Sport Group forked out US$918million for IPL TV rights over the next 10 years, while Indian developer DLF Ltd is paying US$50million for the title sponsorship for five years. In addition, rights to the IPL website over the next decade were sold to Canadian company Live Current Media for US$50million and have since been developed into a picture and video syndication service at www.IPLT20.com.
Created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the IPL tournament stretches 59 matches over 44 days and features eight privately owned city-based franchises with top players from countries worldwide, in three-hour Twenty20 matches aimed at providing mass entertainment. The IPL teams are owned by billionaires including businessmen Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya, as well as Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta, who have paid more than US$700million in all for the eight teams.
The IPL marks a departure from cricket featuring national teams, playing test matches over five days, or one-day internationals playing 50 overs. US$1.2 million in prize money lies in wait for the winning team at the June 1, 2008 IPL final. Niranjan Shah, secretary of the BCCI said, "The new model is starting and we are crossing our fingers. We are going through a system such as football in Europe and baseball in the US where it is a big sport and huge money is involved." Television Asia Plus, 21st Apr 2008
Elsewhere/Rights: ESPN Renews Rights Deal With Wimbledon
ESPN and The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club have finalised a six-year agreement for continued coverage of the Wimbledon Championships through to 2013. The deal, which includes Spanish-language coverage in the US via ESPN Deportes, provides for coverage across ESPN's platforms - ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN International, ESPN.com, ESPN360.com, ESPNDeportes.com and ESPN Mobile Properties, as well as rights to ESPN On Demand and interactive TV.
ESPN2's domestic schedule will include approximately 100 hours of coverage annually, including day-long live action, highlighted by one ladies' and one men's semi-final match, capped by highlights shows those two days. John Skipper, ESPN executive vice-president, said: "We believe tennis fans will actively pursue and enjoy the offerings that this new agreement makes possible on ESPN's growing multimedia and wireless platforms."
ESPN International's rights include television and online coverage in Latin America (except Brazil) and the Caribbean, in English, Spanish and other relevant languages. ESPN360.com will be the exclusive broadband home of Centre Court and Court One, providing more than 200 hours of live coverage throughout the tournament. ESPNMobileTV will stream live more than 50 hours of ESPN2 coverage. Also, Verizon wireless customers with access to ESPN MVP can follow all the action throughout the championship via a dedicated sideline icon giving fans instant access to Wimbledon related news, scores, columns, blogs and video. Sports Media, Sportcal, 18th Apr 2008
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