Friday, 16th May 2008

DATA BOX

75% of Broadcasters Want HD Online
Report by Akamai Technologies on Rapid TV News, 15th May 2008

There is a trend toward higher definition (HD) video online. A report carried out by online applications provider Akamai Technologies and market intelligence firm Broadband Directions found that there is substantial near-term interest in launching HD broadband video. Nearly 75% of respondents said they have plans to offer HD video content to their online audiences. In terms of timing, more than 80% of respondents with plans to offer HD content said they either already offered HD broadband video or intend to introduce it within the next 24 months. Fully half of respondents said they already offer it or intend to do so within the next 12 months.

While short-form (e.g. previews, news clips) HD content was being offered by close to half of respondents, long-form (e.g. movies, TV episodes, sporting events) was not far behind at 35%. One way to interpret the relatively strong interest in long-form is that rights-holders of high-quality video programming (mainly TV networks and film studios), which tend to be highly focused on the user experience, are only now being drawn into broadband because HD is becoming economically and technically possible.

“Even six months ago, a 500 or 700 kilobit per second bitrate was pushing it,” said Tim Napoleon, chief strategist, Media & Entertainment, at Akamai. “Now while 500-700 kbps is more of the norm, we're seeing companies really pushing the envelope with 1.5 - 2 megabits per second and HD, in the ranges of up to 6 megabits per second bitrates, across our network. This is clearly an indication of consumer desire to experience higher quality content, and of content producers' efforts to meet those needs quickly.”

The study identified increases in consumer last mile bandwidth speeds and penetration, as well as proven premium business models around HD video online, as the business and technical requirements that are most important to broadcasters when making their decision to offer HD video programming online.

Mid-East Broadband Status
Survey by Arab World Group on Rapid TV News, 15th May 2008

By the end of 2007, fixed line broadband penetration as a percentage of total population ranged from 8% in Qatar to a mere 0.02% in Sudan in the Arab World. But these numbers, while seeming low, hide much higher access to broadband services, says a report.

Arab Advisors Group, ahead of their important annual conference in Amman on June 2-3, says that Arab household occupancy levels are much higher than in the West. “While absolute broadband penetration in the Arab World may seem low by industrial countries standards, the effective household broadband penetration is much higher. This is related to higher number of people per household as well as line sharing,” says Jawad Abbassi, founder of Arab Advisors Group.

“For example, a recent Arab Advisors survey in Egypt revealed that 63.4% of Egyptian households that use the ADSL service, share their ADSL connection with neighbours. A massive 81.9% of households that use shared ADSL lines share them with more than three neighbouring households. Based on the survey results, the average number of households sharing one ADSL connection is 2.98. Multiplying the reported number of lines by this figure yields an estimate for households with ADSL connections in Egypt of 956,000 households by end of 2007, much higher than the number of accounts. While ADSL sharing is illegal in many countries and does negatively affect quality, the Arab Advisors Group believes that the practice is widespread in the Arab World. The silver lining is that more households are connected to broadband internet services which would positively affect adoption of internet-based services such as e-commerce, multimedia, user generated content and e-government services.” Abbassi added.

The study says fixed line broadband penetration in Qatar, UAE and Bahrain lead with 8%, 7.8% and 7% respectively. They are followed by Saudi Arabia (2.4%), Jordan (1.6%), Palestine (1.5%), Morocco (1.5%), Tunisia (1.1%), Lebanon (1%), Algeria (0.9%), Oman (0.7%), Egypt (0.6%), Mauritania (around 0.1%), Yemen (0.05%), Syria (0.04%) and Sudan (0.02%).

6.5b mobiles by 2013: Ericsson
Estimate by Ericsson on Telecom Asia, 15th May 2008

Six and a half billion mobile phone services will be in operation by 2013, requiring millions of new radio stations, predicts Ericsson. Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg said today “basically anyone who wants a mobile phone will soon be able to have one.” The challenge would be to do for broadband “what we have already done for telephony.” He said that by 2013, some 6.5 billion mobile subs and more than 2.5 billon broadband subs – two-thirds of them mobile – will be in service, generating massive demand for fresh network capacity.

“Another couple of million radio base stations will be needed over the next five years just to provide the network coverage for the expected increase in mobile subscriptions,” he said. Additionally, the capacity and functionality of existing networks would need to be upgraded to cope with the likely demand for mobile broadband. Ericsson would spend $25 billion on R&D over the next five years, he said.


SPORTS SHORTS

* The Canadian national Australian Rules football team and the Ontario Australian Rules Football League (OAFL) have launched an Internet-based television show. The show, called 'The Footy Feast', is hosted by Lachie McDonald and can be viewed at the League's website www.ontariofooty.com . It features game reviews of the League's fixtures along with segments on the Canadian National Australian Rules football team, Northwind. The first show, which has been launched this week, features Northwind and its build up to the International Football Cup to be held this August in Melbourne, Australia. The OAFL is currently attempting to attract more players to the sport. Sports Media, 15th May 2008

* The United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAEFA) has launched its bid to stage the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009 and 2010. The Gulf State joins Japan and Australia in the running to host the prestigious event which features the champions from all the continental confederations. The UAE successfully held the 2003 FIFA Youth World Championship and the 2007 Gulf Cup. Zayed Sports City and the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium are the two stadia pinpointed to host the tournament, which has taken place in Japan for the past three years. It is set to return to the country at the end of this year, but FIFA has chosen to open up the bidding process starting with the 2009 tournament. Football Insider, 15th May 2008

* F1 motor racing's ING Renault team has become the latest sports rights-holder to team with YouTube, the video-sharing website. The 15 videos already uploaded include the team launch, reports on the drivers, interviews with key members of the team and reports on a demonstration programme which visits the world's major cities. The official channel aims to give 'privileged access to fans of the sport and supporters of the team,' and to 'allow both enthusiasts and casual fans to easily discover more about the ING Renault F1 Team.' Sportcal, 15th May 2008

* Thai Hotel and restaurant operators renewed calls for a break on what they say are unfair royalty fees charged by RS Plc for broadcast of the Euro 2008. The Thai Hotels Association said that matches would be broadcast on the free TV channels 7 and 9, which would earn advertising revenue, and thus be unfair to charge royalty fees to hotels and restaurants. The association said their members had TV sets installed to offer additional services to guests and customers, not for any commercial purposes and are afraid other operators would be tempted to ask them to pay fees for broadcast. RSBS is charging a 2,000 baht for screens 50 inches and below and 5,000 baht for big screens covering 31 matches of Euro 2008. Bangkok Post, 16th May 2008


MORE NEWS

Pakistan/Rights: PCB Should Get $100m from Sale of Media Rights

The Pakistan Cricket Board should be able to raise at least $100 million from the sale of media rights for the next five years, according to Ehsan Mani, the former president of the International Cricket Council. Mani has agreed to advise the PCB on the sales process and believes that they ought to more than double the $43 million they received from pan-Asian broadcasters Ten Sports and ARY Digital in the last five-year deal agreed in 2003.

He told Reuters: ‘I would be disappointed if they sold for any less than $100 million. The last deal was the best around but it was still a bad one because India were not touring Pakistan at that time and that was a big issue. That is no longer the case so hopefully it will make a big difference. I haven’t seen the whole tour programme yet but there has been a significant convergence of rights as people now watch cricket in so many different ways, whether it is on television, on the internet or on their mobile phone.’ The PCB said this week that it will shortly launch the tender for the media rights to its home international matches up until the end of the 2012-13 season. The final invitation to bid will be issued in the last week of July with a view to completing the sales process by September.

Mani, who was ICC president from 2003 to 2006, is a specialist in media rights sales and led the negotiations in 2000 when the governing body sold its rights for seven years to Global Cricket Corporation for $550 million and last year when it sold its rights from 2007 to 2015 to broadcaster ESPN Star Sports for more than $1 billion. Mani is not receiving any payment from the PCB for his services. He said: ‘I am happy to help any cricket board. I have helped Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies – it’s nice to be able to give something back to the game.’ Sport Business, Sportcal, 15th May 2008

Elsewhere/Rights: Premier League Clubs Capitalise on Lucrative Broadcasting Deals

The status of England’s Premier League as the world’s richest domestic soccer competition has been confirmed by new figures which show that the clubs’ income from broadcasting increased by almost two-thirds this year. The 20 top-flight teams received £758 million ($1.474 billion) from deals relating to the recently-concluded 2007-08 season, a 63-per-cent increase on last year’s total of £464 million.

Unsurprisingly, Premier League champions Manchester United were the highest earners, receiving £49.3 million. This is made up of the £22.8 million flat fee paid to each club as part of the equal share from television broadcasting deals, £12.1 million from the 25 live games in which they featured and a 14.4 million merit payment for finishing top of the table.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool also picked up more than £45 million, as Premier League clubs cashed in on the new domestic television deals with pay-television operators BSkyB and Setanta worth £1.7 billion over three years and international deals worth £625 million over the same period. Even Derby County, who finished bottom with a record low 11 points, got £29.1 million. In addition to the £758 million paid to the Premier League clubs, a figure of £125 million went out on ‘parachute payments’ to relegated clubs, charities and good causes at home and abroad. Sportcal, 15th May 2008

Global/Rights: WSG Sees Huge Premium on IPL Media Rights

Having bagged the global media rights for the Indian Premier League (at $1.026 billion), the Singapore-based World Sport Group (WSG) has recovered 60 per cent of its investments for the first five years.

Mr Venu Nair, CEO, WSG, told Business Line, “We have sold the global media rights for the first five years and have recovered 60 per cent of the investment. The rest of the cost will be recovered in the next five years when we would get better value as there has been huge interest for the IPL matches worldwide.” Having sold the IPL rights for international TV, global radio, mobile and Internet to a host of companies worldwide, WSG expects to sell the rights at a 30-40 per cent premium for the next 6-10 years of the league matches. As Mr Nair says, “We expect to get between 30 to 40 per cent more as we reinvest what we have already got in the first five years.”

Pegging the IPL matches as a sports-led entertainment property, WSG has already sold the global media rights to 11 companies including Setanta Sports in the UK and Direct TV in the US. In India, WSG has sold the media rights to Sony Entertainment Television. “IPL is like an international tournament as we have the cream of the cricket playing nations. There is a lot of interest in these matches and we believe IPL has taken off. We have chosen partners who would help in developing this property further by having programmes and promotions built around this concept,” said Mr Nair.

In fact, it was Australian audiences that registered the highest viewership for the IPL matches beginning with its first match in Bangalore. “There were 1 million households that watched the IPL inaugural match and viewership peaked during the first game,” claims Mr Nair. The popularity of the matches led to healthy viewership in South Africa and the UK as well. In fact, the broadcasters in South Africa (Super Sports) and the UK (Setanta) have already evinced interest in buying the rights for the next five years.

Commenting on the IPL audiences, Mr Nair said, “Currently, there is loyalty towards the players more than loyalty towards the team. But this will change with time just like it happens for the football leagues. Today, the players are playing more for their personal pride and it is their individual pride which is at stake as they have to create revenues for themselves.”

Meanwhile, more sponsors are coming forward after witnessing the popularity of the IPL matches. “We are in discussions with an oil lubricant company and also a 4-wheeler giant,” Mr Nair said , without divulging any names. In fact, an Indian general entertainment channel has also evinced interest in developing programming around the games. “A GEC channel wants to be part of IPL and we are looking at ways to form partnerships to build more mileage around IPL,” added Mr Nair. Hindu Business, 15th May 2008