Wednesday, 21st May 2008

DID YOU KNOW…?

Chinese inhabitants are more aware of Lenovo's sponsorship of this year's Olympic Games than any other brand, according to research by Sport+Markt. The agency carried out a poll of 1,000 Chinese citizens between the ages of 16 to 49, and found that respondents mentioned Lenovo in connection with the Olympics, without being prompted, more than any other partners of the Games. Lenovo came out on top with 38%, with Coca-Cola not far behind with 36% and China Mobile on 30%. Interestingly, Lenovo and Coca-Cola have a more long-term involvement in the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) flagship event as 'Worldwide Olympic Partners' of the Games, while China Mobile is only connected to this year's event as a 'Beijing 2008 Partner'.

Samsung and Yiligroup - a Worldwide Olympic Partner and 'Sponsor' respectively - are next on the list with 18% awareness. However, it would appear that several other Worldwide Olympic Partners have some work to do to raise awareness in China of their involvement in the Games. General Electric, Atos Origin, Manulife and Omega are not even present in the top 19 brand mentions in the survey, while Visa and Kodak only generated an 8% response rate each. Sports Media, 20th May 2008


SPORTS SHORTS

* Real Madrid has confirmed a pre-season friendly against Colombian side Independiente de Sante Fe at the Nemesio Camacho Stadium in Bogota on August 7. According to the club's official website, the game will allow Real "to connect with millions of fans which the club has in Colombia. The match is jointly organised by the club and Delujo Promociones, a prominent marketing company and events organisers in Latin America." Real is hopes the game will help it to strengthen its brand in the Latin American market. Football Insider, 20th May 2008

* Real Madrid have pledged support to the Spanish capital’s bid for the 2016 Olympic Games. Club chairman Ramon Calderon was speaking at an event organised by the Madrid government to celebrate Real Madrid winning this season’s Primera Liga title. Bid chief executive Mercedes Coghen and Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, Madrid’s mayor, were also in attendance. Madrid is vying for the games with Baku, Chicago, Doha, Prague, Rio and Tokyo. The International Olympic Committee will announce a shortlist of ‘candidate cities’ next month and the vote to decide the host of the 2016 games will take place in October 2009. Sportcal, 20th May 2008

* India’s Dish TV claims it will join the ranks of high-definition broadcasters later in the year, with the company planning an MPEG4 HD offering, according to local reports. But while competitor TataSky has had the capability to offer HD for some time, that company says there is simply not the content there to offer. Zee-backed Dish TV is in talks with two or three channels over offering HD content to subscribers whom it will equip with MPEG 4-enabled HD set-top boxes. So it is likely that if Dish TV launches an HD service, rivals will follow suit. Bharti Telemedia, shortly to launch its own DTH platform, will also likely offer HD services in the future, a company executive was quoted as saying. Rapid TV News, 20th May 2008

* The AFC has recommended the first list of 11 countries eligible to field their teams in the new AFC Champions League next year. Japan, Korea Republic, Australia, China, Indonesia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Iran and India have confirmed participation, after assessment of their eligibility, in the 2009 AFC Champions League to be re-launched on completely professional lines. The deadline for Member Associations to prove that their clubs’ legal status has been changed to a ‘commercial entity’ is 15 December 2008 or the Member Association and its clubs will not be eligible for the new competition. The committee has aimed at developing Asian football by setting up a truly professional league in each Asian country, and at the same time, establishing an attractive continental competition by reforming the AFC Champions League. Soccer Investor,20th May 2008

* Subscription TV and radio broadcaster, UBI World TV, has brought on board Setanta Sports to offer professional live sporting entertainment from around the world to subscribers in Australia. Catering to UBI's multicultural subscriber base, Setanta Sports' exclusive programming includes a mix of soccer, rugby union, cricket and boxing. A highlight of the channel will be its broadcast of all 31 games of the UEFA European Football Championship, EURO 2008, from June 7 – 30, 2008, along with its daily highlights package and replays of each day's games. Setanta Sports is also scheduled to air the South American World Cup Qualifiers in June 2008. Television Asia, 19th May 2008

* A recent study found that 84% of women in Europe watch sporting events on television, although only 56% say they watch because they enjoy them. LG, the electronics giant, and TNS, the market research group, have released the results of the survey, which comprised interviews with 12,000 women in 12 European countries. Germany had the highest percentage of women that followed sport on television because they enjoyed it, some 67%. A quarter of the women questioned admitting to watching sport because it pleased their partner, while 3% claimed they tuned in to admire the participants’ physique. Sportcal, 20th May 2008


MORE NEWS

Singapore/New Media: SingTel’s Mio Goes Mobile

SingTel will launch a “true TV viewing experience” at the weekend, with its mio IPTV service moving into the mobile arena. Mio TV on mobile is a 3G service that will offer some 12 channels, plus short-form on-demand content. From May 24, SingTel mobile customers with the appropriate Nokia handset will be able to watch a slew of streamed and live programming using Nokia Siemens Networks’ Mobile TV streaming solution. SingTel is in talks with other handset manufacturers over extending the service to non-Nokia phones.

The deployment marks Singapore’s first mobile TV offering outside of a mobile internet offering, as well as one of the first deployments in Asia for Nokia Siemens Networks’ Media Delivery Solution 3.5. One of SingTel’s rivals in the mobile space, M1, already offers streamed TV to Singaporeans, but that requires subscribers to view content via a web portal whereas SingTel is pegging its service as more like real TV – turn on and watch “channels”. Mio TV on mobile will offer an electronic programme guide with seven-day programme information, and soon users will be able to link it with their mio IPTV service at home and set remote recordings.

Content includes Cantonese movie channel Mei Ah Movies, content from free-to-air Mandarin channel Channel 8 during prime time, plus mobile versions of urban music and culture channel Trace and Taiwanese kids’ channek ETTV Yoyo. Other Chinese channels offered are Dragon TV and Shanghai Channel, with an English-subtitled mobile version of Korea’s KBS World also thrown into the mix. News comes from China’s CCTV4, India’s NDTV 24/7, ETTV Asia News and Channel NewsAsia.

The service will be free until the end of July when users will need to pay a flat monthly S$6 fee, with pay-per-view and on-demand channels charged at an additional S$0.50 per clip. There are no data charges for the service. SingTel has some 2.5 million mobile users although only just over 850,000 of these are 3G subs. Launch of the service comes ahead of a trial DVB-H service from M1 and major broadcaster MediaCorp, scheduled to start later this year. Rapid TV News, Worldscreen, 20th May 2008

Elsewhere/Rights: Bundesliga Clubs Set for TV Rights Presentation

The 36 teams from German soccer’s top two Bundesliga divisions will today be informed of the different models in the sale of broadcast rights for three seasons from the 2009-10 season onwards, including the level of coverage on free-to-air television. Sirius, the production and distribution agency set up by media entrepreneur Leo Kirch, is said to have already presented proposals to the DFL, the German Football League, and will inform clubs of the plans today. It is reported that 18 live games have been reserved for free-to-air television, while the number of Sunday matches has been increased from two to three, with two games kicking off at 2.45pm and one at 5pm.

Germany’s Bild newspaper claims that two proposals have been put forward regarding free-to-air Bundesliga highlights. The first model envisages a 6pm slot for free-to-air Saturday highlights and a 10pm slot for Sunday highlights, while the second model prevents Saturday highlights from starting before 10pm, but allows Sunday highlights to be shown earlier in the evening. Public-service broadcaster, ARD currently broadcasts its ‘Sportschau’ highlights programme at 6.30pm on a Saturday, but Premiere, the pay-television operator, wants free-to-air programming to be shown later in the evening to give it more exclusivity. DSF, the privately-owned sports broadcaster, currently holds the rights to air late-night highlights of the two Sunday Bundesliga games.

Christian Seifert, the DFL chief executive, told soccer magazine Kicker that ‘extensive free-to-air coverage from 2009 would also take place’ adding that the Bundesliga would not ‘disappear on pay-television.’ It is thought that more than 20 companies have already registered their interest in the Bundesliga rights, among them broadcasters and cable companies. However, a cartel office investigation into the broadcast venture between the DFL and Kirch has delayed the tender. In mid-April, the cartel office said that a formal announcement of the tender for broadcast rights could be made, even though its investigation was ongoing. Sportcal, 20th May 2008

Global/Rights: Beijing Olympics TV Rights Revenue Top US$2.5bn

TV broadcasting revenues paid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for rights to the 2008 Beijing Olympics topped US$2.5billion in the 2005-2008 period, while worldwide sponsorship, ticketing and licensing added a further US$900million in revenues. Reuters reports US$1billion will be reaped by Chinese organizers from local marketing activities. The Beijing Games, like all other Olympics, will see the IOC foot half of the organizational bill, amounting to US$1billion.

Total revenues for the four-year period ending 2004 exceeded US$4billion, with 53% contributed by broadcasters, 34% from sponsors, 11% from ticketing and 2% from licensing. In 20 years and across five summer Olympic Games, TV rights revenues for the 2004 Athens Olympics registered a five-fold hike from US$287million for the Los Angeles 1984 Games. Already, revenues for broadcasting and new media rights for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and London 2012 Olympics are 40% up from the Beijing 2008 and Turin 2006 package, and will exceed US$3billion. Total earnings are projected at US$3.3billion, with an estimated 15% expected to come from new media including Internet and mobile platforms. Television Asia, 19th May 2008

Global/General: World Football Social Media Platform Launched

OleOle has launched OleOle.com, a global vertical media platform that allows soccer fans to create conversations and drive discussions around professional football in a whole new way. Founded in 2006, OleOle is a privately-held international company with headquarters in Beverly Hills, California and offices in New Zealand as well as across Europe and South America.

The OleOle Football Platform is a multi-lingual social media website built around a single topic. Social media enables devoted fans to continue their discussions online and create conversations, share experiences and opinions, and publish news about the sport and its teams and players, managers and officials. All the content on OleOle is created, rated, moderated and edited entirely by users and the OleOle Football Platform has attempted to cover the entire sport -- there is a separate fan-driven section for every professional team, league and player in the world -- more than 170 competitions, 300 leagues, 208 national teams and football federations, 5,580 clubs, and 57,500 players.

The Platform incorporates some of today’s most popular social media technologies and enables members to contribute and manage multi-media content including blogs, videos, photos, podcasts, history, desktop wallpapers, and stats. OleOle’s integrated blogging system makes it possible for users to become reporters and commentators for their favourite teams and players. Soccer Investor, 20th May 2008

Elsewhere/General: Lagardère Won’t Merge Acquisitions for Now

Lagardère Sports, the sports division of French media giant Lagardère that yesterday finalised a $150-million deal for a majority stake in World Sport Group, the Singapore-based sports agency, said today that it has no plans to merge the agency with others that it has acquired in the last two years, for the time being. Stéphane Schindler, Lagardère Sports’ chief operating officer and general manager, pointed to the benefits of the WSG deal, such as an increased presence in the Asian market, but was keen to stress that there was no rush to merge the company’s growing portfolio of assets, which includes two other international sports marketing agencies, Sportfive and IEC in Sports.

Schindler told Sportcal.com: ‘At the moment there is no intention to merge anything, there is no way for that. There are a lot of companies that are working with the same shareholding without a problem. We know we have fantastic managers, guys like Seamus O’Brien [World Sport Group], Jonas Persson [IEC in Sports] and Richard Worth [Sportfive], and we are quietly confident that those people are going to be able to work together, sooner or later. We are not in a rush, every company will keep its responsibility and independence, and when the relationship and the co-ordination will make sense then we work together.’

Lagardère, which bought Sportfive in 2006, is to pay $125 million for 70% of WSG’s capital and voting rights, with another $25 million due in three years, depending on cash flow performance criteria. Lagardère this year completed the purchase of PR Event, the owner of tennis’ Swedish Open, to sit alongside the Stockholm-based IEC in Sports, and also owns Upsolut Sports, the organiser of events such as cycling’s Tour of Germany, the Cyclassics in Hamburg and the Hamburg Triathlon.

A five-year target was set by Lagardère in March for it to increase the share of annual earnings before tax and interest generated by its sports business arm from 10% to between 20 and 30%. The media giant has also targeted the status of ‘world leader’ in the sports industry within three to five years.

As a result of the WSG deal, which was first discussed over 12 months ago, the existing management at the Singapore-based agency, including president and chief executive Seamus O’Brien, will remain in place. Schindler highlighted the fact that all of the companies bought after Sportfive (IEC in Sports, Upsolut, PR Event and World Sport Group) were not openly 'for sale' at the time and a deal was only brokered after private negotiations aimed at achieving ‘integration.’ Sportcal, 20th May 2008