RIGHTS FEES
=> The South African FA is looking for between R130 mil ($18.7 mil) and R150 mil /year from a new domestic broadcast rights deal. The figure was based on analysis of audience potential and that it is looking to strike a deal with a free-to-air network, likely pubcaster, SABC. A deal between R130 to R150 mil would include 60 matches /year and a magazine show called Safa TV.
=> The Bulgarian A League finally agreed to a new domestic broadcast deal ahead of the 2011/12 season as pubcaster BNT and cable TV7, secured coverage. The deals with BNT and TV7 are worth Lv6 mil ($4.4 mil) /season, with TV7 paying about two thirds of the total, although BNT will have the first choice live game each week. The annual value of the previous deal was initially Lv6.4 mil /season but dropped last year when BTV Media Group’s Pro.BG and Ring.BG channels renegotiated their contracts. The 2011/12 Bulgarian A League season has planned for a TV blackout of foreign matches in Bulgaria in weekend timeslots to boost interest, attendances and commercial income for the domestic league.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> The TRACE Sports HD channel is now available on AsiaSat 5 in the Asia Pacific. The channel launched Aug 1 on Hong Kong Broadband Network's bbtv, with more carriage agreements in Asia coming soon. TRACE Sports HD features factual and lifestyle entertainment content about sports celebrities. The channel will feature behind the scenes interviews with teams for the 2012 London Olympics. The channel is broadcast in English with subtitles in Mandarin and Korean. It is available on cable, DTH, broadband and mobile platforms.
=> HBO has won rights to produce and broadcast the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas on Nov 12. HBO lost Pacquiao's last fight in May against Shane Mosley to rival pay-TV Showtime but HBO has now secured a deal with promoters Top Rank for the WBO welterweight champion to return to its network for his next fight. The Pacquiao-Marquez fight is to be publicised by the different broadcast platforms of HBO’s parent company Time Warner, including TBS, TNT and CNN. Showtime drew 1.4 mil pay-per-views for the Pacquiao-Mosley fight in May.
BIZ & BITES
=> Singapore’s StarHub reported a 34% rise in Q2 net profit although pay-TV revenue fell by close to 16%. The company reported net profit of S$78 mil ($64 mil) from Apr to Jun, compared to S$58.1 mil the same period in 2010. Operating revenue was S$569 mil for Q2 2011, around the same 12 months ago. Net profit for the first half of the year was up 46% to S$147 mil. StarHub’s pay-TV revenue fell 15.7% to S$92.3 mil, the result of price reduction on the sports package last year from S$25 /month to S$12 /month after losing rights to the English Premier League to rival SingTel. StarHub’s average revenue per user for pay-TV fell to S$49 /month but the customer base increased to 544,000.
Monday, 8th August 2011
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> The death of linear TV viewing has been predicted ever since the invention of TiVo and other video recording (DVR) systems, but is being postponed by the success of high-definition television (HDTV). In the USA, DVR, video on demand (VOD), online video streaming and other nonlinear TV programming account for just over 10% of all TV viewing. In 2015, that figure is expected to grow to under 16%, according to IHS Screen Digest TV Intelligence Service. UK predictions are no different, with nonlinear TV forecast to account for less than 13% of TV watching by 2015.
=> China Central Television has acquired 3D TV broadcast rights to the London Olympics, to be used to test 3D TV broadcasts in Q3 2012. China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television called for 10 3D TV stations to be launched during China's 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015). Meanwhile, SARFT has also approved Internet TV licences for HunanTV.com, making it China's fifth Internet TV content and Internet TV integrated service license.
STATS & DATA
=> Leading Chinese ad agency, Charm Communications, says research it conducted revealed TV as still the most popular media for advertisers in China. In Q1 2011, TV ads generated 81.4% (Y121 bil/US$18.8 bil) of total advertising revenue. An increase in viewers led to increase in the price of provincial channel advertisement slots. Demand for CCTV’s airtime generated 9% (Y40 bil /US$6.2 bil) of TV ad revenue. However, 200 mil Internet users watch TV less frequently than before although TV is still the first choice for advertisers because it still enjoys a larger audience base, better credibility and shows better original programmes.
EVENTS
=> Asian mixed martial arts events and media company, ONE Fighting Championship, has been launched by media veteran, Victor Cui. Over the next 12 months, the company based in Singapore, will hold 8 events across Asia, including national qualifiers and a reality TV show on martial arts. The first event, Champion vs Champion: Asia’s Greatest Battle of Champions, will take place on Sep 3 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, featuring 17 world champions. Cui, who was previously with ESPN STAR Sports for 6 years said martial arts is popular on American TV, but is still in its infancy when it comes to Asian TV.
=> India is poised for rugby, with the first women’s Asian Rugby Sevens ranking tournament slotted for Oct and a host of other domestic and international events to follow with the next being the Asian Men’s Rugby Sevens tourney in mid-Nov. Japan, China and Thailand are sending women’s squads for the Asian Sevens but Japan will not be at the men’s event since they would be in the midst of the Dubai Challenge. Meanwhile, on Aug 26 and 27, the women’s domestic tournament will be hosted in Pune, and from there the national probables will be selected.
=> BMW Asia has agreed to sponsor the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2011, which takes place on Dec 4. BMW Asia and the Singapore Sports Council will run a series of promotions leading up to the race, including giving participants a chance to win a BMW, the official car, while BMW provides medical logistics and support on the day of the event. The Standard Chartered Bank title-sponsorship runs until 2013 and, at S$10 ($6.9 million) over 4 years and is reportedly the most lucrative sponsorship deal ever made for a mass-participation event in Singapore.
BIZ & BITES
=> WWE has posted Q2 2011 revenues of $142.6 mil, a 33% increase on the same period last year as the organisation was boosted by over 1 million pay-per-view buys worldwide for the flagship WrestleMania event. WWE’s Q2 net income was $14.3 mil, more than double the $6.3 mil recorded in the same period in 2010. WrestleMania took place at the beginning of April this year, instead of in its traditional March slot, and contributed a record $35.9 mil in revenue.
=> The death of linear TV viewing has been predicted ever since the invention of TiVo and other video recording (DVR) systems, but is being postponed by the success of high-definition television (HDTV). In the USA, DVR, video on demand (VOD), online video streaming and other nonlinear TV programming account for just over 10% of all TV viewing. In 2015, that figure is expected to grow to under 16%, according to IHS Screen Digest TV Intelligence Service. UK predictions are no different, with nonlinear TV forecast to account for less than 13% of TV watching by 2015.
=> China Central Television has acquired 3D TV broadcast rights to the London Olympics, to be used to test 3D TV broadcasts in Q3 2012. China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television called for 10 3D TV stations to be launched during China's 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015). Meanwhile, SARFT has also approved Internet TV licences for HunanTV.com, making it China's fifth Internet TV content and Internet TV integrated service license.
STATS & DATA
=> Leading Chinese ad agency, Charm Communications, says research it conducted revealed TV as still the most popular media for advertisers in China. In Q1 2011, TV ads generated 81.4% (Y121 bil/US$18.8 bil) of total advertising revenue. An increase in viewers led to increase in the price of provincial channel advertisement slots. Demand for CCTV’s airtime generated 9% (Y40 bil /US$6.2 bil) of TV ad revenue. However, 200 mil Internet users watch TV less frequently than before although TV is still the first choice for advertisers because it still enjoys a larger audience base, better credibility and shows better original programmes.
EVENTS
=> Asian mixed martial arts events and media company, ONE Fighting Championship, has been launched by media veteran, Victor Cui. Over the next 12 months, the company based in Singapore, will hold 8 events across Asia, including national qualifiers and a reality TV show on martial arts. The first event, Champion vs Champion: Asia’s Greatest Battle of Champions, will take place on Sep 3 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, featuring 17 world champions. Cui, who was previously with ESPN STAR Sports for 6 years said martial arts is popular on American TV, but is still in its infancy when it comes to Asian TV.
=> India is poised for rugby, with the first women’s Asian Rugby Sevens ranking tournament slotted for Oct and a host of other domestic and international events to follow with the next being the Asian Men’s Rugby Sevens tourney in mid-Nov. Japan, China and Thailand are sending women’s squads for the Asian Sevens but Japan will not be at the men’s event since they would be in the midst of the Dubai Challenge. Meanwhile, on Aug 26 and 27, the women’s domestic tournament will be hosted in Pune, and from there the national probables will be selected.
=> BMW Asia has agreed to sponsor the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2011, which takes place on Dec 4. BMW Asia and the Singapore Sports Council will run a series of promotions leading up to the race, including giving participants a chance to win a BMW, the official car, while BMW provides medical logistics and support on the day of the event. The Standard Chartered Bank title-sponsorship runs until 2013 and, at S$10 ($6.9 million) over 4 years and is reportedly the most lucrative sponsorship deal ever made for a mass-participation event in Singapore.
BIZ & BITES
=> WWE has posted Q2 2011 revenues of $142.6 mil, a 33% increase on the same period last year as the organisation was boosted by over 1 million pay-per-view buys worldwide for the flagship WrestleMania event. WWE’s Q2 net income was $14.3 mil, more than double the $6.3 mil recorded in the same period in 2010. WrestleMania took place at the beginning of April this year, instead of in its traditional March slot, and contributed a record $35.9 mil in revenue.
Friday, 5th August 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Domestic TV rights for Australia’s 2011 cricket tour of Sri Lanka have been awarded by Sri Lanka Cricket to national network, Rupavahini, in a record deal worth Rs22 mil (US$200,600). The initial offer made by Rupavahini was Rs17 mil (US$155,010), which was topped by rival bidder, Carlton Sports Network, with Rs20.1 mil (US$183,277). The final price settled by Rupavahini is the highest ever for local TV rights received by SLC. Meanwhile, local radio rights were awarded to Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation for Rs750,000 (US$6,840), also the highest received for rights of its kind. Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka begins 6th Aug. The tour consists of two Twenty20 matches, five ODIs and three Tests, with the final Test to playbetween 16th-20th Sep.
=> The French soccer federation (FFF) awarded domestic rights to the France’s Division 1 Féminine to France Télévisions (FT) and Eurosport starting with the 2011/12 season. FT is to show 6 matches while Eurosport will broadcast 5 live matches and 6 further games in co-production with FT. The two paid a total of €110,000 ($155,940) for rights. Meanwhile, the men's league has launched an iPhone application ahead of the new season. The application will offer news and alerts for games from Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and the Coupe de la Ligue competition, including team line-ups one hour before kick-off.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Sportfive has agreed deals with 7 national soccer associations in Europe to sell international broadcast rights respective home qualifiers for the FIFA 2014 World Cup; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland. Sportfive now directly or indirectly represent 37 of the 53 member countries of UEFA for the WC2014 qualifiers. Meanwhile, five of the teams represented by Kentaro have been drawn in the same World Cup qualification group as Germany. Sweden, the Rep. of Ireland, Austria, Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands are in Group C along with Germany.
=> Domestic TV rights for Australia’s 2011 cricket tour of Sri Lanka have been awarded by Sri Lanka Cricket to national network, Rupavahini, in a record deal worth Rs22 mil (US$200,600). The initial offer made by Rupavahini was Rs17 mil (US$155,010), which was topped by rival bidder, Carlton Sports Network, with Rs20.1 mil (US$183,277). The final price settled by Rupavahini is the highest ever for local TV rights received by SLC. Meanwhile, local radio rights were awarded to Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation for Rs750,000 (US$6,840), also the highest received for rights of its kind. Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka begins 6th Aug. The tour consists of two Twenty20 matches, five ODIs and three Tests, with the final Test to playbetween 16th-20th Sep.
=> The French soccer federation (FFF) awarded domestic rights to the France’s Division 1 Féminine to France Télévisions (FT) and Eurosport starting with the 2011/12 season. FT is to show 6 matches while Eurosport will broadcast 5 live matches and 6 further games in co-production with FT. The two paid a total of €110,000 ($155,940) for rights. Meanwhile, the men's league has launched an iPhone application ahead of the new season. The application will offer news and alerts for games from Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and the Coupe de la Ligue competition, including team line-ups one hour before kick-off.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Sportfive has agreed deals with 7 national soccer associations in Europe to sell international broadcast rights respective home qualifiers for the FIFA 2014 World Cup; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland. Sportfive now directly or indirectly represent 37 of the 53 member countries of UEFA for the WC2014 qualifiers. Meanwhile, five of the teams represented by Kentaro have been drawn in the same World Cup qualification group as Germany. Sweden, the Rep. of Ireland, Austria, Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands are in Group C along with Germany.
Thursday, 4th August 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> UK’s BSkyB has extended exclusive live rights for English rugby’s Super League by 5 years until 2016. England’s Rugby Football League now extends their relationship with BSkyB’s to 21 years. BSkyB will show 70 live games, including all play off matches and the Grand Final, each season. The 5-yr deal is worth over £90 mil ($146 mil), meaning the 14 Super League clubs are set to earn £1.25 mil /year, a 12% increase on the current domestic broadcasting deal, expiring end 2011 season and is worth £50 mil over 3 years, with clubs earning £1.1 mil /year.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Spain’s Liga ACB basketball league will air in Japan for the first time next season after MP & Silva signed a rights deal with pay-TV, Sky A. Sky A becomes the 5th in Asia to secure coverage of the league, following regional Chinese networks Guangzhou TV and Jiangsu TV, Singapore’s StarHub and Solar TV in the Philippines. There is also coverage in the Middle East and North Africa via Al Jazeera and in sub-Saharan Africa through Setanta Sports. The 2011-12 Liga ACB season starts in October.
=> IEC in Sports has signed a deal to exclusively distribute international TV rights for basketball's FIBA Stankovic Continental Cup, the annual men's national team competition played in China. CCTV 5, a channel of the Chinese national broadcaster, will produce the feed for the tournament, which will be aired globally. New Zealand’s Sky Network has already secured rights to show all Kiwi games in the Stankovic Continental Cup, as well as the bronze medal game and final. The Stankovic Continental Cup was launched in 2005 to boost basketball in China and named in honour of Serbian Borislav Stankovic, FIBA's secretary general emeritus, for his significant contribution to the sport.
=> Dubai's Orbit Showtime Network will broadcast Rugby World Cup 2011 in high definition in the Middle East and North Africa. The event in New Zealand kicks off on OSN Sports 1 HD on 9 Sep through to the final on 23 Oct. OSN's team of presenters for the tournament will be anchored by Jim Rosenthal and joined by former players including Jeremy Guscott, Scott Gibbs, Joost van der Westhuizen and Jonathan Davis. OSN will exclusively broadcast the Tri-Nations and Rugby World Cup 2011 warm-up matches through to 27 August before the start of the Rugby World Cup.
=> Traffic Sports has secured deals in Belgium and Israel to air Argentinian home matches in the South American WC2014 Qualifiers with Belgian telecom, Telenet and Israel’s Charlton group. Early in 2011, Traffic also inked deals with Norway’s TV2 and sub-Saharan, Supersport in Africa. Argentina plays their first WC2014 qualifier in Oct against Chile, vs Bolivia (Nov), Ecuador (Jun 2012), Paraguay (Sep 2012), Uruguay (Oct 2012), Venezuela (Mar 2013), Colombia (Jun 2013) and Peru (Oct 2013).
=> Meanwhile, rights in Portugal to the Copa Sudamericana, have been sold by Traffic to Benfica TV, the channel of Portuguese club Benfica, and sports agency. Benfica is on a rights buying spree for sports content as it bids to break the monopoly held in Portugal by sports broadcaster Sport TV. It has already acquired rights to 180 live and delayed club and national team matches in Europe taking place from this summer until Dec. Benfica TV is a basic channel available to over 1 mil TV households across Portugal. Sport TV already holds rights in Portugal to the Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil, the national cup competition in Brazil.
NEW MEDIA
=> World Snooker has signed a 5-yr deal with Perform under which all professional tournaments will be streamed live online. A new website - www.liveworldsnooker.tv - has been launched to show all ranking event qualifiers and Players Tour Championship events. Qualifying matches for the ongoing Shanghai Masters are already being streamed on the website. Streaming will not be available in territories where live broadcasts of the tournaments are already available. Fans can sign up to the site starting with a basic subscription of £2.99 ($4.90) per month or £29.99 per year.
STATS & DATA
=> Maria Sharapova was the highest-paid female athlete again in 2010, although she faces a challenge to her position from Chinese player Li Na. For the 7th straight year, Sharapova topped Forbes annual list despite not winning a 'grand slam' tournament since 2008. Sharapova's earnings, mostly from off-court endorsements, were estimated at $25 mil , double her nearest rival, Denmark's current world number one, Caroline Wozniacki. Li came 8th, with earnings of $8 mil last year, but is expected to earn six times as much by 2013 following a raft of new endorsement deals this year. Since the start of 2011, Li, represented by IMG, has signed seven sponsorship deals worth over $42 mil over a 3-yr period. Non-tennis players in the top 10 were US racing driver Danica Patrick (3rd place - $12 mil), South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna (7th) and US golfer Paula Creamer (10th).
BIZ & BITES
=> Real Madrid have agreed a partnership with Chinese Super League leaders Guangzhou Evergrande, intended to pave the way for player exchanges between the clubs and the opening of a player academy in China. Real Madrid are presently on a tour of China and are eager to promote their brand to China's population of 1.3 bil. Real Madrid and Evergrande signed a 'letter of intent' to co-operate on player exchanges, brand promotion and the opening of the largest soccer academy in Asia. The academy intends to enrol 3,000 students and be run by the Chinese club, with Real Madrid coaching staff to assist with the teaching programme.
=> The English Premier League’s Richard Scudamore called on FIFA to open a dialogue to ease rising tensions within governance of the game, while arguing that a revolution, as threatened by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, is not the answer. Plans for more dates for international matches threaten to further clutter the fixture list and infuriate clubs and Scudamore wants FIFA to be "collegiate" in its approach to change. Scudamore also criticised UEFA for dictating terms to domestic soccer leagues when it comes to Champions and Europa Leagues by suddenly deciding to play the respective quarter-finals over 4 weeks instead of two which leaves clubs less weeks to squeeze in 380 matches.
=> The Premier League has said cutting-edge 'immersive TV' could be in use within 5 years allowing fans anywhere to 'virtually' attend stadia and watch games live as if they were there. A year after its first 3D broadcast, the PL is looking at the latest technology that allows supporters to sit in front of their TV, pick a game to watch from the menu, choose where to sit in the stadium, start chatting with friends and then immerse themselves in the match. The PL is in talks with Sony and Electronic Arts which are, respectively, already developing super-wide panoramic views that would allow viewers to watch from different angles, and working on 3D holographic technology, initially for highlights packages, but which will eventually be used in real time coverage.
=> UK’s BSkyB has extended exclusive live rights for English rugby’s Super League by 5 years until 2016. England’s Rugby Football League now extends their relationship with BSkyB’s to 21 years. BSkyB will show 70 live games, including all play off matches and the Grand Final, each season. The 5-yr deal is worth over £90 mil ($146 mil), meaning the 14 Super League clubs are set to earn £1.25 mil /year, a 12% increase on the current domestic broadcasting deal, expiring end 2011 season and is worth £50 mil over 3 years, with clubs earning £1.1 mil /year.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Spain’s Liga ACB basketball league will air in Japan for the first time next season after MP & Silva signed a rights deal with pay-TV, Sky A. Sky A becomes the 5th in Asia to secure coverage of the league, following regional Chinese networks Guangzhou TV and Jiangsu TV, Singapore’s StarHub and Solar TV in the Philippines. There is also coverage in the Middle East and North Africa via Al Jazeera and in sub-Saharan Africa through Setanta Sports. The 2011-12 Liga ACB season starts in October.
=> IEC in Sports has signed a deal to exclusively distribute international TV rights for basketball's FIBA Stankovic Continental Cup, the annual men's national team competition played in China. CCTV 5, a channel of the Chinese national broadcaster, will produce the feed for the tournament, which will be aired globally. New Zealand’s Sky Network has already secured rights to show all Kiwi games in the Stankovic Continental Cup, as well as the bronze medal game and final. The Stankovic Continental Cup was launched in 2005 to boost basketball in China and named in honour of Serbian Borislav Stankovic, FIBA's secretary general emeritus, for his significant contribution to the sport.
=> Dubai's Orbit Showtime Network will broadcast Rugby World Cup 2011 in high definition in the Middle East and North Africa. The event in New Zealand kicks off on OSN Sports 1 HD on 9 Sep through to the final on 23 Oct. OSN's team of presenters for the tournament will be anchored by Jim Rosenthal and joined by former players including Jeremy Guscott, Scott Gibbs, Joost van der Westhuizen and Jonathan Davis. OSN will exclusively broadcast the Tri-Nations and Rugby World Cup 2011 warm-up matches through to 27 August before the start of the Rugby World Cup.
=> Traffic Sports has secured deals in Belgium and Israel to air Argentinian home matches in the South American WC2014 Qualifiers with Belgian telecom, Telenet and Israel’s Charlton group. Early in 2011, Traffic also inked deals with Norway’s TV2 and sub-Saharan, Supersport in Africa. Argentina plays their first WC2014 qualifier in Oct against Chile, vs Bolivia (Nov), Ecuador (Jun 2012), Paraguay (Sep 2012), Uruguay (Oct 2012), Venezuela (Mar 2013), Colombia (Jun 2013) and Peru (Oct 2013).
=> Meanwhile, rights in Portugal to the Copa Sudamericana, have been sold by Traffic to Benfica TV, the channel of Portuguese club Benfica, and sports agency. Benfica is on a rights buying spree for sports content as it bids to break the monopoly held in Portugal by sports broadcaster Sport TV. It has already acquired rights to 180 live and delayed club and national team matches in Europe taking place from this summer until Dec. Benfica TV is a basic channel available to over 1 mil TV households across Portugal. Sport TV already holds rights in Portugal to the Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil, the national cup competition in Brazil.
NEW MEDIA
=> World Snooker has signed a 5-yr deal with Perform under which all professional tournaments will be streamed live online. A new website - www.liveworldsnooker.tv - has been launched to show all ranking event qualifiers and Players Tour Championship events. Qualifying matches for the ongoing Shanghai Masters are already being streamed on the website. Streaming will not be available in territories where live broadcasts of the tournaments are already available. Fans can sign up to the site starting with a basic subscription of £2.99 ($4.90) per month or £29.99 per year.
STATS & DATA
=> Maria Sharapova was the highest-paid female athlete again in 2010, although she faces a challenge to her position from Chinese player Li Na. For the 7th straight year, Sharapova topped Forbes annual list despite not winning a 'grand slam' tournament since 2008. Sharapova's earnings, mostly from off-court endorsements, were estimated at $25 mil , double her nearest rival, Denmark's current world number one, Caroline Wozniacki. Li came 8th, with earnings of $8 mil last year, but is expected to earn six times as much by 2013 following a raft of new endorsement deals this year. Since the start of 2011, Li, represented by IMG, has signed seven sponsorship deals worth over $42 mil over a 3-yr period. Non-tennis players in the top 10 were US racing driver Danica Patrick (3rd place - $12 mil), South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna (7th) and US golfer Paula Creamer (10th).
BIZ & BITES
=> Real Madrid have agreed a partnership with Chinese Super League leaders Guangzhou Evergrande, intended to pave the way for player exchanges between the clubs and the opening of a player academy in China. Real Madrid are presently on a tour of China and are eager to promote their brand to China's population of 1.3 bil. Real Madrid and Evergrande signed a 'letter of intent' to co-operate on player exchanges, brand promotion and the opening of the largest soccer academy in Asia. The academy intends to enrol 3,000 students and be run by the Chinese club, with Real Madrid coaching staff to assist with the teaching programme.
=> The English Premier League’s Richard Scudamore called on FIFA to open a dialogue to ease rising tensions within governance of the game, while arguing that a revolution, as threatened by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, is not the answer. Plans for more dates for international matches threaten to further clutter the fixture list and infuriate clubs and Scudamore wants FIFA to be "collegiate" in its approach to change. Scudamore also criticised UEFA for dictating terms to domestic soccer leagues when it comes to Champions and Europa Leagues by suddenly deciding to play the respective quarter-finals over 4 weeks instead of two which leaves clubs less weeks to squeeze in 380 matches.
=> The Premier League has said cutting-edge 'immersive TV' could be in use within 5 years allowing fans anywhere to 'virtually' attend stadia and watch games live as if they were there. A year after its first 3D broadcast, the PL is looking at the latest technology that allows supporters to sit in front of their TV, pick a game to watch from the menu, choose where to sit in the stadium, start chatting with friends and then immerse themselves in the match. The PL is in talks with Sony and Electronic Arts which are, respectively, already developing super-wide panoramic views that would allow viewers to watch from different angles, and working on 3D holographic technology, initially for highlights packages, but which will eventually be used in real time coverage.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> The deal that Neo Sports struck with Sportfive for TV rights to the 2012 European Championships is said to be worth around Rs1bil ($22.6 mil), covering India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. Neo’s deal includes 2013 European U-21 and Women’s Euro 2013 Championships. The acquisition of Euro 2012 rights is the latest deal agreed by Neo Sports away from its main sport of cricket. Events acquired have included 2011 Copa America, tennis' French Open and the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It is claimed that Neo Sports has earmarked Rs2.5 bil this year to acquire sports rights outside cricket.
=> The Argentinian soccer federation abandoned a controversial plan to merge the top two leagues for the start of the 2012/13 season following hostile responses from stakeholders. The association accused the media, TV rights owners and politicians of leading a campaign against the merger. The merger plan was seen as an attempt by the AFA to avoid financial upheaval after River Plate, one of Argentina’s most popular clubs, was relegated to the second tier. The AFA planned to create a new company, with a TV rights budget of 1.2 bil pesos ($278 mil) /year, double the present 600 mil pesos, to launch AFA TV, a new pay-TV channel, to show matches. The 2011/12 season is set to kick off this weekend.
=> Western USA’s college athletic conference, Pac-12, unveiled plans to create Pac-12 Networks that will air hundreds of events from the collegiate athletics programme. The agreement, beginning Aug 2012, will see Pac-12 team with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Comm. and Bright House Networks to launch a national service and 6 regional channels, including features of 35 football and 140 basketball games and 150 Olympic sports events. The deal complements a national broadcast and cable deal announced by Pac-12 in May with ESPN and Fox; the 12-year, US$3 bil deal saw the networks gain shared rights to college football and men’s basketball games, with ESPN also able to show some Olympic sports.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> African broadcaster, Star Times, were granted FTA rights for UEFA Champions League and Europa League in sub-Saharan Africa, from 2012 to 2015. Star Times will distribute media rights to FTA broadcasters in the region, exc. South Africa. The deal also covers the Super Cup. At present pan-African Canal France International has exclusive FTA rights to show Champions League in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding both South Africa and Sudan, while regional Afnex has the Europa League in the region, exc. South Africa, Sudan and Nigeria. However, these deals expire at the end of the 2011-12 season.
EVENTS
=> The Asian Tour welcomes The Thailand Golf Championship in Dec with Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarkeand Lee Westwood headlining the $ 1 mil showpiece. The event will be a full-field Asian Tour event and will take up a prestigious position as the Tour’s season-ending tournament, where the battle for the Order of Merit crown will culminate. The event will be broadcast live over 4 days on the Tour’s global TV platform reaching 200 countries and over 800 mil homes. The winner of this event will earn $158,500 and a spot in the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational 2012.
=> Japanese manufacturer, Yamaha, will exit FIM Superbike World Championship at the end of this season, citing poor bike sales in Europe. Yamaha riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty, currently third and fourth in this year's championship standings, will now be forced to find new teams. When Yamaha won the world title in 2009 it was sponsored by Italian food giant, Sterilgarda Alimenti, but has been without a title sponsor for the last two seasons.
BIZ & BITES
=> Octagon has been appointed by the China LPGA Tour, now in its third year, to aid commercial development. As CLPGA Tour’s partner, Octagon will bring in commercial partners and contribute to strategy development and planning. The CLPGA was launched by the Chinese Golf Association in 2009 with 8 tournaments and has expanded to18 events this season. The tour has been dominated by Thai players although CLPGA is keen to increase experience of Chinese players before golf returns to the Olympics in Rio 2016. Asia accounts for a large number of the world’s top women’s golfers, notably world number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan, who won her 2nd consecutive British Open, and China’s Shanshan Feng, ranked 47, who competes on US LPGA Tour.
=> The deal that Neo Sports struck with Sportfive for TV rights to the 2012 European Championships is said to be worth around Rs1bil ($22.6 mil), covering India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. Neo’s deal includes 2013 European U-21 and Women’s Euro 2013 Championships. The acquisition of Euro 2012 rights is the latest deal agreed by Neo Sports away from its main sport of cricket. Events acquired have included 2011 Copa America, tennis' French Open and the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It is claimed that Neo Sports has earmarked Rs2.5 bil this year to acquire sports rights outside cricket.
=> The Argentinian soccer federation abandoned a controversial plan to merge the top two leagues for the start of the 2012/13 season following hostile responses from stakeholders. The association accused the media, TV rights owners and politicians of leading a campaign against the merger. The merger plan was seen as an attempt by the AFA to avoid financial upheaval after River Plate, one of Argentina’s most popular clubs, was relegated to the second tier. The AFA planned to create a new company, with a TV rights budget of 1.2 bil pesos ($278 mil) /year, double the present 600 mil pesos, to launch AFA TV, a new pay-TV channel, to show matches. The 2011/12 season is set to kick off this weekend.
=> Western USA’s college athletic conference, Pac-12, unveiled plans to create Pac-12 Networks that will air hundreds of events from the collegiate athletics programme. The agreement, beginning Aug 2012, will see Pac-12 team with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Comm. and Bright House Networks to launch a national service and 6 regional channels, including features of 35 football and 140 basketball games and 150 Olympic sports events. The deal complements a national broadcast and cable deal announced by Pac-12 in May with ESPN and Fox; the 12-year, US$3 bil deal saw the networks gain shared rights to college football and men’s basketball games, with ESPN also able to show some Olympic sports.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> African broadcaster, Star Times, were granted FTA rights for UEFA Champions League and Europa League in sub-Saharan Africa, from 2012 to 2015. Star Times will distribute media rights to FTA broadcasters in the region, exc. South Africa. The deal also covers the Super Cup. At present pan-African Canal France International has exclusive FTA rights to show Champions League in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding both South Africa and Sudan, while regional Afnex has the Europa League in the region, exc. South Africa, Sudan and Nigeria. However, these deals expire at the end of the 2011-12 season.
EVENTS
=> The Asian Tour welcomes The Thailand Golf Championship in Dec with Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarkeand Lee Westwood headlining the $ 1 mil showpiece. The event will be a full-field Asian Tour event and will take up a prestigious position as the Tour’s season-ending tournament, where the battle for the Order of Merit crown will culminate. The event will be broadcast live over 4 days on the Tour’s global TV platform reaching 200 countries and over 800 mil homes. The winner of this event will earn $158,500 and a spot in the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational 2012.
=> Japanese manufacturer, Yamaha, will exit FIM Superbike World Championship at the end of this season, citing poor bike sales in Europe. Yamaha riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty, currently third and fourth in this year's championship standings, will now be forced to find new teams. When Yamaha won the world title in 2009 it was sponsored by Italian food giant, Sterilgarda Alimenti, but has been without a title sponsor for the last two seasons.
BIZ & BITES
=> Octagon has been appointed by the China LPGA Tour, now in its third year, to aid commercial development. As CLPGA Tour’s partner, Octagon will bring in commercial partners and contribute to strategy development and planning. The CLPGA was launched by the Chinese Golf Association in 2009 with 8 tournaments and has expanded to18 events this season. The tour has been dominated by Thai players although CLPGA is keen to increase experience of Chinese players before golf returns to the Olympics in Rio 2016. Asia accounts for a large number of the world’s top women’s golfers, notably world number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan, who won her 2nd consecutive British Open, and China’s Shanshan Feng, ranked 47, who competes on US LPGA Tour.
Monday, 1st August 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> BSkyB will be the only domestic broadcaster showing live coverage of every F1 race from next year, following a newly-negotiated 7-yr deal in which rights will be shared with the BBC, who will show only half of the races live. The BBC presently holds exclusive rights to F1 in a 2009 deal, but is under pressure to cut costs. The new deal runs from 2012 to 2018 and BSkyB will cover every practice, qualifying and race sessions, with the BBC will show half of the races and accompanying sessions live. In 2009, the BBC replaced commercial broadcaster ITV as the UK home of F1 in an exclusive 5-yr deal worth £200 mil ($326 mil).
=> Meanwhile, the BBC claimed that sacrificing live coverage of 50% of F1 the races was necessary to ensure that it can continue to show the sport in future. The BBC is coming in for criticism from motor racing fans accustomed to accessing every GP live on FTA TV after it renegotiated its exclusive rights deal, on which there are still two years to run, to share coverage with BSkyB, from 2012 until 2018. The combined deal is worth up to £60 mil ($98 mil) /year, a 50% increase on previous arrangements. The move was necessary as the BBC seeks to make cost savings of 20% from its budget after a freeze on licence fee, with the public broadcaster arguing that it would have been forced to drop coverage altogether if it had not teamed up with BSkyB.
=> Belgian telecom, Telenet, upped its full-year revenue outlook by predicting growth of 6% after acquiring rights to Belgian soccer’s Jupiler Pro League. Pro League announced the domestic broadcast rights agreement from 2011/12 to 13/14 as Telenet acquired top rights packages and incumbent holder and rival Belgacom lost a large share of its live rights in new deals worth just under €166 mil over 3 seasons. The agreement is worth €55.25 mil /season, around €10 mil /season more than the rights deal from 2008/09 to 10/11. Telenet has said it will broadcast all matches from the Belgian top flight from 2012/13 onwards by acquiring an extra package of non-exclusive rights (already held by Belgacom) to add to its recently-acquired rights for the top league matches.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> A INR100 crore makeover of the overseas arm of India’s state TV, Doordarshan (DD) is underway, after the Info and Broadcasting Ministry announced it should be repositioned to appeal more to Indians overseas. Stronger coordination between the Ministry and external affairs ministries has been called for by the I&B minister in order to update DD India and to expand its global reach to 100 countries. DD India is available in up to 35 countries but its global popularity with Indians abroad is eclipsed by privately run satellite TV channels from Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Star India, Viacom 18 and NDTV. Previously known as DD World, DD India was launched in 1995.
=> Australian subscription TV's ad revenue has increased 7% in the first half of 2011, according to a report by Ernst & Young, to net ad revenue of over A$180 mil (US$198 mil) from 1 Jan to 30 Jun. Total ad revenue for 2011 fiscal year exceeded A$385 mil (US$424 mil). Over 6 mil people tune into subscription TV weekly, to watch over 200 genre channels ranging from documentaries to sports. It continues to be one of the fastest growing media with ad revenue up by more than 22.3% since 2008.
EVENTS
=> Red Bull China has become an official supplier of the Yonex BWF World Badminton Championships, London 2011, after agreeing a deal with Badminton England. The energy drinks brand will enjoy extensive advertising presence courtside and throughout the venue at Wembley Arena, which will host badminton events at the London 2012 Olympic Games. The World Championships in will be played from 8th to 14th Aug and aired on Sky Sports (UK) and CCTV (China) and by other broadcasters around the world.
=> 95% of tickets for the squash’s finale weekend combined World Open in Rotterdam, featuring 112 best men and 72 best women in the world, have already been sold. The first six days of the tournament will take place at Rotterdam’s Victoria Squash Club before the final four days are switched to an all-glass court situated on the podium of the city’s New Luxor Theatre, which has a capacity of 1,400 spectators. The World Squash Open is the culmination of the top-tier men’s PSA and women’s WISPA tours and offers a record $418,000 prize fund. The event is scheduled for October 28 to November 6.
=> Japan coach John Kirwan believes Asia will eventually become a major force in rugby union, a sport dominated by Europe and southern-hemisphere nations like South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Japan won the Pacific Nations Cup two weeks ago after a fourth straight success in the HSBC Asian 5 Nations title in May and Kirwan is now preparing his side for the Rugby World Cup which starts in September in New Zealand, where the former All Black won the tournament as a player in 1987. While teaching youngsters in this year’s HSBC ARFU Rugby Coaching Tour, the former winger is convinced that Asia has begun a long-term process that will eventually take it to the sport’s top table.
=> Meanwhile, plans for 3D coverage of this year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand have been scrapped after leading 3D broadcast technology firm producer, 3DLive, said it was unable to meet its production commitments. The provision of 3D broadcasts was to cost 3DLive between NZ$4 mil ($3.49 mil) and NZ$5 mil. 3DLive also signed contracts with international broadcasters to provide a 3D feed, while Sky New Zealand and tournament host broadcaster, had promised to be the first broadcaster in New Zealand to deliver 3D programming. RWCL has, however, confirmed that all 48 games of the tournament will be available in high-definition.
BIZ & BITES
=> China's Zhang Jilong will remain the head of the Asian Football Confederation until the organisation's congress in May 2012. As recommended by the AFC's legal committee, an extraordinary congress for the election of president can be convened if the office of president falls vacant for more than one year. This means that a congress cannot be convened until after 30 May, 2012. At a meeting of the AFC executive committee, Zhang was unanimously nominated by the committee for the Asian seat on the FIFA executive committee.
=> BSkyB will be the only domestic broadcaster showing live coverage of every F1 race from next year, following a newly-negotiated 7-yr deal in which rights will be shared with the BBC, who will show only half of the races live. The BBC presently holds exclusive rights to F1 in a 2009 deal, but is under pressure to cut costs. The new deal runs from 2012 to 2018 and BSkyB will cover every practice, qualifying and race sessions, with the BBC will show half of the races and accompanying sessions live. In 2009, the BBC replaced commercial broadcaster ITV as the UK home of F1 in an exclusive 5-yr deal worth £200 mil ($326 mil).
=> Meanwhile, the BBC claimed that sacrificing live coverage of 50% of F1 the races was necessary to ensure that it can continue to show the sport in future. The BBC is coming in for criticism from motor racing fans accustomed to accessing every GP live on FTA TV after it renegotiated its exclusive rights deal, on which there are still two years to run, to share coverage with BSkyB, from 2012 until 2018. The combined deal is worth up to £60 mil ($98 mil) /year, a 50% increase on previous arrangements. The move was necessary as the BBC seeks to make cost savings of 20% from its budget after a freeze on licence fee, with the public broadcaster arguing that it would have been forced to drop coverage altogether if it had not teamed up with BSkyB.
=> Belgian telecom, Telenet, upped its full-year revenue outlook by predicting growth of 6% after acquiring rights to Belgian soccer’s Jupiler Pro League. Pro League announced the domestic broadcast rights agreement from 2011/12 to 13/14 as Telenet acquired top rights packages and incumbent holder and rival Belgacom lost a large share of its live rights in new deals worth just under €166 mil over 3 seasons. The agreement is worth €55.25 mil /season, around €10 mil /season more than the rights deal from 2008/09 to 10/11. Telenet has said it will broadcast all matches from the Belgian top flight from 2012/13 onwards by acquiring an extra package of non-exclusive rights (already held by Belgacom) to add to its recently-acquired rights for the top league matches.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> A INR100 crore makeover of the overseas arm of India’s state TV, Doordarshan (DD) is underway, after the Info and Broadcasting Ministry announced it should be repositioned to appeal more to Indians overseas. Stronger coordination between the Ministry and external affairs ministries has been called for by the I&B minister in order to update DD India and to expand its global reach to 100 countries. DD India is available in up to 35 countries but its global popularity with Indians abroad is eclipsed by privately run satellite TV channels from Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Star India, Viacom 18 and NDTV. Previously known as DD World, DD India was launched in 1995.
=> Australian subscription TV's ad revenue has increased 7% in the first half of 2011, according to a report by Ernst & Young, to net ad revenue of over A$180 mil (US$198 mil) from 1 Jan to 30 Jun. Total ad revenue for 2011 fiscal year exceeded A$385 mil (US$424 mil). Over 6 mil people tune into subscription TV weekly, to watch over 200 genre channels ranging from documentaries to sports. It continues to be one of the fastest growing media with ad revenue up by more than 22.3% since 2008.
EVENTS
=> Red Bull China has become an official supplier of the Yonex BWF World Badminton Championships, London 2011, after agreeing a deal with Badminton England. The energy drinks brand will enjoy extensive advertising presence courtside and throughout the venue at Wembley Arena, which will host badminton events at the London 2012 Olympic Games. The World Championships in will be played from 8th to 14th Aug and aired on Sky Sports (UK) and CCTV (China) and by other broadcasters around the world.
=> 95% of tickets for the squash’s finale weekend combined World Open in Rotterdam, featuring 112 best men and 72 best women in the world, have already been sold. The first six days of the tournament will take place at Rotterdam’s Victoria Squash Club before the final four days are switched to an all-glass court situated on the podium of the city’s New Luxor Theatre, which has a capacity of 1,400 spectators. The World Squash Open is the culmination of the top-tier men’s PSA and women’s WISPA tours and offers a record $418,000 prize fund. The event is scheduled for October 28 to November 6.
=> Japan coach John Kirwan believes Asia will eventually become a major force in rugby union, a sport dominated by Europe and southern-hemisphere nations like South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Japan won the Pacific Nations Cup two weeks ago after a fourth straight success in the HSBC Asian 5 Nations title in May and Kirwan is now preparing his side for the Rugby World Cup which starts in September in New Zealand, where the former All Black won the tournament as a player in 1987. While teaching youngsters in this year’s HSBC ARFU Rugby Coaching Tour, the former winger is convinced that Asia has begun a long-term process that will eventually take it to the sport’s top table.
=> Meanwhile, plans for 3D coverage of this year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand have been scrapped after leading 3D broadcast technology firm producer, 3DLive, said it was unable to meet its production commitments. The provision of 3D broadcasts was to cost 3DLive between NZ$4 mil ($3.49 mil) and NZ$5 mil. 3DLive also signed contracts with international broadcasters to provide a 3D feed, while Sky New Zealand and tournament host broadcaster, had promised to be the first broadcaster in New Zealand to deliver 3D programming. RWCL has, however, confirmed that all 48 games of the tournament will be available in high-definition.
BIZ & BITES
=> China's Zhang Jilong will remain the head of the Asian Football Confederation until the organisation's congress in May 2012. As recommended by the AFC's legal committee, an extraordinary congress for the election of president can be convened if the office of president falls vacant for more than one year. This means that a congress cannot be convened until after 30 May, 2012. At a meeting of the AFC executive committee, Zhang was unanimously nominated by the committee for the Asian seat on the FIFA executive committee.
Friday, 29th July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Pitch Int. has been retained by English Football League to distribute international rights to for 5 years beginning 2012/13. The league said that the “record five-year overseas broadcasting deal” had been concluded after a “highly competitive sales process.” Pitch sold rights in Middle East in the present 3-yr period, expiring at end 2011/12, with IMG handling rights in other regions outside the UK and Ireland. However, the Carling Cup (and the 3 lower divisions), has returned to having a single agency partner for the worldwide distribution of rights. Previous overseas rights deals were worth £24 mil ($39 mil) over 3 seasons covering 96 countries. The longer-term international deal will help compensate for a decline in the value of its UK media rights after the declined to extend live rights beyond the 2011/12. British Sky Broadcasting agreed to pay £195 mil for exclusive UK live rights to the Football League and Carling Cup for 2012/13 to 14/15 compared with the £264 mil the clubs share in the current 3-yr deal with BSkyB and the BBC.
=> UK’s ITV, holders of rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, is to show the matches live via iPhones and iPads, allowing UK viewers to watch games on their way to work, due to time-difference. The Rugby World Cup is scheduled for September 9 to October 23. This was revealed as ITV revealed an 86% rise in half-year profits to £204 mil ($334 mil). The increase came even though ad revenues were down 6% in the second quarter. Revenues from Jan to Jun rose to £1.03 bil from £987 mil.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Endemol Sport, organiser of the Dublin Super Cup, announced that the friendly tournament will be broadcast to over 160 territories worldwide through agreements for over 20 new broadcast deals. The inaugural tournament takes place in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium over the Irish Bank Holiday weekend and was launched as a result of a 10-year deal struck in 2010 between Endemol Sport and The Football Association of Ireland. The first tournament will feature England's Manchester City, Italy's Internazionale, Scotland's Celtic and a team representing the Airtricity League of Ireland. Endemol Sports previously signed 3-yr broadcast deals with Sky Sports in the UK, Fox Soccer in USA and SuperSport in Africa. Further deals have now been reached around the globe taking the total number of broadcasters to over 25.
EVENTS
=> Nimbus Sport, marketing for the Indian Hockey Federation, announced plans to invest Rs 2.5 bil (US$56.5 mil) in the World Series Hockey, but which is yet to be officially sanctioned by the International Hockey Federation. The announcement comes after the confirmation of eight franchises agreeing to participate in the 5-wk event starting 15 Dec. The inaugural series will consist of 61 matches, with each teams playing 14 league matches. The tournament offers US$2 mil in prize money and will involve around 40 overseas players, with all of the players, captains and coaches distributed among the franchises via a draft system.
=> FIFA is confident that Brazil will stage a successful World Cup in 2014 despite work still required on infrastructure. The federation has been critical of the pace of preparations, notably with regard to stadia and transport links. There were fears that Sao Paulo would be unable to provide a venue capable of hosting the opening match and other major fixtures at the World Cup, but Sao Paolo club Corinthians recently announced building a new R$820 mil ($528 mil) stadium which will serve this purpose. Meanwhile, the iconic Maracana Stadium is undergoing renovation to host the WC final, and the opening and closing ceremonies and soccer matches of the 2016 Olympics. The 2014 World Cup will take place from June 12 to July 13.
BIZ & BITES
=> Revenues for cricket-related TV advertising in India exceeded INR 2,000 crore this year, with ad slots accounting for 20% of the total TV marketing budget in 2011. According to Financial Express, ad revenues of about INR 1,500 crore were generated by ICC Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournaments. The 5 top sports channels in 2010 cricket generated a total of INR 1,300 crore in ad revenue. With India’s tour of England, this year’s cricketing bonanza is set to continue on TV. ESPN Star Sports, rights holder for the England v India cricket series, has commitment worth INR 180-200 crore from over 40 brands. During the tour India and England will play four test matches, five one day internationals and one T20 game.
=> FIFA has given Caribbean officials who attended a meeting in May at which bribes were allegedly offered by presidential candidate, Mohamed Bin Hammam, 48 hours to provide relevant and accurate information on the event. FIFA said that individuals who have information but fail to come forward “will be subject to the full range of sanctions.” On Saturday, Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, was banned for life from soccer after being found guilty on bribery charges. He is refusing to step down as AFC chief, although there have been calls for elections to appoint a replacement. China’s Zhang Jilong has been serving as acting AFC chief since Bin Hammam was suspended and AFC is set to discuss the leadership situation at a meeting on Friday.
=> Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the European Club Association, upped the ante in a power struggle between the clubs and FIFA by calling for a “revolution” against the world body, suggesting that there could be a breakaway concerns are not addressed over corruption and fixture congestion. Rummenigge is exasperated at the scandals engulfing FIFA, saying: “It [football] is a nice game decided by people who are corrupt and I am ready for a revolution if that is the only way to come to a clean and serious football family.” The ECA represents over 200 European clubs and has raised concerns over the demands placed on international players, a theme taken on by Rummenigge, who pointed out that the EURO will expand to 24 teams in 2016, compared with 8 in 1980, and that the World Cup now involves 32 teams, up from 16 in the 1970s.
=> Meanwhile, Sepp Blatter denies being too much influence in running of FIFA and the sport and pledges to oversee reforms over the next nine months to fight corruption. Blatter, head of FIFA since 1998, has been criticized by banned exco member, Mohd Bin Hammam and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of European Club Association, over his leadership, both claiming that he is resistant to change. Bin Hammam has accused Blatter of silencing people opposed to his way of running FIFA while Rummenigge questioned Blatter’s preparedness to clean up the sport. However, Blatter said that anti-corruption measures would be drawn up over the next months and the federation had been in contact with those working on anti-corruption systems with the United Nations.
=> Pitch Int. has been retained by English Football League to distribute international rights to for 5 years beginning 2012/13. The league said that the “record five-year overseas broadcasting deal” had been concluded after a “highly competitive sales process.” Pitch sold rights in Middle East in the present 3-yr period, expiring at end 2011/12, with IMG handling rights in other regions outside the UK and Ireland. However, the Carling Cup (and the 3 lower divisions), has returned to having a single agency partner for the worldwide distribution of rights. Previous overseas rights deals were worth £24 mil ($39 mil) over 3 seasons covering 96 countries. The longer-term international deal will help compensate for a decline in the value of its UK media rights after the declined to extend live rights beyond the 2011/12. British Sky Broadcasting agreed to pay £195 mil for exclusive UK live rights to the Football League and Carling Cup for 2012/13 to 14/15 compared with the £264 mil the clubs share in the current 3-yr deal with BSkyB and the BBC.
=> UK’s ITV, holders of rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, is to show the matches live via iPhones and iPads, allowing UK viewers to watch games on their way to work, due to time-difference. The Rugby World Cup is scheduled for September 9 to October 23. This was revealed as ITV revealed an 86% rise in half-year profits to £204 mil ($334 mil). The increase came even though ad revenues were down 6% in the second quarter. Revenues from Jan to Jun rose to £1.03 bil from £987 mil.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Endemol Sport, organiser of the Dublin Super Cup, announced that the friendly tournament will be broadcast to over 160 territories worldwide through agreements for over 20 new broadcast deals. The inaugural tournament takes place in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium over the Irish Bank Holiday weekend and was launched as a result of a 10-year deal struck in 2010 between Endemol Sport and The Football Association of Ireland. The first tournament will feature England's Manchester City, Italy's Internazionale, Scotland's Celtic and a team representing the Airtricity League of Ireland. Endemol Sports previously signed 3-yr broadcast deals with Sky Sports in the UK, Fox Soccer in USA and SuperSport in Africa. Further deals have now been reached around the globe taking the total number of broadcasters to over 25.
EVENTS
=> Nimbus Sport, marketing for the Indian Hockey Federation, announced plans to invest Rs 2.5 bil (US$56.5 mil) in the World Series Hockey, but which is yet to be officially sanctioned by the International Hockey Federation. The announcement comes after the confirmation of eight franchises agreeing to participate in the 5-wk event starting 15 Dec. The inaugural series will consist of 61 matches, with each teams playing 14 league matches. The tournament offers US$2 mil in prize money and will involve around 40 overseas players, with all of the players, captains and coaches distributed among the franchises via a draft system.
=> FIFA is confident that Brazil will stage a successful World Cup in 2014 despite work still required on infrastructure. The federation has been critical of the pace of preparations, notably with regard to stadia and transport links. There were fears that Sao Paulo would be unable to provide a venue capable of hosting the opening match and other major fixtures at the World Cup, but Sao Paolo club Corinthians recently announced building a new R$820 mil ($528 mil) stadium which will serve this purpose. Meanwhile, the iconic Maracana Stadium is undergoing renovation to host the WC final, and the opening and closing ceremonies and soccer matches of the 2016 Olympics. The 2014 World Cup will take place from June 12 to July 13.
BIZ & BITES
=> Revenues for cricket-related TV advertising in India exceeded INR 2,000 crore this year, with ad slots accounting for 20% of the total TV marketing budget in 2011. According to Financial Express, ad revenues of about INR 1,500 crore were generated by ICC Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournaments. The 5 top sports channels in 2010 cricket generated a total of INR 1,300 crore in ad revenue. With India’s tour of England, this year’s cricketing bonanza is set to continue on TV. ESPN Star Sports, rights holder for the England v India cricket series, has commitment worth INR 180-200 crore from over 40 brands. During the tour India and England will play four test matches, five one day internationals and one T20 game.
=> FIFA has given Caribbean officials who attended a meeting in May at which bribes were allegedly offered by presidential candidate, Mohamed Bin Hammam, 48 hours to provide relevant and accurate information on the event. FIFA said that individuals who have information but fail to come forward “will be subject to the full range of sanctions.” On Saturday, Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, was banned for life from soccer after being found guilty on bribery charges. He is refusing to step down as AFC chief, although there have been calls for elections to appoint a replacement. China’s Zhang Jilong has been serving as acting AFC chief since Bin Hammam was suspended and AFC is set to discuss the leadership situation at a meeting on Friday.
=> Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the European Club Association, upped the ante in a power struggle between the clubs and FIFA by calling for a “revolution” against the world body, suggesting that there could be a breakaway concerns are not addressed over corruption and fixture congestion. Rummenigge is exasperated at the scandals engulfing FIFA, saying: “It [football] is a nice game decided by people who are corrupt and I am ready for a revolution if that is the only way to come to a clean and serious football family.” The ECA represents over 200 European clubs and has raised concerns over the demands placed on international players, a theme taken on by Rummenigge, who pointed out that the EURO will expand to 24 teams in 2016, compared with 8 in 1980, and that the World Cup now involves 32 teams, up from 16 in the 1970s.
=> Meanwhile, Sepp Blatter denies being too much influence in running of FIFA and the sport and pledges to oversee reforms over the next nine months to fight corruption. Blatter, head of FIFA since 1998, has been criticized by banned exco member, Mohd Bin Hammam and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of European Club Association, over his leadership, both claiming that he is resistant to change. Bin Hammam has accused Blatter of silencing people opposed to his way of running FIFA while Rummenigge questioned Blatter’s preparedness to clean up the sport. However, Blatter said that anti-corruption measures would be drawn up over the next months and the federation had been in contact with those working on anti-corruption systems with the United Nations.
Wednesday, 27th July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> France Télévisions signed a 2-yr extension to its Tour de France deal up to the 2015 event. FT's present 5-yr deal with ASO was signed in 2008 and was worth about €23 mil ($33.1 mil) /yr. The new deal also includes other cycling events organised by ASO and the Dakar Rally. Earlier, ASO agreed a new deal for various races (including the Tour de France) with the European Broadcasting Union from 2012 to 2015. The 2011 Tour de France finished over the weekend and was won by Australia’s Cadel Evans.
=> Australia’s National Rugby League has provoked incredulity over an estimate that its rights could be worth up to A$1.4 bil ($1.5 bil) over five years, as they bid to match the total $1.25-billion value of deals that the Australian Football League recently agreed with pay-TV Fox Sports, Telstra and Seven Network. NRL rights negotiations are due to start soon, following the formation of an independent commission that is being set up to run the game. The league is jointly owned by News Corporation media group, and the Australian Rugby League, which presently runs the competition. The NRL’s rights are presently shared by Nine and Fox Sports, the pay-television channel carried by Foxtel, in deals worth A$500 million that expire at the end of next season.
=> The Italian Serie A and Serie B could be close to starting a TV channel of their own as they bid to break the stranglehold on their live rights by pay-TV Sky Italia and commercial broadcaster, Mediaset. The Leagues to increase the capital of Lega Calcio Service, their jointly-owned service company, from €550,000 ($790,900) to €6.2 mil and to expand its activities to include media services. Under the present 2-yr deals with Sky and Mediaset, the League receives over €900 mil /season for rights, but clubs are concerned with a reduction in competition in the Italian pay TV market which could cause a drop in fees for the next rights contract. They have stated they will not accept less than €1 bil /season for the new contract period beginning with the 2012-13 season.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> NHK Japan Broadcasting Corporation has made the move to digital, switching off analogue broadcasts in all areas of Japan except for those hit hardest by the recent earthquake and tsunami. After 58 years on the air, analogue broadcast has ended in Japan. In Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the three prefectures impacted most by March's devastating earthquake and tsunami, analogue signals will remain until March 31, 2012.
STATS & DATA
=> Revenues from global sales of on-demand movies and TV programs will reach $5.7 bil in 2016, up from $3.6 bil in 2010, according to Digital TV Research. The On-demand TV Forecasts predicts digital cable will generate $2.6 bil in 2016, double the $1.5 bil for 2010. DTH is expected to rake in $1.7 bil in revenues in 2016, remaining the second largest contributor to on-demand revenues and by 2012, IPTV will overtake DTT as the third largest platform. Revenues are expected to triple in Asia Pacific over the same period, reaching $1.2 bil, with China leading the growth.
EVENTS
=> Team triathlon, in which a 4-person mixed team each completes all three disciplines, was accepted onto the 2014 Asian Games calendar in Incheon, a move which the Int. Triathlon Union hopes is a step towards being accepted into the Olympics. Team Triathlon was included in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last year. The IOC’s executive board will decide in 2013 whether to include team triathlon in the programme for the 2016 Olympics. The 2014 Asian Games are scheduled for Sep 14 to Oct 4.
BIZ & BITES
=> Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg leads the MediaGuardian 100 annual list of the most powerful media people, while Rupert Murdoch fell from 4th to sixth and son James dropped off the top ten. Zuckerberg bumps Steve Jobs off number one down to fifth. Twitter’s Jack Dorsey is second, in third is Google’s Larry Page and BBC’s Mark Thompson in fourth. The top ten also includes WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell (8) and X-Factor’s Simon Cowell (9). The top ten people in TV; BBC’s Thompson tops the list again with Cowell in second. New entry Danny Cohen, controller of BBC One, is in at third and Elisabeth Murdoch at ninth, with George Entwistle, the director of BBC Vision, capping off the top ten.
=> The warring bodies that both purport to run field hockey in India have reached a temporary truce, but insisted the interim settlement does not amount to the full merger that was being sought. The two bodies, Hockey India and the Indian Hockey Federation have formed a joint executive and working committees to work jointly to organise the national championships, prepare and select the national teams and participation in international tournaments. However, both teams will go ahead with their plans for apparently competing, Indian Premier League-style, city franchise-based professional hockey leagues.
=> The 2010/11 NFL season will kick off as scheduled in Sep after players approved a new 10-yr collective agreement, ending a lockout which threatened to disrupt the campaign. The NFL Players’ Association accepted a deal approved by team owners and the 32 teams will now begin preparation ahead of the first pre-season games on Aug 11. The 4-month lockout had sparked fears of a cancellation of the 2010/11 season but teams and players finally agreed on respective shares of the league’s $9-bil annual turnover, the main stumbling block in the dispute. Teams will now receive 53%, while players get 47%, and the salary cap per team for the next 3 seasons is $120.4 mil /campaign (plus $22 mil in benefits) with teams committed to spend 89% of the limit.
=> France Télévisions signed a 2-yr extension to its Tour de France deal up to the 2015 event. FT's present 5-yr deal with ASO was signed in 2008 and was worth about €23 mil ($33.1 mil) /yr. The new deal also includes other cycling events organised by ASO and the Dakar Rally. Earlier, ASO agreed a new deal for various races (including the Tour de France) with the European Broadcasting Union from 2012 to 2015. The 2011 Tour de France finished over the weekend and was won by Australia’s Cadel Evans.
=> Australia’s National Rugby League has provoked incredulity over an estimate that its rights could be worth up to A$1.4 bil ($1.5 bil) over five years, as they bid to match the total $1.25-billion value of deals that the Australian Football League recently agreed with pay-TV Fox Sports, Telstra and Seven Network. NRL rights negotiations are due to start soon, following the formation of an independent commission that is being set up to run the game. The league is jointly owned by News Corporation media group, and the Australian Rugby League, which presently runs the competition. The NRL’s rights are presently shared by Nine and Fox Sports, the pay-television channel carried by Foxtel, in deals worth A$500 million that expire at the end of next season.
=> The Italian Serie A and Serie B could be close to starting a TV channel of their own as they bid to break the stranglehold on their live rights by pay-TV Sky Italia and commercial broadcaster, Mediaset. The Leagues to increase the capital of Lega Calcio Service, their jointly-owned service company, from €550,000 ($790,900) to €6.2 mil and to expand its activities to include media services. Under the present 2-yr deals with Sky and Mediaset, the League receives over €900 mil /season for rights, but clubs are concerned with a reduction in competition in the Italian pay TV market which could cause a drop in fees for the next rights contract. They have stated they will not accept less than €1 bil /season for the new contract period beginning with the 2012-13 season.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> NHK Japan Broadcasting Corporation has made the move to digital, switching off analogue broadcasts in all areas of Japan except for those hit hardest by the recent earthquake and tsunami. After 58 years on the air, analogue broadcast has ended in Japan. In Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the three prefectures impacted most by March's devastating earthquake and tsunami, analogue signals will remain until March 31, 2012.
STATS & DATA
=> Revenues from global sales of on-demand movies and TV programs will reach $5.7 bil in 2016, up from $3.6 bil in 2010, according to Digital TV Research. The On-demand TV Forecasts predicts digital cable will generate $2.6 bil in 2016, double the $1.5 bil for 2010. DTH is expected to rake in $1.7 bil in revenues in 2016, remaining the second largest contributor to on-demand revenues and by 2012, IPTV will overtake DTT as the third largest platform. Revenues are expected to triple in Asia Pacific over the same period, reaching $1.2 bil, with China leading the growth.
EVENTS
=> Team triathlon, in which a 4-person mixed team each completes all three disciplines, was accepted onto the 2014 Asian Games calendar in Incheon, a move which the Int. Triathlon Union hopes is a step towards being accepted into the Olympics. Team Triathlon was included in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last year. The IOC’s executive board will decide in 2013 whether to include team triathlon in the programme for the 2016 Olympics. The 2014 Asian Games are scheduled for Sep 14 to Oct 4.
BIZ & BITES
=> Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg leads the MediaGuardian 100 annual list of the most powerful media people, while Rupert Murdoch fell from 4th to sixth and son James dropped off the top ten. Zuckerberg bumps Steve Jobs off number one down to fifth. Twitter’s Jack Dorsey is second, in third is Google’s Larry Page and BBC’s Mark Thompson in fourth. The top ten also includes WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell (8) and X-Factor’s Simon Cowell (9). The top ten people in TV; BBC’s Thompson tops the list again with Cowell in second. New entry Danny Cohen, controller of BBC One, is in at third and Elisabeth Murdoch at ninth, with George Entwistle, the director of BBC Vision, capping off the top ten.
=> The warring bodies that both purport to run field hockey in India have reached a temporary truce, but insisted the interim settlement does not amount to the full merger that was being sought. The two bodies, Hockey India and the Indian Hockey Federation have formed a joint executive and working committees to work jointly to organise the national championships, prepare and select the national teams and participation in international tournaments. However, both teams will go ahead with their plans for apparently competing, Indian Premier League-style, city franchise-based professional hockey leagues.
=> The 2010/11 NFL season will kick off as scheduled in Sep after players approved a new 10-yr collective agreement, ending a lockout which threatened to disrupt the campaign. The NFL Players’ Association accepted a deal approved by team owners and the 32 teams will now begin preparation ahead of the first pre-season games on Aug 11. The 4-month lockout had sparked fears of a cancellation of the 2010/11 season but teams and players finally agreed on respective shares of the league’s $9-bil annual turnover, the main stumbling block in the dispute. Teams will now receive 53%, while players get 47%, and the salary cap per team for the next 3 seasons is $120.4 mil /campaign (plus $22 mil in benefits) with teams committed to spend 89% of the limit.
Monday, 25th July 2011
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Malaysia’s Star Publications has invested RM35 mil ($11.7 mil) for 51% share in the Asian channel operator LI TV Holdings. LI TV Holdings' owner, Juita Viden, will hold 49% equity in .LI TV Holdings which operates Life Inspired (Li), an Asian HD pan-regional lifestyle channel. The service, which features first-run and exclusive programs focused on food, home, wellness, travel and style, launched in August 2009 and expanded onto ten other platforms over two years. Its reach includes Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan. By next month, the channel will launch on three additional platforms in North Asia.
=> Bloomberg TV has expanded its reach over 20% this year and is now the most widely distributed full-time, pan-regional business and financial news channel in the region’s key financial hubs of Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and Korea. BTV achieved this distribution lead by strategic territories in Asia-Pac, the result of a concentrated distribution drive. In Singapore, BTV is available to all StarHub and mioTV homes, totaling over 840,000 subs. In Australia, BTV is seen in in 2.2 mil homes while in Hong Kong, it stands at over 1.6 mil and 3.2 mil households in Korea. BTV is now in more than 12 mil home across the region.
=> Neo Sports acquired broadcast rights to the Rugby World Cup 2011, from 9 Sep to 23 Oct in New Zealand. Neo will broadcast all 48 matches live to 100 mil homes. Japan is to host the Rugby WC in 2019, a first for Asia. Along with the inclusion of rugby sevens in the Olympic Games, increasing the popularity of the sport right across Asia is key to the International Rugby Board’s development plan over the next 10 years. Neo also televised the last Rugby World Cup, held in France.
STATS & DATA
=> The FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 set a new TV viewing benchmark as it smashed several TV audience records. The final 3 German games in later stages averaged audiences 16 mil – the highest audiences for WWC matches in Germany. Average audience of 17 mil watched Germany bow out to Japan, nearly a quarter of the German population. Comparatively, an average of 15.5 mil watched Klitschko v. Haye boxing match and 14.8 mil watched Germany v. Serbia in the 2010 FIFA WC. Japan achieved record audiences at home for the final despite the match airing in the early hours of Monday morning. 10.4 mil Japanese watched as their women beat the USA, with peak audience of 15 mil during the penalty shoot-out. This is over 3 times higher than Japan’s semi-final last week and it is 50% higher than the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.
EVENTS
=> The inaugural World Series Hockey, formed by Nimbus Sport and the Indian Hockey Federation, will play from 15 Dec to 22 Jan in 8 cities. Nimbus Sport signed up 176 players (136 Indian and 40 foreigners) who will all be assigned to eight franchises based on the Draft system with eight teams having 21 players each. Some big names include Lucas Villa and Pedro Ibarra (Arg), Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi (Pak), Rodrigo Garza (Spa), Brent Livermore (Aus), Jiwa Mohan (Mas) and Sung Min Lee (Kor). Indian stars include Rajpal Singh, Sandeep Singh and Adrian D’Souza.
BIZ & BITES
=> AFC president, Mohamed Bin Hammam, expects to be found guilty of bribery allegations but continues to maintain his innocence. Bin Hammam is due to appear at a hearing of the FIFA ethics committee in Zurich. CFU officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester are also facing charges at the hearing. Verdicts are expected tomorrow but Bin Hammam is not optimistic of being cleared, writing in an online blog: “It seems likely that FIFA has already made its decision weeks ago. So, none of us should be completely surprised if a guilty verdict is returned.”
=> Malaysia’s Star Publications has invested RM35 mil ($11.7 mil) for 51% share in the Asian channel operator LI TV Holdings. LI TV Holdings' owner, Juita Viden, will hold 49% equity in .LI TV Holdings which operates Life Inspired (Li), an Asian HD pan-regional lifestyle channel. The service, which features first-run and exclusive programs focused on food, home, wellness, travel and style, launched in August 2009 and expanded onto ten other platforms over two years. Its reach includes Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan. By next month, the channel will launch on three additional platforms in North Asia.
=> Bloomberg TV has expanded its reach over 20% this year and is now the most widely distributed full-time, pan-regional business and financial news channel in the region’s key financial hubs of Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and Korea. BTV achieved this distribution lead by strategic territories in Asia-Pac, the result of a concentrated distribution drive. In Singapore, BTV is available to all StarHub and mioTV homes, totaling over 840,000 subs. In Australia, BTV is seen in in 2.2 mil homes while in Hong Kong, it stands at over 1.6 mil and 3.2 mil households in Korea. BTV is now in more than 12 mil home across the region.
=> Neo Sports acquired broadcast rights to the Rugby World Cup 2011, from 9 Sep to 23 Oct in New Zealand. Neo will broadcast all 48 matches live to 100 mil homes. Japan is to host the Rugby WC in 2019, a first for Asia. Along with the inclusion of rugby sevens in the Olympic Games, increasing the popularity of the sport right across Asia is key to the International Rugby Board’s development plan over the next 10 years. Neo also televised the last Rugby World Cup, held in France.
STATS & DATA
=> The FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 set a new TV viewing benchmark as it smashed several TV audience records. The final 3 German games in later stages averaged audiences 16 mil – the highest audiences for WWC matches in Germany. Average audience of 17 mil watched Germany bow out to Japan, nearly a quarter of the German population. Comparatively, an average of 15.5 mil watched Klitschko v. Haye boxing match and 14.8 mil watched Germany v. Serbia in the 2010 FIFA WC. Japan achieved record audiences at home for the final despite the match airing in the early hours of Monday morning. 10.4 mil Japanese watched as their women beat the USA, with peak audience of 15 mil during the penalty shoot-out. This is over 3 times higher than Japan’s semi-final last week and it is 50% higher than the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.
EVENTS
=> The inaugural World Series Hockey, formed by Nimbus Sport and the Indian Hockey Federation, will play from 15 Dec to 22 Jan in 8 cities. Nimbus Sport signed up 176 players (136 Indian and 40 foreigners) who will all be assigned to eight franchises based on the Draft system with eight teams having 21 players each. Some big names include Lucas Villa and Pedro Ibarra (Arg), Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi (Pak), Rodrigo Garza (Spa), Brent Livermore (Aus), Jiwa Mohan (Mas) and Sung Min Lee (Kor). Indian stars include Rajpal Singh, Sandeep Singh and Adrian D’Souza.
BIZ & BITES
=> AFC president, Mohamed Bin Hammam, expects to be found guilty of bribery allegations but continues to maintain his innocence. Bin Hammam is due to appear at a hearing of the FIFA ethics committee in Zurich. CFU officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester are also facing charges at the hearing. Verdicts are expected tomorrow but Bin Hammam is not optimistic of being cleared, writing in an online blog: “It seems likely that FIFA has already made its decision weeks ago. So, none of us should be completely surprised if a guilty verdict is returned.”
Friday, 22nd July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Croatian IPTV, MAXtv, acquired rights to show over 100 live games from the domestic soccer league this season, in a deal that also includes title sponsorship of the competition, renamed the ‘MAXtv Prva Liga’. MAXtv previously showed 30 games /season but has now increased its output by signing an exclusive deal with Digitel, the agency appointed to sell the rights. Pubcaster HRT had broadcast live games for the last 21 years but was unable to agree terms for 2011/12. HRT unsuccessfully offered a 10% improved bid of around HRK7 mil ($1.33 mil) with Digitel, which was holding out for over three times that amount for the rights to broadcast all matches. MAXtv will also carry its first live game in high-definition on Sep 10.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Two new HD channels launched in India by ESPN Star Sports will coincide with the opening Test match of Indian cricket’s tour of England. The Test at Lords is the 2,000th Test match in history of the game, the 100th between the two sides and “the start of a skirmish that has the world number one ranking at stake”. Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will come to the match on a stunning 99 international hundreds. These factors expected drivers for large audiences on Star Cricket HD. Following the Test in England, the Champions League T20 tournament and India’s tour of Australia, will follow on Star Cricket HD.
=> Revenues for TV broadcasters in India are estimated to have risen by 13.2% year-on-year in the 2010/11 financial year, with the popularity of entertainment channels sustaining this pattern. In a report by India Credit Rating Agency, advertising revenue is still the key driver of broadcaster revenue contributing 80% of income, says the ICRA in its July 2011 TV industry study. DTH subs witnessed a growth of 62% in 2010/11 with companies seeing a median revenue growth of 22.8% in the Q4 2010/11, compared with the same in 2009/10, says ICRA. India’s TV broadcasting industry’s performance was boosted by the ICC Cricket World Cup in Q4 2010/11 financial year, and a healthy growth in income from general entertainment channels.
=> Canadian pay-TV, TSN, has won rights for the next two Rugby World Cups, starting with the 2011 tournament. TSN, who has not aired the tournament since 1995, will show all matches from the 2011 and 2015 World Cups on TSN and TSN2 channels. There will also be comprehensive coverage of the two events held in New Zealand and England respectively, on TSN.ca website and TSN Mobile TV. Overseas TV rights deals for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and some for 2015, have been signed with Nine Network and Fox Sports (Aus), ITV (UK), S4C (Wales), RTE (Ire), France Télévisions and Canal Plus (Fra), Sky Italia (Ita), NBC and Universal Sports (USA), ESPN Latin America (S.America), Neo Sports (India) and now TV (HK). Live rights to the Rugby World Cup and archives are marketed by IMG Media.
STATS & DATA
=> AFC Champions League audiences for the group and round of 16 stage matches are up 15% to 155 mil across Asia-Pac. 104 matches have been played this season and Japan emerged top of the ratings 69.85 mil viewers, 45.2% of total audience. The matches were broadcast by TV Asahi. Japan also topped ratings for this year’s AFC Asian Cup 2011 at 43.2% of total audience. China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, UAE and Korea follow as the next 5 highest rated markets. Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan and Korea viewership jumped 13%, from 124.4 mil previously to 140.2 mil.
=> [con't] AFC Champions League at a glance: China had nearly 62 mil viewers, up 63% on previous year, watched 1st and 2nd round games on CCTV5 and provincial stations. CCTV5 recorded 44.3 mil viewers, up 146% from 18 mil last year. Average viewers /match grew from 324,889 to 426,138. Indonesia had largest audience growth increasing 203% from 2010. Nearly 7 mil Indonesians followed Arema Indonesia’s group stage campaign on RCTI, sending the average ratings /match soaring to 1.16 mil from 384,000 last year. Ratings in Korea grew 79% from 2010 while the average number of viewers per telecast on SBS Korea and MBC Sports combined grew 17% from 39,612 to 46,423.
EVENTS
=> India’s TransStadia has bought the World Series Boxing India franchise in a two way race for a period of 10 years. The company had in 2009 unveiled plans to build a multipurpose stadium in Gujarat at an investment of Rs3 bil and in in an interview last year, CEO Udit Seth had said that the sports industry in India worth Rs1 tri. The Videocon Group was earlier awarded the Delhi franchise when the WSB was launched but had pulled out of the WSB at the last minute without citing any reason. AIBA then went ahead to sign Korean city of Incheon as replacement for Delhi Tigers, as the franchise was then called.
=> Croatian IPTV, MAXtv, acquired rights to show over 100 live games from the domestic soccer league this season, in a deal that also includes title sponsorship of the competition, renamed the ‘MAXtv Prva Liga’. MAXtv previously showed 30 games /season but has now increased its output by signing an exclusive deal with Digitel, the agency appointed to sell the rights. Pubcaster HRT had broadcast live games for the last 21 years but was unable to agree terms for 2011/12. HRT unsuccessfully offered a 10% improved bid of around HRK7 mil ($1.33 mil) with Digitel, which was holding out for over three times that amount for the rights to broadcast all matches. MAXtv will also carry its first live game in high-definition on Sep 10.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Two new HD channels launched in India by ESPN Star Sports will coincide with the opening Test match of Indian cricket’s tour of England. The Test at Lords is the 2,000th Test match in history of the game, the 100th between the two sides and “the start of a skirmish that has the world number one ranking at stake”. Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will come to the match on a stunning 99 international hundreds. These factors expected drivers for large audiences on Star Cricket HD. Following the Test in England, the Champions League T20 tournament and India’s tour of Australia, will follow on Star Cricket HD.
=> Revenues for TV broadcasters in India are estimated to have risen by 13.2% year-on-year in the 2010/11 financial year, with the popularity of entertainment channels sustaining this pattern. In a report by India Credit Rating Agency, advertising revenue is still the key driver of broadcaster revenue contributing 80% of income, says the ICRA in its July 2011 TV industry study. DTH subs witnessed a growth of 62% in 2010/11 with companies seeing a median revenue growth of 22.8% in the Q4 2010/11, compared with the same in 2009/10, says ICRA. India’s TV broadcasting industry’s performance was boosted by the ICC Cricket World Cup in Q4 2010/11 financial year, and a healthy growth in income from general entertainment channels.
=> Canadian pay-TV, TSN, has won rights for the next two Rugby World Cups, starting with the 2011 tournament. TSN, who has not aired the tournament since 1995, will show all matches from the 2011 and 2015 World Cups on TSN and TSN2 channels. There will also be comprehensive coverage of the two events held in New Zealand and England respectively, on TSN.ca website and TSN Mobile TV. Overseas TV rights deals for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and some for 2015, have been signed with Nine Network and Fox Sports (Aus), ITV (UK), S4C (Wales), RTE (Ire), France Télévisions and Canal Plus (Fra), Sky Italia (Ita), NBC and Universal Sports (USA), ESPN Latin America (S.America), Neo Sports (India) and now TV (HK). Live rights to the Rugby World Cup and archives are marketed by IMG Media.
STATS & DATA
=> AFC Champions League audiences for the group and round of 16 stage matches are up 15% to 155 mil across Asia-Pac. 104 matches have been played this season and Japan emerged top of the ratings 69.85 mil viewers, 45.2% of total audience. The matches were broadcast by TV Asahi. Japan also topped ratings for this year’s AFC Asian Cup 2011 at 43.2% of total audience. China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, UAE and Korea follow as the next 5 highest rated markets. Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan and Korea viewership jumped 13%, from 124.4 mil previously to 140.2 mil.
=> [con't] AFC Champions League at a glance: China had nearly 62 mil viewers, up 63% on previous year, watched 1st and 2nd round games on CCTV5 and provincial stations. CCTV5 recorded 44.3 mil viewers, up 146% from 18 mil last year. Average viewers /match grew from 324,889 to 426,138. Indonesia had largest audience growth increasing 203% from 2010. Nearly 7 mil Indonesians followed Arema Indonesia’s group stage campaign on RCTI, sending the average ratings /match soaring to 1.16 mil from 384,000 last year. Ratings in Korea grew 79% from 2010 while the average number of viewers per telecast on SBS Korea and MBC Sports combined grew 17% from 39,612 to 46,423.
EVENTS
=> India’s TransStadia has bought the World Series Boxing India franchise in a two way race for a period of 10 years. The company had in 2009 unveiled plans to build a multipurpose stadium in Gujarat at an investment of Rs3 bil and in in an interview last year, CEO Udit Seth had said that the sports industry in India worth Rs1 tri. The Videocon Group was earlier awarded the Delhi franchise when the WSB was launched but had pulled out of the WSB at the last minute without citing any reason. AIBA then went ahead to sign Korean city of Incheon as replacement for Delhi Tigers, as the franchise was then called.
Thursday, 21st July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Australia’s National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership are set to discuss their next broadcasting contract, aiming to match the record A$650 mil ($698 mil) deal over five years that the Australian Football League recently agreed with Foxtel. Pay-TV Foxtel’s present deal with NRL is worth A$42 mil /year for five live games a week, and clubs could continue with a mix of pay-TV and free-to-air coverage in the new contract or abandon pay-TV, in a bid to increase overall value of the deal. Rights are presently shared by Nine (paying about A$40 mil /season) and Fox Sports in deals that expire at the end of next season.
=> German pubcaster, WDR, finally agreed to back an amended boxing rights deal signed between ARD and German promoter, Sauerland Event. Early 2010, ARD signed a deal with Sauerland for 2013 to 2015 worth around €54 mil ($76.5 mil) but sparked controversy led by WDR, among regional pubcasters, that form part of the ARD network. WDR now backs a reduced 2-yr contract (2013 to 2014) between ARD and Sauerland, with the number of fights and the rights fee reduced, plus a one-sided contract extension option relinquished. WDR described the new deal as "an acceptable compromise." The influential WDR council had questioned the value of showing boxing and were said to be annoyed that they were only aware of the contract with Sauerland a year after it was signed.
=> The French Trophée des Champions will be broadcast in 77 countries, an increase of 25 countries from the year. The match between Lille and Marseille takes place in the Tangier, Morocco and LFP is claiming record international distribution. The LFP says the 77 include USA, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Russia and Slovakia. The game will be broadcast across N. Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East. Coverage of Ligue 1 also increased for 2010/11, with Canal Plus Events signing a range of deals, including agreements in Indonesia (O Channel), Japan (J-Sports), Hong Kong (Now TV) and Burma (Skynet). Ligue 1 is now broadcast by 80 broadcasters in 180 countries across the world with commentary in 54 different languages. Canal Plus Events had raised €24 mil ($34 mil) in rights revenue for Ligue 1 for 2010/11.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> The Women’s Tennis Association is set to launch a tender for international media rights for its 22 top-tier Premier tournaments as well as the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships for four years beginning in 2013. The process will be managed by Evolution Media Capital, a part of sports agency CAA Sports. EMC will act as ‘independent advisor’ to the WTA through the process, the same way it advised ice hockey's NHL in its recent tender, resulting in the league bypassing ESPN International, its long-standing partner for international media rights, and awarding the contract to Advisers Media International and Medge Consulting.
STATS & DATA
=> Research by Mobile Interactive Group revealed opportunities in social media and participation TV services. In a white paper on trends and opportunities in participation TV (P-TV), MIG believes it uncovered key technological and behavioral insights to the P-TV value chain. Mobile will become the main vehicle for interaction between viewer and broadcaster, with 40% of mobile users most likely to be multi-tasking using their phone while watching TV. Smartphone adoption will drive TV and mobile multi-tasking in UK and US, creating a more engaged audience, and significantly increasing programme interaction. Facebook will drive a shift in interactive audience behavior away from calls and text with these channels becoming peripheral in the long term. Interactive events via Facebook are expected to generate $51.7 mil (£32.04 mil) in the UK by 2012 and $2.9 bil globally by 2016.
BIZ & BITES
=> Rupert Murdoch’s position at News Corporation could be at risk with rumours that Chase Carey, News Corp’s chief operating officer, being lined up to replace the octogenarian, following the phone-hacking scandal that hit its News International subsidiary. However, members of the News Corp board have denied discussing the succession. In front of a select committee of the UK parliament, Murdoch said that he is not resigning, with his family owning 39.8% of voting shares in the media empire. News Corp controls or has a stake in pay-TV sports broadcasters around the world, including Fox Sports in various countries, ESPN Star Sports in Asia, British Sky Broadcasting in the UK, Sky Deutschland in Germany and Sky Italia in Italy.
=> Australia’s National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership are set to discuss their next broadcasting contract, aiming to match the record A$650 mil ($698 mil) deal over five years that the Australian Football League recently agreed with Foxtel. Pay-TV Foxtel’s present deal with NRL is worth A$42 mil /year for five live games a week, and clubs could continue with a mix of pay-TV and free-to-air coverage in the new contract or abandon pay-TV, in a bid to increase overall value of the deal. Rights are presently shared by Nine (paying about A$40 mil /season) and Fox Sports in deals that expire at the end of next season.
=> German pubcaster, WDR, finally agreed to back an amended boxing rights deal signed between ARD and German promoter, Sauerland Event. Early 2010, ARD signed a deal with Sauerland for 2013 to 2015 worth around €54 mil ($76.5 mil) but sparked controversy led by WDR, among regional pubcasters, that form part of the ARD network. WDR now backs a reduced 2-yr contract (2013 to 2014) between ARD and Sauerland, with the number of fights and the rights fee reduced, plus a one-sided contract extension option relinquished. WDR described the new deal as "an acceptable compromise." The influential WDR council had questioned the value of showing boxing and were said to be annoyed that they were only aware of the contract with Sauerland a year after it was signed.
=> The French Trophée des Champions will be broadcast in 77 countries, an increase of 25 countries from the year. The match between Lille and Marseille takes place in the Tangier, Morocco and LFP is claiming record international distribution. The LFP says the 77 include USA, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Russia and Slovakia. The game will be broadcast across N. Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East. Coverage of Ligue 1 also increased for 2010/11, with Canal Plus Events signing a range of deals, including agreements in Indonesia (O Channel), Japan (J-Sports), Hong Kong (Now TV) and Burma (Skynet). Ligue 1 is now broadcast by 80 broadcasters in 180 countries across the world with commentary in 54 different languages. Canal Plus Events had raised €24 mil ($34 mil) in rights revenue for Ligue 1 for 2010/11.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> The Women’s Tennis Association is set to launch a tender for international media rights for its 22 top-tier Premier tournaments as well as the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships for four years beginning in 2013. The process will be managed by Evolution Media Capital, a part of sports agency CAA Sports. EMC will act as ‘independent advisor’ to the WTA through the process, the same way it advised ice hockey's NHL in its recent tender, resulting in the league bypassing ESPN International, its long-standing partner for international media rights, and awarding the contract to Advisers Media International and Medge Consulting.
STATS & DATA
=> Research by Mobile Interactive Group revealed opportunities in social media and participation TV services. In a white paper on trends and opportunities in participation TV (P-TV), MIG believes it uncovered key technological and behavioral insights to the P-TV value chain. Mobile will become the main vehicle for interaction between viewer and broadcaster, with 40% of mobile users most likely to be multi-tasking using their phone while watching TV. Smartphone adoption will drive TV and mobile multi-tasking in UK and US, creating a more engaged audience, and significantly increasing programme interaction. Facebook will drive a shift in interactive audience behavior away from calls and text with these channels becoming peripheral in the long term. Interactive events via Facebook are expected to generate $51.7 mil (£32.04 mil) in the UK by 2012 and $2.9 bil globally by 2016.
BIZ & BITES
=> Rupert Murdoch’s position at News Corporation could be at risk with rumours that Chase Carey, News Corp’s chief operating officer, being lined up to replace the octogenarian, following the phone-hacking scandal that hit its News International subsidiary. However, members of the News Corp board have denied discussing the succession. In front of a select committee of the UK parliament, Murdoch said that he is not resigning, with his family owning 39.8% of voting shares in the media empire. News Corp controls or has a stake in pay-TV sports broadcasters around the world, including Fox Sports in various countries, ESPN Star Sports in Asia, British Sky Broadcasting in the UK, Sky Deutschland in Germany and Sky Italia in Italy.
Wednesday, 20th July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Swiss football’s Superleague accepted a joint bid from Cinetrade and Swisscom for domestic broadcast of a complete package of matches. The 5-yr deal, reportedly worth €26 mil (US$36.5 mil) /season, will begin in 2012. The deal has been met with anger in some quarters as all but one game /week will be shown on pay TV. A rival bid from Swisscable and SSR would have allowed 36 matches a season to be shown on free-to-air television. The ten-team league is currently rated 16th in Europe by UEFA.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> MediaCorp’s Channel 5 has secured the broadcasting rights in Singapore for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Singapore and Malaysia. Both games will be shown live as the two compete for a slot in the competition to be held in Brazil. The first of two legs will be played in Singapore on 23rd Jul and the return match on 28th Jul in Kuala Lumpur. The 2nd round match is Singapore’s first game in the competition after receiving a bye through the opening round. Malaysia overcame Taiwan on away goals to set up the match.
=> Hong Kong’s IPTV, Now TV, has renewed acquired exclusive broadcast rights to UEFA 2012 European Championships, which will take place in Poland and Ukraine. Now TV will broadcast all 31 games from Euro 2012 in HD and show various pre-tournament programming, highlights programmes and tournament reviews. The broadcaster was the rights-holder for the last European Championships in Austria and Switzerland in 2008. Subscribers to Now TV’s ‘Premium Mega Sports Pack’ can access Euro 2012 matches at no extra cost. The 16-team Euro 2012 tournament will be staged from June 8 to July 1.
=> ESPN Star Sports has launched 24-hr HD channels ESPN HD and STAR Cricket HD. Both channels are available on Videocon d2h and STAR Cricket HD securing further carriage on Tata Sky platforms. STAR Cricket HD is set to showcase live coverage of India's cricket tour of England starting July 21 with the Champions LeagueT20 and India's tour of Australia set to follow. ESPN HD offers F1 coverage from the Hungarian GP and the U.S. Senior Open Golf and Major League Baseball throughout July. Next month, the service will start its coverage of the 2011-12 season of the Barclays Premier League. The two new channels join ESPN STAR Sports' existing services in India, ESPN, STAR Cricket and STAR Sports.
=> Real Madrid is looking for potentially lucrative expansion of its branded content in China, a huge market for the biggest football teams. RM signed an agreement with WISeKey for exclusive distribution of the club’s mobile content in China this coming season. The deal is part of the new media strategy WISeKey is deploying with famous brands, allowing them to monetise brand value by associating its users in selected countries with restricted mobile content rights. WISeKey and its partners will distribute and market RM’s mobile content, covering China and the extended network of Chinese Real Madrid fans. The club estimates over 100 mil fans in China alone. Real Madrid distributes digital content in over 40 countries worldwide and recently agreed a deal with Spanish, Prisa, to distribute mobile content in 25 countries in North and South America.
=> Thailand's TrueVisions will roll out its HDTV service in Phuket. In 2007, TrueVisions first tested HD TV with the Barclay's Premier League HD, Discovery HD, National Geographic Channel HD, History Channel HD, and some HD programmes on True Series. In Nov last year, the company finally started broadcasting three HD channels - Reality HD, HBO HD and TrueSport HD - but these were only available to cable TV subscribers. TrueVisions now has added 11 more channels to the service, including TrueSport HD2. Although HD channels are only available to cable subscribers, TrueVisions said satellite subscribers will soon be able to receive the service starting in 2012.
=> MP & Silva has added a magazine show to the programming line-up from Italian soccer’s Serie A that is offered to international broadcasters. MP&S distributes the international broadcast rights to the league, had announced ‘Rivals,’ a third weekly magazine show available for the forthcoming 2011/12 season. The new magazine show will combine match footage, highlights and interviews in a programme that MP & Silva says will "dig deep into the historical and classic Serie A rivalries that extend beyond the clubs’ shared history and supporters to the players." MP&S already offers ‘Total Italian Football’ preview and ‘Serie A Show’ highlights programmes to international broadcasters. Rivals and The Serie A Show will be aired on Mondays, while Total Italian Football will be broadcast on Thursdays.
STATS & DATA
=> Mobile video consumption is forecast to exceed 693 bil minutes by 2015, according to In-Stat. Nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners use their device to watch video. That number climbs to 86% for tablet users although there are significantly more smartphone viewers than tablet viewers currently, but says that gap is narrowing. However, tablet viewers watch more video on their device and are willing to pay a higher price for content compared to smartphone users.
=> Swiss football’s Superleague accepted a joint bid from Cinetrade and Swisscom for domestic broadcast of a complete package of matches. The 5-yr deal, reportedly worth €26 mil (US$36.5 mil) /season, will begin in 2012. The deal has been met with anger in some quarters as all but one game /week will be shown on pay TV. A rival bid from Swisscable and SSR would have allowed 36 matches a season to be shown on free-to-air television. The ten-team league is currently rated 16th in Europe by UEFA.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> MediaCorp’s Channel 5 has secured the broadcasting rights in Singapore for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Singapore and Malaysia. Both games will be shown live as the two compete for a slot in the competition to be held in Brazil. The first of two legs will be played in Singapore on 23rd Jul and the return match on 28th Jul in Kuala Lumpur. The 2nd round match is Singapore’s first game in the competition after receiving a bye through the opening round. Malaysia overcame Taiwan on away goals to set up the match.
=> Hong Kong’s IPTV, Now TV, has renewed acquired exclusive broadcast rights to UEFA 2012 European Championships, which will take place in Poland and Ukraine. Now TV will broadcast all 31 games from Euro 2012 in HD and show various pre-tournament programming, highlights programmes and tournament reviews. The broadcaster was the rights-holder for the last European Championships in Austria and Switzerland in 2008. Subscribers to Now TV’s ‘Premium Mega Sports Pack’ can access Euro 2012 matches at no extra cost. The 16-team Euro 2012 tournament will be staged from June 8 to July 1.
=> ESPN Star Sports has launched 24-hr HD channels ESPN HD and STAR Cricket HD. Both channels are available on Videocon d2h and STAR Cricket HD securing further carriage on Tata Sky platforms. STAR Cricket HD is set to showcase live coverage of India's cricket tour of England starting July 21 with the Champions LeagueT20 and India's tour of Australia set to follow. ESPN HD offers F1 coverage from the Hungarian GP and the U.S. Senior Open Golf and Major League Baseball throughout July. Next month, the service will start its coverage of the 2011-12 season of the Barclays Premier League. The two new channels join ESPN STAR Sports' existing services in India, ESPN, STAR Cricket and STAR Sports.
=> Real Madrid is looking for potentially lucrative expansion of its branded content in China, a huge market for the biggest football teams. RM signed an agreement with WISeKey for exclusive distribution of the club’s mobile content in China this coming season. The deal is part of the new media strategy WISeKey is deploying with famous brands, allowing them to monetise brand value by associating its users in selected countries with restricted mobile content rights. WISeKey and its partners will distribute and market RM’s mobile content, covering China and the extended network of Chinese Real Madrid fans. The club estimates over 100 mil fans in China alone. Real Madrid distributes digital content in over 40 countries worldwide and recently agreed a deal with Spanish, Prisa, to distribute mobile content in 25 countries in North and South America.
=> Thailand's TrueVisions will roll out its HDTV service in Phuket. In 2007, TrueVisions first tested HD TV with the Barclay's Premier League HD, Discovery HD, National Geographic Channel HD, History Channel HD, and some HD programmes on True Series. In Nov last year, the company finally started broadcasting three HD channels - Reality HD, HBO HD and TrueSport HD - but these were only available to cable TV subscribers. TrueVisions now has added 11 more channels to the service, including TrueSport HD2. Although HD channels are only available to cable subscribers, TrueVisions said satellite subscribers will soon be able to receive the service starting in 2012.
=> MP & Silva has added a magazine show to the programming line-up from Italian soccer’s Serie A that is offered to international broadcasters. MP&S distributes the international broadcast rights to the league, had announced ‘Rivals,’ a third weekly magazine show available for the forthcoming 2011/12 season. The new magazine show will combine match footage, highlights and interviews in a programme that MP & Silva says will "dig deep into the historical and classic Serie A rivalries that extend beyond the clubs’ shared history and supporters to the players." MP&S already offers ‘Total Italian Football’ preview and ‘Serie A Show’ highlights programmes to international broadcasters. Rivals and The Serie A Show will be aired on Mondays, while Total Italian Football will be broadcast on Thursdays.
STATS & DATA
=> Mobile video consumption is forecast to exceed 693 bil minutes by 2015, according to In-Stat. Nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners use their device to watch video. That number climbs to 86% for tablet users although there are significantly more smartphone viewers than tablet viewers currently, but says that gap is narrowing. However, tablet viewers watch more video on their device and are willing to pay a higher price for content compared to smartphone users.
Tuesday, 19th July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Tour de France teams are pressuring the Amaury family, owners of the 108-year-old cycling race, to share TV-rights income for the first time. Most competitors support lobbying for some of the TV income from the Amaury Sport Organisation, although French squads are wary of confrontation because they risk having their invitation to ride withdrawn. ASO gets as much as $200 mil from TV rights. ASO has controlled the TdF since the 1940sand also runs the Dakar rally and the Paris marathon. Tdf is broadcast in over 180 countries and gets 60% of its income from TV rights, The Tour differs from other competitions because organizers don’t give teams a share of TV money.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Neo Sports has acquired rights to all matches from the forthcoming 2011 Rugby World Cup. Neo Sports will show all 48 games from the tournament in New Zealand. The 2011 World Cup begins at Eden Park in Auckland on Sep 9, when the hosts play Tonga, and concludes with the final at the same venue on Oct 23.
=> The Outdoor Channel Asia has secured a partnership with the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship (ISC) and the Asian Surfing Championship (ASC) to air the competitive events throughout Asia-Pacific. As a result of the deal, the Outdoor Channel is the exclusive pan-regional broadcaster of both championships in Asia. The channel will air all 16 ISC events and the seven ASC events held in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan during 2011/12.
NEW MEDIA
=> The June 2011 monthly Global Video Insights Report from Vuclip revealed a surge that makes iPhone the most popular mobile video device. Nokia and BlackBerry devices have traditionally been the most popular in terms of mobile video views, but Apple’s flagship device has taken top spot for the first time, measured by aggregate total video views by device. iPhone has become the leading smartphone for mobile video in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, two of Vuclip's top 10 countries for mobile consumption. It is the top device in Singapore where iPod Touch and iPad were on the top 10 devices for video consumption. The iPhone is now also the top device in China due to consumption of local film and TV content.
STATS & DATA
=> Asia-Pacific advertising spend is expected to grow 5.9% this year, helping to push global adex levels back to pre-crisis 2008, say ZenithOptimedia. Between 2010 and 2013, advertising in Asia-Pac is forecast to grow 7% a year – or 10.7% excluding Japan. Global adex is forecast to reach US$471 bil this year. Forecasts for the region are up from 10.5% to 11.4%, driven by China (11.7% growth to 13.4%) and Malaysia (from 10% to 12.3%). The worst-hit regions are the Middle East and North Africa. Internet is the fastest-growing medium (14.2% a year) between 2010 and 2013, while TV will contribute the most new ad dollars at 49%. TV is the second fastest growing medium at 6.2% a year with adex forecast to grow by US$35.4 bil, to US$215.0 bil between 2010 and 2013. TV attracted 40.1% of spend in 2010, up from 37.3% in 2005, and “is forecast to attract 41.4% in 2013.
=> Over a quarter of TV households worldwide, or 387 mil homes, are expected to have subscriptions to triple-play services by 2016, says Digital TV Research in the Triple-Play Forecasts report. Penetration will reach 25% by 2016, up from 7.1% reported at end 2010. Asia-Pacific subs will represent 58% by 2016, up from 35% at end-2010. China alone will make 147 mil additional subs, supplying 44% of global subs while India will see 18 mil subs. The 2016 3P penetration forecast represents 387 mil homes, up from 96 mil at end-2010. Triple-play revenues will reach $170 bil by 2016, representing $100 bil more than 2010. The U.S. will account for $39 bil of the additional revenues, with Japan up by $9 bil and China increasing by $8 bil.
EVENTS
=> ASEAN says they will lodge a collective bid to host soccer's 2030 World Cup, and have already met to discuss ways to implement a unified visa to ease travel within the region. ASEAN foreign ministers are due to meet in Indonesia tomorrow to discuss pooling of resources. ASEAN was formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and over the years have expanded to include Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. Of the 10, only Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have yet to implement a visa-free policy. There would be challenges to a collective bid for the 2030 World Cup and ASEAN are up against competition from Uruguay and Argentina, who are preparing a joint bid to mark the centenerary of the first World Cup, held in Uruguay, and possibly China.
=> The IAAF and Dentsu have teamed up to launch the Federation’s first-ever centralised licensing programme, which gives fans opportunity to buy official goods online. Adidas and the UK’s Great Branding Co have worked together on the product design, production and distribution. The licensing programme will be developed within the framework of the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea next month. Daegu 2011 official licensed products will be available on www.merchstore.net/IAAF_2011 and will also be sold on site in Daegu. The IAAF said the licensing programme will be rolled out for other IAAF World Athletics Series events after Daegu 2011.
=> Tour de France teams are pressuring the Amaury family, owners of the 108-year-old cycling race, to share TV-rights income for the first time. Most competitors support lobbying for some of the TV income from the Amaury Sport Organisation, although French squads are wary of confrontation because they risk having their invitation to ride withdrawn. ASO gets as much as $200 mil from TV rights. ASO has controlled the TdF since the 1940sand also runs the Dakar rally and the Paris marathon. Tdf is broadcast in over 180 countries and gets 60% of its income from TV rights, The Tour differs from other competitions because organizers don’t give teams a share of TV money.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Neo Sports has acquired rights to all matches from the forthcoming 2011 Rugby World Cup. Neo Sports will show all 48 games from the tournament in New Zealand. The 2011 World Cup begins at Eden Park in Auckland on Sep 9, when the hosts play Tonga, and concludes with the final at the same venue on Oct 23.
=> The Outdoor Channel Asia has secured a partnership with the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championship (ISC) and the Asian Surfing Championship (ASC) to air the competitive events throughout Asia-Pacific. As a result of the deal, the Outdoor Channel is the exclusive pan-regional broadcaster of both championships in Asia. The channel will air all 16 ISC events and the seven ASC events held in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan during 2011/12.
NEW MEDIA
=> The June 2011 monthly Global Video Insights Report from Vuclip revealed a surge that makes iPhone the most popular mobile video device. Nokia and BlackBerry devices have traditionally been the most popular in terms of mobile video views, but Apple’s flagship device has taken top spot for the first time, measured by aggregate total video views by device. iPhone has become the leading smartphone for mobile video in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, two of Vuclip's top 10 countries for mobile consumption. It is the top device in Singapore where iPod Touch and iPad were on the top 10 devices for video consumption. The iPhone is now also the top device in China due to consumption of local film and TV content.
STATS & DATA
=> Asia-Pacific advertising spend is expected to grow 5.9% this year, helping to push global adex levels back to pre-crisis 2008, say ZenithOptimedia. Between 2010 and 2013, advertising in Asia-Pac is forecast to grow 7% a year – or 10.7% excluding Japan. Global adex is forecast to reach US$471 bil this year. Forecasts for the region are up from 10.5% to 11.4%, driven by China (11.7% growth to 13.4%) and Malaysia (from 10% to 12.3%). The worst-hit regions are the Middle East and North Africa. Internet is the fastest-growing medium (14.2% a year) between 2010 and 2013, while TV will contribute the most new ad dollars at 49%. TV is the second fastest growing medium at 6.2% a year with adex forecast to grow by US$35.4 bil, to US$215.0 bil between 2010 and 2013. TV attracted 40.1% of spend in 2010, up from 37.3% in 2005, and “is forecast to attract 41.4% in 2013.
=> Over a quarter of TV households worldwide, or 387 mil homes, are expected to have subscriptions to triple-play services by 2016, says Digital TV Research in the Triple-Play Forecasts report. Penetration will reach 25% by 2016, up from 7.1% reported at end 2010. Asia-Pacific subs will represent 58% by 2016, up from 35% at end-2010. China alone will make 147 mil additional subs, supplying 44% of global subs while India will see 18 mil subs. The 2016 3P penetration forecast represents 387 mil homes, up from 96 mil at end-2010. Triple-play revenues will reach $170 bil by 2016, representing $100 bil more than 2010. The U.S. will account for $39 bil of the additional revenues, with Japan up by $9 bil and China increasing by $8 bil.
EVENTS
=> ASEAN says they will lodge a collective bid to host soccer's 2030 World Cup, and have already met to discuss ways to implement a unified visa to ease travel within the region. ASEAN foreign ministers are due to meet in Indonesia tomorrow to discuss pooling of resources. ASEAN was formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and over the years have expanded to include Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. Of the 10, only Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have yet to implement a visa-free policy. There would be challenges to a collective bid for the 2030 World Cup and ASEAN are up against competition from Uruguay and Argentina, who are preparing a joint bid to mark the centenerary of the first World Cup, held in Uruguay, and possibly China.
=> The IAAF and Dentsu have teamed up to launch the Federation’s first-ever centralised licensing programme, which gives fans opportunity to buy official goods online. Adidas and the UK’s Great Branding Co have worked together on the product design, production and distribution. The licensing programme will be developed within the framework of the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea next month. Daegu 2011 official licensed products will be available on www.merchstore.net/IAAF_2011 and will also be sold on site in Daegu. The IAAF said the licensing programme will be rolled out for other IAAF World Athletics Series events after Daegu 2011.
Monday, 18th July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Bolivia TV has acquired rights to 72 South American qualifiers leading-up to the 2014 World Cup. The deal was made with The Game, the soccer rights arm of Argentina’s Full Play agency. Full Play acquires the international rights to the S. American qualifiers and sells them on to broadcasters throughout the region. The deal with Bolivia TV means that all national team’s qualifiers and friendlies are available on free-to-air television across the country for the first time in 26 years. Commercial broadcasters Unitel and ATB previously held free-to-air rights to the WC qualifiers, but both were only available on cable. The national association, FBF, is believed to be earning $50,000 per friendly match and up to $250,000 for each WC qualifier.
=> Clubs of the Danish Superliga are considering launching a league TV channel as they pressure broadcasters to submit higher bids in a second round tender for media rights from 2012/13 onwards. The Superliga rights were first up for sale earlier this year but the reserve price of over DKr1.1 bil ($208.4 mil) for the next 3-yr rights cycle was not met. Superliga clubs now express support to set up a league TV channel if broadcasters do not submit acceptable bids. The current Danish Superliga domestic broadcast deals from 2009/10 to 11/12 are worth DKr1.06 bil.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> SingTel's IPTV’ mio TV has expanded its lineup with Travel Channel, the all-rugby Setanta Sports and the Indian news network TIMES Now. Travel Channel offers up content on luxury getaways, eco-friendly holidays and backpacking adventures, with a slate that includes Trabant Trek, Planet Sports and Distant Shores. Setanta Sports is will deliver rugby action from across the globe and is the channel’s 6th distribution agreement in Asia, following on from a deal in with SingTel’s rival StarHub, in Hong Kong (with Now TV), Malaysia and Brunei (with Astro) and in Sri Lanka (with LBN and Carlton Sports Network). Setanta now reaches over 3.5 mil TV households in Asia.
=> WinTV is launching Taiwan`s first HD general TV channel in a bid to help elevate the digital cable TV industry. WinTV plans to spend NT$1.2 bil (£25.6 mil) over 5 years to finance production of locally-produced programmes for its channel. The company will spend around NT$66 mil on recreation and leisure, sports, business, news and children's programmes. The Taiwan government, in light of low digital TV penetration in Taiwan, has vowed extensive promotion of digital TV next year. Currently, digital TV subs account for only 10% of the island`s 5 mil cable TV subscribers. Taiwan`s cable TV penetration rate is among the highest in Asia but digital TV penetration is still low. Comparatively, mainland China has 87 mil subs of digital cable TV service, nearly half of the mainland`s 180 mil cable TV subscribers.
=> Meanwhile, the lack of converged media such as IPTV in China and lack of single regulatory body are preventing telecom and media diversity. According to analyst, Ovum, insufficient liberalisation and market privatisation has led to lack of competition between broadcasters and telcos; key players in telecom and media markets (including cable companies and 3 biggest telcos) are state-owned entities. China earlier announced plans to digitalise all of its cable TV networks above the county level by 2015 to spur the convergence of cable TV, telecommunications and the Internet. Meanwhile, the SARFT was to have submitted a proposal to the government to set up a national cable television network company.
EVENTS
=> The Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) has signed its biggest sponsorship deal with menswear apparel manufacturer Crocodile Int. Ltd. The agreement is worth S$1 mil (US$820,000) over 10 years and will help the STTA support and develop young talent in Singapore, and will include staging of the inaugural Crocodile Challenge Cup, held from 10th-13th Nov, involving primary school students of Singaporean citizenship, and features a prize fund of S$18,000 (US$14,790).
=> Bolivia TV has acquired rights to 72 South American qualifiers leading-up to the 2014 World Cup. The deal was made with The Game, the soccer rights arm of Argentina’s Full Play agency. Full Play acquires the international rights to the S. American qualifiers and sells them on to broadcasters throughout the region. The deal with Bolivia TV means that all national team’s qualifiers and friendlies are available on free-to-air television across the country for the first time in 26 years. Commercial broadcasters Unitel and ATB previously held free-to-air rights to the WC qualifiers, but both were only available on cable. The national association, FBF, is believed to be earning $50,000 per friendly match and up to $250,000 for each WC qualifier.
=> Clubs of the Danish Superliga are considering launching a league TV channel as they pressure broadcasters to submit higher bids in a second round tender for media rights from 2012/13 onwards. The Superliga rights were first up for sale earlier this year but the reserve price of over DKr1.1 bil ($208.4 mil) for the next 3-yr rights cycle was not met. Superliga clubs now express support to set up a league TV channel if broadcasters do not submit acceptable bids. The current Danish Superliga domestic broadcast deals from 2009/10 to 11/12 are worth DKr1.06 bil.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> SingTel's IPTV’ mio TV has expanded its lineup with Travel Channel, the all-rugby Setanta Sports and the Indian news network TIMES Now. Travel Channel offers up content on luxury getaways, eco-friendly holidays and backpacking adventures, with a slate that includes Trabant Trek, Planet Sports and Distant Shores. Setanta Sports is will deliver rugby action from across the globe and is the channel’s 6th distribution agreement in Asia, following on from a deal in with SingTel’s rival StarHub, in Hong Kong (with Now TV), Malaysia and Brunei (with Astro) and in Sri Lanka (with LBN and Carlton Sports Network). Setanta now reaches over 3.5 mil TV households in Asia.
=> WinTV is launching Taiwan`s first HD general TV channel in a bid to help elevate the digital cable TV industry. WinTV plans to spend NT$1.2 bil (£25.6 mil) over 5 years to finance production of locally-produced programmes for its channel. The company will spend around NT$66 mil on recreation and leisure, sports, business, news and children's programmes. The Taiwan government, in light of low digital TV penetration in Taiwan, has vowed extensive promotion of digital TV next year. Currently, digital TV subs account for only 10% of the island`s 5 mil cable TV subscribers. Taiwan`s cable TV penetration rate is among the highest in Asia but digital TV penetration is still low. Comparatively, mainland China has 87 mil subs of digital cable TV service, nearly half of the mainland`s 180 mil cable TV subscribers.
=> Meanwhile, the lack of converged media such as IPTV in China and lack of single regulatory body are preventing telecom and media diversity. According to analyst, Ovum, insufficient liberalisation and market privatisation has led to lack of competition between broadcasters and telcos; key players in telecom and media markets (including cable companies and 3 biggest telcos) are state-owned entities. China earlier announced plans to digitalise all of its cable TV networks above the county level by 2015 to spur the convergence of cable TV, telecommunications and the Internet. Meanwhile, the SARFT was to have submitted a proposal to the government to set up a national cable television network company.
EVENTS
=> The Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) has signed its biggest sponsorship deal with menswear apparel manufacturer Crocodile Int. Ltd. The agreement is worth S$1 mil (US$820,000) over 10 years and will help the STTA support and develop young talent in Singapore, and will include staging of the inaugural Crocodile Challenge Cup, held from 10th-13th Nov, involving primary school students of Singaporean citizenship, and features a prize fund of S$18,000 (US$14,790).
Friday, 15th July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> VTV, Vietnam’s state broadcaster, has acquired rights to show the second leg of a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match between Vietnam and Qatar, playing at Hanoi’s My Dinh stadium on July 28. VTV is reported to have paid US$5,000 to acquire rights from Audio Vision Global, the cable operator. The deal comes after VTV missed out on the rights for the first leg when it refused to pay the price being asked by MP & Silva, the Singapore-based sports agency which was marketing the rights.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Deutsche Telekom will get football fans interactively involved with Bundesliga pay-TV service "LIGA total!" in the coming season. Through IPTV platform Entertain or via mobile phone viewers can interact with each other during live match coverage and take part in other activities. Telekom could also offer sports betting or online games down the line. After HSV and Borussia Dortmund, Telekom also wants to launch TV channels for fans of other big Bundesliga football clubs. "LIGA total!" is currently has 250,000 subscribers via Entertain and mobile phone.
EVENTS
=> The men’s and women’s singles champions at the US Open Tennis Championship will this year receive a record $1.8 mil each, a 6.4% increase on last year. Total prize purse for the competition, which is scheduled for Aug 29 to Sep 11 in New York, is $23.7 million, the US Tennis Association said. The US Open will be offering equal prize money to the men’s and women’s singles champions for the 39th successive year.
BIZ & BITES
=> Manchester Utd is the most valuable sports franchise in the world, according to Forbes' annual world's top 50, valued at $1.86 bil, ahead of NFL's Dallas Cowboys ($1.81 bil) and MLB's New York Yankees ($1.7 bil). Forbes noted that the Yankees are worth 86% more than baseball’s second most valuable team, the Boston Red Sox, ranked 31st. NFL's Washington Redskins ($1.55 bil) and Real Madrid ($1.45 bil) round out the top five. Forbes said TV ratings for NFL games are at "an all-time high," with the league's TV revenue up 700% over the past 25 years. The Jacksonville Jaguars, in 45th place, are the least valuable NFL franchise at $725 mil, but are still worth more than any NBA or NHL side as well as all but five of the 30 MLB franchises. The New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, each ranked 47th and 48th, were the only two NBA franchises to make top 50, which featured no NHL teams. Like the NBA, Formula 1 was represented by just two teams in the top 50; Ferrari and McLaren.
=> Leo Kirch, who turned his one-man film distribution into Germany’s second-biggest media business before losing control of it after a gamble on pa-TV, has died. He was 84. No cause of death was given but Kirch had suffered from diabetes and near-blindness for several years. Kirch Holding GmbH was once valued at $5 bil. It held Germany’s biggest film-licensing library, the nation’s only pay-TV channel and rights to 2 FIFA World Cups. When Kirch resigned, his companies were under court protection from creditors, the biggest bankruptcy filing in Germany since World War II.
=> VTV, Vietnam’s state broadcaster, has acquired rights to show the second leg of a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match between Vietnam and Qatar, playing at Hanoi’s My Dinh stadium on July 28. VTV is reported to have paid US$5,000 to acquire rights from Audio Vision Global, the cable operator. The deal comes after VTV missed out on the rights for the first leg when it refused to pay the price being asked by MP & Silva, the Singapore-based sports agency which was marketing the rights.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Deutsche Telekom will get football fans interactively involved with Bundesliga pay-TV service "LIGA total!" in the coming season. Through IPTV platform Entertain or via mobile phone viewers can interact with each other during live match coverage and take part in other activities. Telekom could also offer sports betting or online games down the line. After HSV and Borussia Dortmund, Telekom also wants to launch TV channels for fans of other big Bundesliga football clubs. "LIGA total!" is currently has 250,000 subscribers via Entertain and mobile phone.
EVENTS
=> The men’s and women’s singles champions at the US Open Tennis Championship will this year receive a record $1.8 mil each, a 6.4% increase on last year. Total prize purse for the competition, which is scheduled for Aug 29 to Sep 11 in New York, is $23.7 million, the US Tennis Association said. The US Open will be offering equal prize money to the men’s and women’s singles champions for the 39th successive year.
BIZ & BITES
=> Manchester Utd is the most valuable sports franchise in the world, according to Forbes' annual world's top 50, valued at $1.86 bil, ahead of NFL's Dallas Cowboys ($1.81 bil) and MLB's New York Yankees ($1.7 bil). Forbes noted that the Yankees are worth 86% more than baseball’s second most valuable team, the Boston Red Sox, ranked 31st. NFL's Washington Redskins ($1.55 bil) and Real Madrid ($1.45 bil) round out the top five. Forbes said TV ratings for NFL games are at "an all-time high," with the league's TV revenue up 700% over the past 25 years. The Jacksonville Jaguars, in 45th place, are the least valuable NFL franchise at $725 mil, but are still worth more than any NBA or NHL side as well as all but five of the 30 MLB franchises. The New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, each ranked 47th and 48th, were the only two NBA franchises to make top 50, which featured no NHL teams. Like the NBA, Formula 1 was represented by just two teams in the top 50; Ferrari and McLaren.
=> Leo Kirch, who turned his one-man film distribution into Germany’s second-biggest media business before losing control of it after a gamble on pa-TV, has died. He was 84. No cause of death was given but Kirch had suffered from diabetes and near-blindness for several years. Kirch Holding GmbH was once valued at $5 bil. It held Germany’s biggest film-licensing library, the nation’s only pay-TV channel and rights to 2 FIFA World Cups. When Kirch resigned, his companies were under court protection from creditors, the biggest bankruptcy filing in Germany since World War II.
Thursday, 14th July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Thailand’s RS Company is set to launch a new pay-TV soccer channel next year with live coverage of Spanish Liga. RS picked up rights with a "huge" bid, according to Mediapro, Liga’s appointed agency. The acquisition is a blow to TrueVisions, which holds rights in a present contract period, expiring end 2011/12 season. Dominant pay-TV, TrueVisions, has over 9 mil subs to its satellite services who on the same day also announced a 3-year deal to broadcast UEFA Champions and Europa Leagues, in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos from 2012/13 to 14/15. TrueVisions had been paying close to $2 mil /year in its 3-yr Liga deal and the bid from RS is believed to be worth at least three times as much. Mediapro has carved Thailand out of the Asian rights package it sold to ESPN Star Sports, who is paying $6 mil /year for cross-platform rights in 18 Asian territories, including Malaysia and Indonesia.
=> Mediapro also recently agreed a renewal of Liga BBVA media rights with Sweden’s TV4, which acquired rights for the Nordic region of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The deal is thought to be valued at about €5.5 mil ($7.7 mil) /season in the present 3-yr deal to about €7 mil /season in the new cycle. Mediapro brought in close to €150 mil from international Liga rights for the present 3-yr period, and is expected to close in on €200 mil in new deals, thanks to large increases in territories like Thailand, where new player, RS, is believed to have agreed to pay $6 mil over 3 seasons from 2012/13.
=> Paraguayan soccer’s APF doubled TV rights revenues when it sealed a 7-yr renewal of an existing deal with agency, Teledeportes, for media rights to the top-tier domestic Primera División. APF will receive a base fee of $8.5 mil /season, for a total of close to $60 mil over 7 seasons from 2013/14 to 19/20. Teledeportes is controlled by Argentina's Clarín media group and will pay additional fees to cover payments to the lower divisions. Teledeportes' total revenue, it is believed, will reach $88 million over 7 years. The deal is a vast improvement over the present deal, in which APF earned a base fee of just over $3 mil /season.
=> The BBC is on the verge of agreeing a lucrative new deal to continue broadcasting rugby union’s Six Nations Championship. The deal will be for 4 years beginning in 2014, following the expiry in 2013 of the present deal. The present deal is estimated to be worth £40 mil ($63.3 mil) /season and the proposed renewal comes despite the fact that the BBC is facing cuts of up to 25% to its £300-mil sports rights budget.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> ESPN Star Sports has inked a 5-yr deal with Dorna Sports for exclusive broadcast of the MotoGP World Championship across 24 Asian countries. ESS has been broadcasting MotoGP for the past16 years and the new deal includes exclusive pay-TV coverage in addition to live broadcasts of all qualifying practices and GP races through its channels on television (ESPN, STAR Sports, and ESPN HD), online (ESPN Player), and mobile (Mobile ESPN). The current season covers 18 races held over four continents.
=> CFA Team China will return to CCTV after the state broadcaster signed a 3-and-half year deal with the Chinese Football Assoc.’s commercial partner China Football Industry Development Company/World Sport Group to broadcast games of the National Teams at all levels. The deal begins with the FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifying match against Laos in Kunming on 23 July on CCTV 5 until the end of 2014. The deal with CCTV follows a 4-yr deal between WSG and the CFIDC to develop new commercial and media opportunities for CFA Team China in June.
=> Neo Sports has won broadcast rights for the French Open for the next 5 years over incumbent holder ESPN Star Sports. The deal covers 2012 to 2016 for the Indian Sub Continent. Terms were not disclosed. The French Open is a marquee Grand Slam event held in May and is regarded as one of the most physically demanding tennis tournaments in the world since it is the only Grand Slam played on clay.
=> MP & Silva has agreed an extension to its existing deal with DFL Sports Enterprises to widen distribution rights to the German Bundesliga to include France, becoming the 4th territory covered by the partnership, following a recent agreement for the rights in Japan, Vietnam and Belgium. Under the new deal, MP & Silva will be the exclusive distributor of the rights across all platforms, including cable, satellite, terrestrial, Web TV, IPTV and mobile, for the next three seasons.
STATS & DATA
=> In-home TV coverage of 2010 Fifa World Cup has broken viewership records by reaching over 3.2 bil people the world over, or 46.4% of the global population, based on a minimum of one minute of viewing. The figure is 8% over the previous edition in Germany. Based on viewers watching at least 20 consecutive minutes of coverage, WC2010 reached nearly a third of the world with 2.2 bil viewers, or 3% higher than 2006. Average in-home global audience for each match was 188.4 million, up 6% on 2006, while highest average audience was for the final between Spain and the Netherlands at 530.9 mil, up 5% on 2006. About 909.6 mil viewers watched at least one minute of the finals and is likely to have surpassed 1 bil if out-of-home viewers were included.
EVENTS
=> Motor racing’s GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series are to be merged from next year. The two series, which were launched in 2005 and 2008 respectively, are a support series for drivers that hope to progress to Formula 1, and this year, the series have featured, for the first time, the same 13 teams and the same car, the third-generation GP2/11. The decision follows the cancellation of two of GP2 Asia's three rounds, which were due to be held in Bahrain this year, because of the political situation there.
BIZ & BITES
=> Tony Fernandes is set to play Donald Trump's role in the Asian edition of The Apprentice, says the show's producer, RGM. Like the US version where winners go on to be Trump's apprentice, the Asian-edition winner will become a paid apprentice to Tony, who is one of Asia's youngest and most celebrated business leaders. He heads Malaysian conglomerate, Tune Group, the parent of airline AirAsia and the Formula One team Lotus Racing. He is expected to spice the 'ultimate job interview' with his trademark wit, daring decisions, and entrepreneurial grit.
=> The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) agreed a sponsorship deal with Telekom Malaysia that sees the telco continue its support of the Malaysian national team. The deal is worth RM24 mil (US$8 mil) over 4 years and sees TM becoming the official partner of the national football team, while the TM logo appear on national squad apparel during training and tournaments, as well as on sports goods and equipment. TM will also send two Malaysian footballers accompanied by a coach to attend training sessions abroad.
=> Thailand’s RS Company is set to launch a new pay-TV soccer channel next year with live coverage of Spanish Liga. RS picked up rights with a "huge" bid, according to Mediapro, Liga’s appointed agency. The acquisition is a blow to TrueVisions, which holds rights in a present contract period, expiring end 2011/12 season. Dominant pay-TV, TrueVisions, has over 9 mil subs to its satellite services who on the same day also announced a 3-year deal to broadcast UEFA Champions and Europa Leagues, in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos from 2012/13 to 14/15. TrueVisions had been paying close to $2 mil /year in its 3-yr Liga deal and the bid from RS is believed to be worth at least three times as much. Mediapro has carved Thailand out of the Asian rights package it sold to ESPN Star Sports, who is paying $6 mil /year for cross-platform rights in 18 Asian territories, including Malaysia and Indonesia.
=> Mediapro also recently agreed a renewal of Liga BBVA media rights with Sweden’s TV4, which acquired rights for the Nordic region of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The deal is thought to be valued at about €5.5 mil ($7.7 mil) /season in the present 3-yr deal to about €7 mil /season in the new cycle. Mediapro brought in close to €150 mil from international Liga rights for the present 3-yr period, and is expected to close in on €200 mil in new deals, thanks to large increases in territories like Thailand, where new player, RS, is believed to have agreed to pay $6 mil over 3 seasons from 2012/13.
=> Paraguayan soccer’s APF doubled TV rights revenues when it sealed a 7-yr renewal of an existing deal with agency, Teledeportes, for media rights to the top-tier domestic Primera División. APF will receive a base fee of $8.5 mil /season, for a total of close to $60 mil over 7 seasons from 2013/14 to 19/20. Teledeportes is controlled by Argentina's Clarín media group and will pay additional fees to cover payments to the lower divisions. Teledeportes' total revenue, it is believed, will reach $88 million over 7 years. The deal is a vast improvement over the present deal, in which APF earned a base fee of just over $3 mil /season.
=> The BBC is on the verge of agreeing a lucrative new deal to continue broadcasting rugby union’s Six Nations Championship. The deal will be for 4 years beginning in 2014, following the expiry in 2013 of the present deal. The present deal is estimated to be worth £40 mil ($63.3 mil) /season and the proposed renewal comes despite the fact that the BBC is facing cuts of up to 25% to its £300-mil sports rights budget.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> ESPN Star Sports has inked a 5-yr deal with Dorna Sports for exclusive broadcast of the MotoGP World Championship across 24 Asian countries. ESS has been broadcasting MotoGP for the past16 years and the new deal includes exclusive pay-TV coverage in addition to live broadcasts of all qualifying practices and GP races through its channels on television (ESPN, STAR Sports, and ESPN HD), online (ESPN Player), and mobile (Mobile ESPN). The current season covers 18 races held over four continents.
=> CFA Team China will return to CCTV after the state broadcaster signed a 3-and-half year deal with the Chinese Football Assoc.’s commercial partner China Football Industry Development Company/World Sport Group to broadcast games of the National Teams at all levels. The deal begins with the FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifying match against Laos in Kunming on 23 July on CCTV 5 until the end of 2014. The deal with CCTV follows a 4-yr deal between WSG and the CFIDC to develop new commercial and media opportunities for CFA Team China in June.
=> Neo Sports has won broadcast rights for the French Open for the next 5 years over incumbent holder ESPN Star Sports. The deal covers 2012 to 2016 for the Indian Sub Continent. Terms were not disclosed. The French Open is a marquee Grand Slam event held in May and is regarded as one of the most physically demanding tennis tournaments in the world since it is the only Grand Slam played on clay.
=> MP & Silva has agreed an extension to its existing deal with DFL Sports Enterprises to widen distribution rights to the German Bundesliga to include France, becoming the 4th territory covered by the partnership, following a recent agreement for the rights in Japan, Vietnam and Belgium. Under the new deal, MP & Silva will be the exclusive distributor of the rights across all platforms, including cable, satellite, terrestrial, Web TV, IPTV and mobile, for the next three seasons.
STATS & DATA
=> In-home TV coverage of 2010 Fifa World Cup has broken viewership records by reaching over 3.2 bil people the world over, or 46.4% of the global population, based on a minimum of one minute of viewing. The figure is 8% over the previous edition in Germany. Based on viewers watching at least 20 consecutive minutes of coverage, WC2010 reached nearly a third of the world with 2.2 bil viewers, or 3% higher than 2006. Average in-home global audience for each match was 188.4 million, up 6% on 2006, while highest average audience was for the final between Spain and the Netherlands at 530.9 mil, up 5% on 2006. About 909.6 mil viewers watched at least one minute of the finals and is likely to have surpassed 1 bil if out-of-home viewers were included.
EVENTS
=> Motor racing’s GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series are to be merged from next year. The two series, which were launched in 2005 and 2008 respectively, are a support series for drivers that hope to progress to Formula 1, and this year, the series have featured, for the first time, the same 13 teams and the same car, the third-generation GP2/11. The decision follows the cancellation of two of GP2 Asia's three rounds, which were due to be held in Bahrain this year, because of the political situation there.
BIZ & BITES
=> Tony Fernandes is set to play Donald Trump's role in the Asian edition of The Apprentice, says the show's producer, RGM. Like the US version where winners go on to be Trump's apprentice, the Asian-edition winner will become a paid apprentice to Tony, who is one of Asia's youngest and most celebrated business leaders. He heads Malaysian conglomerate, Tune Group, the parent of airline AirAsia and the Formula One team Lotus Racing. He is expected to spice the 'ultimate job interview' with his trademark wit, daring decisions, and entrepreneurial grit.
=> The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) agreed a sponsorship deal with Telekom Malaysia that sees the telco continue its support of the Malaysian national team. The deal is worth RM24 mil (US$8 mil) over 4 years and sees TM becoming the official partner of the national football team, while the TM logo appear on national squad apparel during training and tournaments, as well as on sports goods and equipment. TM will also send two Malaysian footballers accompanied by a coach to attend training sessions abroad.
Tuesday, 12th July 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Italian Serie A clubs have agreed a new revenue-sharing deal for media rights for the 2010/11 season and approved guidelines for the sale of rights from 2012 to 2015. The clubs had earlier been at odds over respective shares of €197 mil ($281 mil) or about 25% of total annual media rights revenue. The clubs also agreed to guidelines for sale of rights of 2012/13 to 14/15 to switch to collective rights selling. Pay-TV Sky Italia was awarded a package of domestic rights in 2009 in a deal worth €1.16 bil ($1.67 bil), or €580 mil per season for two seasons. Digital terrestrial, Mediaset Premium, paid €437 mil (€211 mil for 2010/11 and €226 ,mil for 2011/12) for live coverage of another package of matches. In 2009, pubcaster Rai acquired highlight rights for €30 mil /season, meaning that the league raised €852.5 mil from domestic rights for 2010/11, plus €89.5 mil generated from sale of international rights to MP & Silva. 2011/12 yielded an increased total of €957.5 mil.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Inverleigh Media has launched 14 new TV series focused on the London 2012 Olympic Games, European soccer and lifestyle sports. Sales of programmes are managed by DSI, Inverleigh's content distribution arm and will be made available to pay-TV and free-to-air broadcasters "in all continents." The programming includes topical weekly content and documentary titles in full-length formats, with alternative short-form versions on offer for in-flight use. The titles, available a stand-alone basis or as part of a package, encompass sport, lifestyle and entertainment, and nine of them will be produced in HD.
STATS & DATA
=> Digital TV Research predicts solid growth in the DTH satellite pay-TV market over the next 5 years, growing from 139 mil homes at the end 2010 to 195 mil by end 2016. The Satellite TV Forecasts report estimates penetration at 10.3% of TV households at end-2010, and will reach 13.1% by 2016. India leads the sector with 45 mil pay DTH homes in 2016, followed by the US with 36 mil but penetration will be highest in South Africa (47%) and Ireland (41%). Satellite TV revenues are expected to overtake cable TV sometime in 2011 and on to reach $86 bil by 2016 (from $71 billion in 2010). DTH will command half of total pay-TV revenues by 2016, up from only 43% in 2006.