Monday, 17th January 2011

RIGHTS FEE


=>  IEC in Sports has ended negotiations with German pubcasters, ARD and ZDF, over rights to the IAAF World Athletics Series, including the 2011 event in Daegu, South Korea. ARD and ZDF were willing to offer a maximum of €6 million (US$8 million) for the IAAF World Athletics Series from 2011-13, including the Moscow event in 2013, well below IEC’s asking price of around €15 million. In comparison, ARD and ZDF paid over €20 million for the previous IAAF rights package that included the 2007 and 2009 World Championships.

=>  Belgium’s Flemish pubcaster, VRT, said it will not renew its highlights rights for the top-tier Jupiler Pro League when its deal expires at the end of this season because of government directive to cut costs. Telecom, Belgacom, paid €45.7 million ($61.3 million) a year for the League rights from 2008-09 to 2010-11, and sub-licensed highlights rights to VRT and French-language pubcaster, RTBF, for €8 million a season. Flemish-language commercial broadcaster, VT4, has expressed interest in the League rights from 2011-12 onwards.


BROADCAST

=>  Singapore authorities have concluded there is not enough evidence for formal action against pay TV retailers who have signed last-minute exclusive deals before new rules requiring telcos to share exclusive content kicked in last year. In April, Singapore's rival pay-TV operators, SingTel and StarHub, were asked to provide authorities with relevant information on whether long-term exclusive contracts were signed before the implementation of the cross-carriage agreement. Under the new law, pay TV providers with broadcast rights to any programme must cross-carry each other's content. This means consumers no longer need multiple set-top boxes to watch what they want. The rule applies to any contract signed or renewed from 12 March last year.


EVENT

=>  Powerboat P1 Management, has presented a new boat which will feature in its revamped P1 SuperStock National Championships in 2011. The boats will compete in P1 Superstock National Championships in the UK, USA and Norway this year as PP1 pushes ahead with plans for offshore national, continental and world championships based on the format. The promoter has been working with Endemol Sport to devise TV concepts for various series around the world with plans to launch new championships in Asia and the Middle East in early 2012 and continental championships at the end of that year, with a world championship earmarked for 2014 at the earliest.

=>  International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge has asked FIFA to hold talks with the governing body before making any decision on whether to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the winter. FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitted for the first time over the weekend that he “expects” the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to be staged in the winter due to concerns over the stifling heat in the summer months for players. However, Rogge is concerned about the impact of such a move on the Winter Olympics that year, which are likely to take place in January and February.

=>  Meanwhile, divisions within FIFA are beginning to emerge over the timing of the 2022 World Cup to be played in Qatar. Qatari, Mohammed Bin Hammam, who is FIFA executive committee member and president of the Asian Football Confederation, has ruled out moving the competition from summer to winter or sharing matches around the Gulf region, as has been proposed. Sepp Blatter said last week that he expects the 2022 World Cup to be held in January or the end of the year, rather than the traditional months of June and July, in a bid to combat summer temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius in the Middle East country.


OTHER NEWS

=>  With money coming in from two contending sponsors for cycling events, the Cycling Federation of India is now free to pursue its plans of spreading the cycling passion across the country. Sports Management company, ID Sports, and sports broadcasting company, Sport 18, are vying with each other for the financial control of the sport, CFI has made it known to both its pay and use the events, six on all, both national and international, over the next one year. Leveraging its clout, ID Sports has bagged most of the international cycling events in the country from the UCI, and the tussle is on for bagging the national events.

=>  The row over tenure and age of sports leaders in India could result in a ban on Indian teams competing in Olympic and other sporting events, warned the International Olympic Committee. The IOC had believed that it reached an agreement with the Indian government last year where it would respect the autonomy of the Indian Olympic Association and the national federations which it governs. However, the government has continued to press for the restrictions.

=>  The FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 will feature a record 512 women’s matches played, more than half of which were qualifiers for the World Cup this summer. The men’s teams of 185 of FIFA’s 208 member associations played at least one international 'A' match, while 141 women’s teams also made at least one appearance – another new record. Kuwait played the most men’s matches last year (23), while China PR were the most active women’s team (22). The average number of matches per team in the men’s game (8.7) was much lower than in the previous year, while in the women’s game it had gone up slightly (7.3). The men's record number of games is 1,065 matches in 2008 and the same year saw the previous women's record of 364 games. In 2009, the women played 304 matches and the men 850.


DATA HEAD

Pay-TV Revenues Boosts 2010 World TV Market

After stagnation in 2009, the world TV market rebounded in 2010 with a sustained annual growth of 7.1%. Idate’s “World TV Markets” report measured global market reaching € 289.2 billion compared with 2009. Idate points out that until 2008, advertising revenue generated 47% of the sector's total, compared to 44% for paid TV and 9.4% for public funding. But in 2009, the financial crisis made the situation reverse.

The global TV market’s growth was due a rise in pay-TV revenue (+8.4%), with ad revenue rising at a slower rate (+5.8%). In 2010, paid television accounted for 48% and 43% for advertising. Public financing did rise by 6.9% in 2010 but still accounts for less than 10% of the global television market’s income. In the years to come, Idate predicts this trend will become more pronounced and estimates that paid television should generate more than 49% of revenue of the worldwide television market by 2014 with global revenues reaching €355 billon.

Geographical breakdown shows the US remains the largest TV market in the world with a turnover of €103 billion in 2010, rising 4.5% in a year after posting a slight dip (-0.7%) in 2009. The North American region’s share of the global market inched back to 37% in 2010 compared to 38% in 2009. Europe comes as the second largest regional market, with a turnover of €84.4 billion in 2010, a rise of 6.6% compared to 2009. The United Kingdom, Germany and France are the heavyweights in the region and together represent more than half (56%) of the region's revenue. Europe’s share of the global market stagnated at 29%.

Asia/Pacific recorded a great growth in its TV market of 9.1% in 2010, while its share of the global market rose by 0.4 points to 22.3%. Heavyweights are Japan (+ 3.9 %), India (+13,3 %) and China (+12,2%). Latin America displayed a good level of growth in its TV market, with an increase of 12.8%. The smallest regional market, Africa/Middle East displayed the greatest growth in its TV market, with an increase of 16.9% compared to 2009. Its share of the global market is increasing to 3.6% in 2010, compared to 3.3% in 2009.