Monday, 31st January 2011

RIGHTS FEE & DISTRIBUTION

=>  Uteca (Spanish commercial broadcasters) could take pubcasters TVE and Forta (association of regional pubcasters) to court if they bid to renew the TV rights to the Uefa Champions League. Uteca will sue for ‘unfair competition’ if the two pubcasters make an offer to Team Marketing. The two pubcasters are rumoured to bid close to €70 mil (US$96 mil) to renew their rights. TVE holds rights to first-choice Tuesday night match, paying €30 mil per year, while Forta pays €35 mil per year for first-choice Wednesday night match. A 2009 law limits TVE’s annual spend on sports rights to 10% of its yearly budget. In 2011, this will rise to €1.2 bil – meaning that the €65 mil spent on the Champions League and other rights, will fall well below the annual limit.

=>  A domestic broadcast rights tender for Italy’s top-tier basketball league is set to be launched in Feb. Italian consultancy, StageUp, is advising the league on the rights sale. Top-tier Lega Societa' di Pallacanestro Serie A approved new guidelines for the sale of rights from 2011-12 onwards and the sales process will begin soon. Pay-TV, Sky Italia, presently holds rights in an exclusive deal, which also covers the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa tournaments and is thought to be worth around €3 million ($4.1 million).

=>  Pan-European Eurosport has renewed its rights to tennis’ Australian Open until 2016. The new 5-year deal kicks in with the 2012 tournament and Eurosport will continue to bring multi-court coverage on traditional and live streaming platforms. Eurosport holds rights to three grand slams in total; the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. The deal was due to expire after 2011.


BROADCAST

=>  More than 9 out of 10 TV viewers in Korea have signed up for premium cable or satellite channels. The Korea Communications Commission reported that 90.3% of households it surveyed had signed up for pay TV, while only 9.7% watch only free terrestrial channels compared to 17.6% in 2006. Majority of viewers paid for cable TV (78.2%), followed by IPTV (9.9%) and satellite TV (7.2%).

=>  Six months before the planned switch from analogue to digital broadcasting in Japan, up to 2.5mil households among some 50mil households in Japan are not ready yet. Broadcasters, including NHK, will stop analogue broadcasting at noon on July 24. As the government plans to complete the transition on time, measures will be promoted to help prepare the market. Unprepared households decreased in 3 months from 7.5mil in September. Communications Minister Yoshihiro Katayama said that the Ministry has no intention of postponing the deadline (for completion).


DATA

=>  Rising mobile penetration and proliferation of mobile broadband continues to boost wireless service revenue. ABI Research estimates global wireless service revenue at more than $159 bil for 3Q2010, with data services accounting for nearly a third. Revenue is estimated at about $100 bil for all of 2010, a 20% increase from 2009 and almost 3 times more than five years ago. ABI Research expects the rising mobile data usage and revenue trend to continue through 2011, coupled with more focus on mobile applications.

=>  Independent analyst, Ovum, estimates global market for mobile broadband will grow rapidly, and by 2015 1bil people will use it as their only form of internet access. This group will account for 28% of mobile broadband users globally or 13% of global population by then. Asia-Pacific will lead the market, with users forecast to grow from 119.1mil this year, to 518.4mil by 2015. The main reason for the strength of the market in Asia-Pacific is a lack of fixed-line infrastructure in countries like China and India. However, broadband Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) services will continue to grow and is forecast to increase by 120% globally in the five years to 2015. Ovum also forecast FMC users in Asia-Pacific will increase from 259mil this year to 465mil by 2015.


EVENT

=>  The 3rd Videocon All-India Open Tennis Championship will be hosted by Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana (JVPG) from 29 Jan to 6 Feb. This year’s prize purse has been increased to Rs10 lakh (Rs1 million) with the men’s singles winner standing to gain Rs1 lakh (Rs 100,000) and the women’s singles winner, Rs60,000. White goods major Videocon is continuing as title sponsor for the event. The event had received over 150 entries and the singles main draws for men and women will include 32 players. 20 of the top players will get a direct entry into the main draw, plus 8 qualifiers and 4 wild cards.


OTHER NEWS

=>  Even after global governing body FIH warned players against the "unrecognised" Nimbus-Indian Hockey Federation World Series Hockey, a defiant IHF says the WSH would go ahead in Nov as planned with around 10 private franchises. IHF said the FIH action is interference in Indian hockey’s domestic matters. However, national players who have signed with the league are more circumspect, insisting that playing for India was first priority. The WSH was launched with fanfare last month but has since been hit by roadblocks with public sector employers deciding against players' participation in the cash-rich tournament. The Pakistan Hockey Federation joined the fray by warning its players to stay away from the "rebel" league.

=>  Meanwhile, ESS has appealed to the High Court against the IHF dealing with Nimbus for a national hockey league, while still in contract with ESPN and Premier Hockey Development Pvt Ltd for the same concept. PHDPL, owned by ESS, had started the concept of a national hockey league, the Premier Hockey League, and had signed up FIH-recognised national hockey federation, IHF, for a contract valid till 2014. The IHF claims that more than 125 players have signed up for the so-called league, in which the organisers, IHF and Nimbus, have said that there will be a huge prize money bonanza.

=>  Legally, hockey in India is in a hell hole, with the Indian sports ministry recognising the IHF, and the FIH recognising the HI as official bodies respectively. The Delhi High Court has also recognised IHF as the official body but the Supreme Court has asked HI to select the Indian national teams for men and women for international outings, and now the ministry itself is working with HI for development of coaching and hockey in the country. It is expected now that the FIH may soon intervene through a high level delegation to India to resolve the worst criris in any Indian sporting discipline.

=>  The Asian Tennis Federation has claimed that the presence of China's Li Na in the Australian Open women's singles final will boost the continent's hopes of staging the sport's 'fifth major'.  Li beat world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, to become the first player from China to reach a grand slam singles final. Talks had taken place to host a 'major' tennis tournament in Asia, with China, India, Qatar and Dubai all regarded as "interested parties." Aside from the four majors, China hosts Asia's two existing top-tier tennis tournaments (below the majors), the Shanghai Masters and the China Open in Beijing.

=>  Uefa is confident of securing support from all 53 member associations for radical broadcast rights centralisation plans before the next Uefa executive committee meeting in March. Uefa’s proposals to centralise the rights for Euro and World Cup qualifying matches from 2014 onwards have been discussed for some time, but there remain issues with bigger national associations in existing individually-negotiated broadcast agreements that run beyond 2014 and the financial impact on the future sale of rights of associations’ properties not included in centralisation, such as domestic cup or international friendly matches.

=>  IOC president, Jacques Rogge, says the movement cannot be naive about the menace of illegal betting and is concerned it could raise its ugly head at the Olympics. Rogge said the IOC had been monitoring the problem of unfair play, including illegal betting, for a few years and was organising a conclave on Mar 1 with governments and sporting bodies to formulate a programme to tackle the menace that has begun affecting several sports. The IOC has been tackling the issue since 2007 by adapting rules and regulations to sanction everybody, if need be.

=>  Each member association will receive a one-off bonus payment of $300,000 from FIFA as part of the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP). For the six confederations, this bonus will amount to US$2.5 mil each. This decision by the FIFA Executive Committee has been made possible by the success of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, leading to very good financial result for the entire 2007-2010. The funds are prioritized for development of football and enabling member associations to take part in FIFA competitions. Last year, the FIFA Congress granted each member association a one-off FAP bonus payment of US$250,000 while each confederation received US$2.5 mil, thanks to the financial success of 2010.