Tuesday, 12th January 2011

RIGHTS FEE

=>  Telecom, Orange, has come under pressure from the French government to change its stance over not renewing broadcast rights to French top-tier Ligue 1 from 2012-13 onwards. Orange presently pays €203 million ($262 million) a season for Ligue 1 rights and has warned it will not bid for TV rights again and is looking for an investor in its loss-making Orange Sport channel. The government is said to be worried about the repercussions of Orange’s withdrawal as Pay-TV, Canal Plus, would be left without a competitor in bidding for the rights. Earlier this year, France Télécom said that it would cease operating Orange Sport in 2012 if no buyer is found to invest in a channel that it says is losing €200 million a year.


BROADCAST

=>  Japanese Pay-TV, Sky A Sports, has acquired the domestic media rights for the 2011 FIS Snowboard World Championship in Spain. The deal was conducted on behalf of Sky A by MP & Silva with Sunset + Vine International. Sky A has bought the rights to show the action simulcast on cable and internet protocol television. This is the second year of Sunset + Vine International's five-year deal to sell and distribute the international media rights of the FIS Snowboard World Championship.


CONTENT

=>  The Volvo Ocean Race has appointed Action Images as a global content distribution provider for the 2011-12 edition of the sailing event. The agency, owned by Reuters, will distribute digital content to media outlets across the globe through to the conclusion of the race at Galway in the Republic of Ireland in July 2012. The race will get under way in October of this year in Alicante, Spain.


EVENT

=>  The two days of IPL players auction held in Bangalore saw 127 players sold out of 353, with a total purse spent of $ 62.8 million. In all, 55 Players were taken on Sunday for $ 9.9 million, taking the total spent over the two days to $ 62.8 million. The 127 players taken in the auction were from the following countries: India (45), Australia (36), South Africa (18), Sri Lanka (9), England (7), New Zealand (7), West Indies (3), Bangladesh (1), Netherlands (1). From Monday, franchises will start to sign uncapped Indian players, in order to complete their squads, using the balance of their $9 million salary cap. The 2011 IPL is scheduled for April 8 to May 28, beginning six days after the end of the Cricket World Cup co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

=>  Meco Motorsports, which is actively into grass-root initiatives in India, is introducing new concepts for the Indian racers. Formed by Akbar Ebrahim, the Meco Motorsports academy will be organising a 6-hour endurance race end February with the aim of getting India’s first 24-hour race by the end of 2011. Also on Meco’s plans are rally training programmes and the National Dirt Motor Cycle Championship and Dirt Kart Championship, which include go-karts on dirt tracks amongst others.

=>  The Women's Tennis Association has announced the calendars for 2012 and 2013 seasons. There will be 54 WTA events in 32 countries, four Grand Slams and the Olympic Tennis Event in 2012. Geographic spread includes 20 in Asia-Pacific, 23 in Europe and 16 in the Americas. In 2013 it will be 54 WTA events and the four majors, with 20 events in Asia-Pacific, 22 in Europe and 16 in the Americas. After the WTA Roadmap's new calendar reforms were implemented during 2009 and 2010, players have enjoyed a shortened and streamlined season. In 2010, calendar reforms resulted in a 35% decrease in player withdrawals and 50% increase in top player participation at the WTA's top nine Premier events. Top players have met 84% of their commitments and 19 players earned over $1M during the 2010 season.

=>  The Austrian Open in Kitzbühel has regained its place as a third-tier event on the men’s tennis ATP Tour and will be sponsored by online betting site, bet-at-home.com. Prize money for the 2011 ‘bet-at-home.com Cup’ is €450,000 ($581,000) and organisers have set a budget of €1.5 million. Bet-at-home.com has become the main and title sponsor of the event and is to stream live coverage of every match from the tournament on its website. Interwetten, a rival online betting company, signed a two-year deal to become the title sponsor of the Austrian Open in 2009 and 2010 but only the first year of the agreement was honoured as the event dropped to the ATP Challenger Tour last year.

=>  National events agency, EventScotland, is in discussions to stage the Grand Depart, the opening stages of cycling’s Tour de France, in either Edinburgh or Glasgow. It is thought that Corsica is being lined up to host the Grand Depart in 2013, meaning that 2017 could be the first opportunity for the race to start outside mainland France again. Scotland has never hosted the Tour de France although London hosted the event in 2007 and organisers were encouraged by the success of that event. Hosting the Grand Depart would cost about £5 million ($7.8 million) but would generate about £100 million of revenues for the area.

=>  Italian carmaker, Fiat, has agreed a deal with the All England Netball Association for title sponsorship of the top domestic league and forthcoming international series between England and New Zealand. The Fiat Netball Superleague involves 9 teams from England, Scotland and Wales, starts on Jan 22, culminating in a Grand Final on Jun 9. The league will be preceded by the Fiat International Netball Series comprising 3 matches between England and New Zealand in January. The final game will be played at the O2 arena and live coverage of all three internationals will be on BSkyB, an established broadcaster of netball.


OTHER NEWS

=>  Team Air Asia, Tony Fernandes’ new GP2 team, has announced that FXPM.com will join the team for the 2011 series. The team, created by Fernandes as a feeder team for his F1 Team Lotus outfit, will receive sponsorship from the online foreign exchange platform in both the main GP2 and Asian GP2 championships. Fernandes is also the owner of low budget airline, Air Asia, which has been given title sponsorship of the new team. The 2011 GP2 Asia series begins in Abu Dhabi on 11th Feb, while the main series begins in Istanbul on 7th May.