Thursday, 27th January 2011

RIGHTS FEE & DISTRIBUTION

=>  Al Jazeera had acquired broadcast rights to the FIFA World Cups of 2018 and 2022, a deal estimated to be worth “hundreds of millions of dollars”. The broadcaster will air games across MENA, including those held in Qatar, which hosts the tournament in 2022. The deal includes cable TV, satellite, terrestrial, mobile and broadband rights. "For both tournaments, I'd benchmark it at US$350 million (Dh1.28 billion)," says one sports marketing observer. Another said that the 2022 World Cup being held in Qatar could have boosted broadcast rights value by 20 to 25%. AJS reportedly paid $1bn in 2009 for the rights of sports content broadcast by ART, which included World Cups of last year and 2014. The AJS deal is the first broadcast-rights deal to be struck by FIFA since announcing the 2018 and 2022 tournaments hosts in Russia and Qatar respectively.


BROADCAST

=>  Geo Super has been confirmed as the exclusive cable broadcaster in Pakistan for the Cricket World Cup following a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court. Geo Super went to court after the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority withdrew a license it had issued to Geo’s holding company, Independent Music Group, apparently under government pressure, raising prospect that Geo Super could be forced to share coverage with other broadcasters in Pakistan and lose money as a result. The Supreme Court ruled that PEMRA had acted unlawfully and without jurisdiction and directed it to implement the original notification.

=>  France Télévisions has bought rights to athletics’ IAAF World Championships in 2011 and 2013 in a deal negotiated by IEC in Sports. IEC and France Télévisions have been in talks for over a year and a the deal means athletics’ flagship event will remain on public-service TV in France. The broadcaster has shown the championships since 1983. IEC had been in talks with two free-to-air broadcasters in France regarding the rights, but viewed France Télévisions as the preferred partner, given its audience reach. Since acquiring the IAAF distribution rights in Europe and Africa at the end of 2009, IEC agreed deals in France with Direct 8 for the 2010 World Indoor C’ships and with Ma Chaîne Sport for the 2010 IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup. France Télévisions will broadcast the 2009 World Championships from Berlin as part of their earlier EBU deal.

=>  Meanwhile, CAfrica Sports, US-based company delivering programming to a network of terrestrials in sub-Saharan Africa, has signed a deal to cover athletics’ Samsung Diamond League in 2011. The agreement was struck with IMG Media, which distributes the rights on behalf of the IAAF. As many as 300 million consumers in 20 countries will be able to watch the 14 Diamond League meets this year in Qatar in May. CAfrica Sports has begun its coverage of the Diamond League by airing a 30-week series of highlight shows featuring the best moments of the inaugural 2010 season. CAfrica Sports recently signed a multi-year partnership with North American basketball’s NBA to televise games and original programming across Africa.


CONTENT

=>  Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has expanded presence in Japan new content distribution deals with Japanese ISP, NTT Plala and Softbank subsidiary, TV Bank. NTT Plala will provide Japanese UFC fans with access to on-demand services, including past UFC pay-per-view events and other UFC programming, while TV Bank will serve as UFC's primary online content distributor, enabling users to access video clips on the internet and via mobile devices.


NEW MEDIA

=>  Singapore’s MediaCorp will introduce new interactive services later this year, aiming to change consumers TV habits and access Internet-enabled devices such as PCs, tablets and mobile phones. The service will be free except for premium content which will require subscription. Those who subscribe to premium content will be able to enjoy perks such as tuning in to MediaCorp's radio stations. TV news programmes may come with maps to aid viewers' understanding of the story being presented. Viewers can also access social network applications such as Facebook and store videos or photographs in a "personal locker".


DATA

=>  Forecasts indicate that global IPTV subscribers will grow from 44 mil in 2010 to 111.5 mil in 2014, representing a compound annual growth rate of 26%. The global service revenue is $17.8 bil in 2010 and is forecast to grow to $47.9 bil in 2014, a compound growth rate of 28%. By 2014, Europe and North America will generate a larger share of the global revenue, due to very low ARPUs in China and India, which are the fastest growing in Asia. Growth is driven by proliferation of triple-play services, improved DSL/fiber broadband capacity, accelerated install time, continued improvement in the quality of service and experience, and additional premium HD content, says Multimedia Research Group (MRG).


OTHER NEWS

=>  Lagardère, has raised its operating profit outlook for 2010, expecting its operating profit of core media business for 2010 to be unchanged or down by 5% on 2009, an improvement on the March 2010 prediction that operating profit would decline by around 10% year-on-year and the later forecast of a 5% decline on 2009. Revenues from Lagardère Unlimited, the sports division, were down by 22% last year to €396 million ($541.7 million) and operating profit down 50 per cent to €28 million in figures described by Lagardère as "a more muted performance in 2010 than in 2009." Lagardère is confident of growth potential for its sports division, which includes Sportfive, World Sport Group, IEC in Sports, Upsolut, PR Event and BEST agencies.

=>  The FIH has threatened to ban from its competitions any players and national hockey associations that take part in a new proposed league without its permission. World Series Hockey, the brainchild of Nimbus Sport, controversially teamed up with unrecognized Indian Hockey Federation to launch the league. World Series Hockey threatens to compete with plans for a professional Indian league that the FIH has been developing with Hockey India, which the FIH describes as “the only body governing hockey in India.” FIH has said it does not recognise the WSH and any player and any national association participating in the WSH may render that player and NA ineligible to participate in any FIH tournament, including Olympic qualifying tournaments and the Olympic Games.