Tuesday, 18th January 2011

RIGHTS FEE

=>  US national network, CBS, has extended its contract to broadcast the US Open Tennis Championship until the end-2014 in a deal with the United States Tennis Association that is reported to represent a slight increase on the present deal, which expires after this year’s event and is worth between $20 and $25 million a year. The new 3-year deal maintains the present schedule. CBS is understood to be paying less for the rights than the $33.7 million that it paid in 2004, and the $30 million a season it paid for the next four seasons. ESPN and the Tennis Channel also have deals to show the US Open on cable through to the end of the 2014 event.

=>  Vietnam’s DTH broadcaster, K+, is trying to quell the anger of football fans about premium content charges of its football coverage. K+, which launched in Jan 2010, has already been forced to share Barclays Premier League (BPL) rights with local stations after it reportedly paid US$10 million for three years’ exclusivity. Vietnam entered the current BPL football season with an unusual share agreement that gave K+ exclusive media rights to Sunday BPL matches, and shared the rest of the matches across other pay- and free-TV platforms on a non-exclusive basis.

=>  Vietnamese cable operator, Audio Vision Global has sub-licensed rights to the top-tier V-League for the new season. State-owned, VTV, and its subsidiary cablecaster, Vietnam Cable Television, have sub-licensed rights from AVG before the 2011 season begins this week. VTV will show 20 matches while VCTV will show 38 games. AVG recently agreed a 20-year TV rights deal for the V-League with the Vietnam Football Federation beginning with the 2011 season and is worth a reported VND6 billion in the first year, with the fee rising each season thereafter.

=>  In Spain, pay-TV, Canal+’s sister company Sogecable, the rights-buying arm formerly owned by media group Prisa, but now controlled by commercial broadcaster Telecinco, holds Canary Island club, Tenerife’s media rights in a three-year contract running from 2009-10. It pays €3 million per season for the club’s rights, which would rise to €14 million if the club is promoted. Meanwhile, Spanish regional public-service broadcasters, grouped under the Forta organisation, have spent a combined €35 million per season for the rights to a weekly Uefa Champions League match.


BROADCAST

=>  Thailand’s cable and satellite households rose to over 10 million at the end of 2010. The new Thailand in View 2011 report by Casbaa puts the kingdom at almost 50% pay-TV penetration and number of cable/satellite households level with terrestrial homes. Experts say that Thailand will be antenna-free in 3 to 5 years. Cable and satellite households are almost four times the 2.67 million reported by Nielsen in 2007, and follows three years of huge growth to 9.33 million in the middle of 2010. Between 2007 and 2010, cable and satellite TV viewership grew averagely 52% per year.

=>  JV between host broadcasting company HBS and IMG, International Games Broadcast Services, has said plans are well advanced for the Asian Winter Games, which begin in Kazakhstan later this month. IGBS, first formed to host broadcast the Asian Games in Doha in 2006, signed an agreement with the Olympic Council of Asia last year to facilitate television coverage of the games, which will take place in Astana and Almaty. Host broadcast of the games will cover all 11 sports, the opening and closing ceremonies, with between 13 and 32 high definition cameras covering every event across all 10 venues.


NEW MEDIA

=>  Malaysia enters 2011 on the global map of mobile games users, according to mobile media company, BuzzCity. Malaysia now ranks 12th globally in terms of mobile games traffic, with 97,000 unique users downloading 67,000 games in November 2010. Top phones favoured by Malaysian gamers are Nokia with 74.14% of the market and SonyEricsson with 31.19%. However, average download was low at 0.74 games per user (compared to the global average of 3.75 games/user), although Malaysian users view more pages than others (8 pgs vs 5 pgs per user globally), as they are usually browsing for more relevant content to download.


EVENT

=>  The final of squash’s ATCO PSA World Series Finals had to be abandoned at the weekend when the inflatable structure in which it was to be held at the Queen’s Club in London became unsafe. However the Professional Squash Association pledged to restage the event as soon as possible. Alex Gough, the PSA’s chief executive, said: “The PSA is committed to delivering a fantastic finale to what has been a world class event. We look forward to announcing the date as soon as possible.” It is understood there were fears that there were structural deficiencies which sparked safety concerns.

=>  ASEAN (Assoc. of Southeast Asian Nations) held preliminary discussions over a joint bid to host soccer's Fifa World Cup in 2030. The proposed bid is seen as a means to "use sport to create an Asean identity." Asean was formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore, and over the years has been expanded to include Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. China is also seen as an attractive option for Fifa, soccer's world governing body, as one of the few so-far unconquered soccer territories.

=>  Cycling’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTDL) has announced Proton will return as official car provider for the 2011 edition. The Malaysian automaker will provide official cars for use during the event. Proton will also present the coveted blue jersey, which will be awarded to the best sprinter of the race. Established in 1996, Asia’s largest annual stage race, will cover a total distance of 1315.4 km. Venezuelan rider José Rujano is defending champion. The 2011 event takes place from 21st Jan to 1st Feb.