Thursday, 10th March 2011

RIGHTS FEE & DISTRIBUTION

=>  The Polish Ekstraklasa has ended a tender process for domestic broadcast rights from next season after no bids were accepted and will now enter into private negotiations with broadcasters. The Ekstraklasa and UFA Sports launched a rights tender in October for the period from 2011-12 to 2013-14. Lower-than-expected bids from broadcasters lengthened the tender process and prompted the league to consider the creation of its own channel to showcase matches. Domestic rights are currently with Canal Plus Poland and Telekomunikacja Polska in 3-year deals worth a total of 120 million zlotys ($41.9 million) per season. Bids for the rights for the next three seasons were rumoured to be worth the same amount or less than current deals.

=>  In the USA, the Big East Conference may get $460 mil for multiyear TV contracts to its college basketball and football games. The conference has 16 members for basketball and may get an increase up to 230% that the Atlantic Coast Conference received when Fox and ESPN got into a bidding war. The BEC’s 6-year, $200 mil contract with Disney’s ESPN network ends with the 2012 season. The ACC increased its annual rights fees to $155 mil from $67 mil a year in a contract with ESPN.


DATA

=>  New research revealed opportunities for cable TV operators embracing IP video platforms and deploying connected devices and place apps on smart TVs, tablets and other devices. Heavy Reading Cable Industry Insider Cable MSOs are taking up challenge to their current offerings, especially from cord-cutting, by increasing broadband connectivity to extend services. However, HRCI yet warns that content rights issues are a major hurdle that MSOs and programmers must resolve through business deals and DRM scenarios. It also suggests that for cable apps to succeed, MSOs, CE companies and content providers need more to come together to provide the scale needed to make business worthwhile.

=>  Online video consumption, especially on demand, is outpacing traditional TV platforms. The study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) revealed people were accessing over 12 hours of TV and film content per week from online sources compared to under 9 hours from network and cable TV. Nearly 3 times as many people accessed film content from OTT sources rather than on-demand from a digital pay-TV supplier. That is both rented on-line via a subscription service, like Netflix streaming service or streamed from a non-subscription-based Internet website (e.g., Hulu: abc.com) for free. 36% of those who do engage video piracy claim they do so in order to prevent content owners from being more profitable. 4 out of 5 of those who currently pirate content said that they would continue to do so. Majority of those pirating content would curtail their activity if content was priced between $1 and $3 and available within a 30-day window.


EVENT

=>  The Yonex All England Open Badminton Championship is set to take place in Birmingham, England from March 8th to 13th 2011. The second Premier Superseries event on the OSIM BWF World Superseries 2011 calendar will see top badminton players competing for a total US$350,000 purse. The tournament will be streamed live on totalsports.tv from the 10th to the 13th of March . The All England will be broadcast in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, Denmark, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Macau, South Korea, Brunei, Laos and even as far reaching as the United States including the Caribbean.


OTHER BUSINESS NEWS

=>  Continuing the BCCI-WSG-IPL saga, the BCCI gained advantage in its legal battle yesterday with World Sport Group. The Supreme Court stayed a Bombay High Court order for WSG's appeal against the BCCI, seeking arbitration over the termination of its worldwide media rights for the IPL outside of the Indian subcontinent. While seeking response from WSG, the bench undertook from the BCCI that any contract entered into with WSG will be honoured by it. The same undertaking was given by the BCCI before the Bombay High Court also. Interestingly, this is the contention WSG has made while publicly challenging the BCCI's move when it floated tenders for television, internet, mobile and radio rights of the IPL.

=>  24 hours remain for the Indian Sports Ministry to bring a solution to the hockey imbroglio with Hockey India emerging as the only legally viable option as a single consolidated body. The ministry had taken a ludicrous position telling the Delhi High Court that both HI and Indian Hockey Federation are recognised by the government. The court has consistently asked HI to select the Indian men and women teams for international outings since mid-2010. It is aware that FIH recognises HI alone and will make it clear that if it has abided by all government guidelines, there is no other body that can legitimately claim to be the official federation in India.

=>  The English FA would support any credible challenger to FIFA president Sepp Blatter in June's election. The Press Association reports that anger at England's treatment during its 2018 World Cup bid defeat has convinced FA chiefs that it is time for a change at the top of FIFA. The FA will consider writing to AFC head Mohamed Bin Hammam urging him to stand against Blatter. The FA has yet to take an official position on the FIFA presidency. Blatter has a strong powerbase within the 204 members who make up FIFA and would be difficult to unseat. The FA supported Blatter when he first stood for presidency in 1998 but backed his defeated opponent Issa Hayatou in 2002. Blatter was re-elected unchallenged in 2007.

=>  Meanwhile, AFC head Mohamed Bin Hammam, is expected to confirm his FIFA presidency challenge within the week. The Qatari, a member of FIFA's powerful executive committee, has been linked with the top job since FIFA faced allegations of corruption in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He hinted that change at the helm is necessary but has so far refused to publicly declare his candidacy. The deadline for nominations is April 1, with the vote to take place at the Fifa Congress in Zurich on June 1. Meanwhile Chuck Blazer, Sec. Gen. of CONCACAF, revealed the 35 members from his confederation are likely to vote as a bloc at the June 1 FIFA election. The three CONCACAF members on the Fifa executive committee, of which Blazer was one, also voted en bloc during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup process.