Wednesday, 2nd March 2011

RIGHTS FEE & DISTRIBUTION

=>  UEFA has launched a tender for broadcast rights in France for Euro 2012 and 2016. The tender comprises 4 packages of rights for Euro 2012 (held in Poland and Ukraine) and 3 packages for Euro 2016 (staged in France). French commercial broadcasters, M6 and TF1, shared rights in France to Euro 2008, paying €50 mil ($69.2 mil) each and alternating coverage for games, including French matches. In 2009, TF1 and M6 offered a joint fee of €50 mil for Euro 2012. There will be a total of 31 games at the 16-team European Championships in 2012, before the tournament is expanded to 24 teams and 51 games for Euro 2016.

=>  Germany’s DFL has said that €40 mil ($55.2 mil) was raised from international broadcast rights deals for the Bundesliga this season. DFL succeeded in raising income from this source by €5 million between 2009-10 and 2010-11. The DFL said that the revenue from international deals during the 2005-06 season was only around €12 million. DFL has already brokered new Bundesliga broadcast deals for 2012/1313 to 2014/15 with pan-European Eurosport, Russian pay-TV NTV Plus and sub-Saharan Supersport.

=>  TSN have secured live Canadian broadcast rights to National College Athletic Association (NCAA) March Madness basketball tournament for 2011, providing game coverage in high definition and will produce their own programme for presentation and analysis. Last April, the NCAA agreed a 14-year, US$10.8 billion deal with CBS and Turner Sports for the US broadcast rights to the tournament. March Madness 2011 gets underway on 17th March, with the Final Four taking place at the Reliance Stadium in Houston, Texas from 2nd to 4th April.

=>  A tender for media rights of 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games have been launched by Sportfive in Azerbaijan and Georgia. The invitation to submit offers follows recent launch of sales processes in Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the Nordic countries and Slovenia. Sportfive began its market-by-market sales of Olympic rights in 40 European territories in September with a tender in Russia. The 2014 winter Olympics will take place in Sochi and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Sportfive is selling rights for 2014 and 2016 in all territories in Europe, with the exception of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK, after agreeing a minimum guarantee-plus-commission deal, ending the IOC's long-standing relationship with EBU.


NEW MEDIA

=>  Regulatory framework for introduction of mobile TV services in India is to be introduced by The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B). The Ministry is currently laying down the rules of engagement, with a draft mobile TV policy expected to be put before the cabinet within the next three months. The Controller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has also announced the undertaking of a comprehensive audit of the country’s total available spectrum, as well as its strategic and commercial use. The move follows the country’s second generation (2G) spectrum auction debacle and a request last year by TRAI for a review of spectrum use, spectrum efficiency and solutions to current problems.

=>  Meanwhile, mobile entertainment is turning into revenue opportunities and is set to rise to $52.8 bil according to IE Market Research. With a compound annual growth of nearly 10%, mobile TV will see the biggest growth, says the Canadian-based market intelligence services, in its Q1 2011 Global Mobile Entertainment Forecast. IEMR forecast global mobile TV revenues (which are broadcast and unicast revenues) will increase from $2.52 bil in 2009 to $6.6 bil in 2015.


EVENT

=>  A compromise has been reached enabling Scottish Premier League clubs to play friendly matches after the SPL announced its earliest-ever start to a season this summer, starting July 23. The compromise means that Celtic FC will take part in the inaugural Dublin Super Cup on Jul 30 and 31, a new pre-season tournament in the Republic of Ireland organised by Endemol Sport. Celtic will compete with Manchester City, Internazionale and an Airtricity XI comprising the best players from the Republic of Ireland’s top-tier Airtricity League. Under the compromise, clubs can request for an early-season fixture postponement to allow participation in one-off friendly matches and pre-season tournaments.

=>  MotoGP has agreed to extend BMW’s position as Official Car to MotoGP until 2016. BMW began its Official Car association with MotoGP in 1999. As Official Car of the MotoGP, BMW will provide 6 Safety Cars, 2 Safety Bikes and nine VIP Village Shuttles at all European rounds, whilst 2 Safety Cars and 1 Safety Bike will make overseas GP trips. In 2011, the BMW 1 Series M Coupe and X6 M will lead. BMW will also provide a hybrid car as part of the Race Direction car fleet, incorporating a green-awareness into the logistical management of the World Championship.


OTHER BUSINESS NEWS

=>  A Delhi court sent former Commonwealth Games mandarins Lalit Bhanot and VK Verma to the high security Tihar jail for an ‘irregular deal’ worth Rs 1.07 billion with a Swiss time keeping firm. The two can only bring spectacles and medicines they are currently using on prescription with them. This means no access to mobile phones, which will stop them from talking to other CWG officials but will have access to their lawyers. Bhanot and Verma were the closest aides of sacked CWG2010 president Suresh Kalmadi and were instrumental in awarding the contracts for Timing, Scoring and Result (TSR) System to the company, Swiss Timing. Meanwhile, the bank lockers of Suresh Kalmadi, were raided by the CBU sleuths. Officially, the CBI in Delhi denied any knowledge of the raid, of note is that raiding the personal bank lockers of Kalmadi needs a much higher power of authority.