Thursday, 21st April 2011

RIGHTS FEES

=>  The Philippine Basketball Association received interest from two broadcasters for domestic rights to the country’s PBA league from next season. ABS-CBN’s Studio 23 and TV5 network have expressed their interest and could take over the rights from Solar Entertainment, the PBA said. Solar Entertainment has said that it would not renew its 160-mil-pesos ($3.7-million) /year rights deal, which expires at the end of the 2010-11 season.

=>  The S.African Football Association is looking for domestic live coverage for its women’s and junior national teams, not just for its men’s team. An exclusive rights deal with pubcaster, SABC, expired at the end of March and SAFA seeks now to split the rights between broadcasters so that live coverage of all of its games can be ensured. It is claimed that SAFA is looking for as much as R1 billion ($145.2 million) over five years from the new broadcast deal.

=>  Australia’s Seven has taken the lead in a race to win domestic broadcast rights for Australian Football League from 2012-16, while telecom Telstra’s digital interest could help push rights value beyond A$1 bil($1.05 bil). Seven is likely to clinch FTA rights with a bid of A$450 mil, with rival Ten Network pulling out of the race. Pay-TV Foxtel, which is 50% owned by Telstra, is preparing to pay about A$500 mil for exclusive rights to five games per round and simulcasting the four games on FTA. Seven and Ten currently jointly pay A$780 mil for rights and sub-licenses four games a week to Foxtel. Presently, Telstra is paying between A$50 to A$60 mil to broadcast AFL games with on 12-hr delay, but is now prepared to pay more for enhanced exclusivity and expanded rights.

=>  Spanish network, Telecinco, has acquired Spanish TV rights to 2012 UEFA Euro Championships for US$100 mil. The Mediaset-owned commercial channel will pay roughly US$7 mil short of UEFA’s asking price, as was paid by Sogecable for Euro 2008. The reduction is a reflection of the lack of competition in the Spanish TV market. Telecinco’s deal sees Spain become the second ‘big five’ European TV market to conclude a deal for Euro 2012, following Germany’s ARD and ZDF for their renewal of rights, also for a reduced fee. Telecinco will pay addition US$2.85 mil to UEFA for rights to U-21 Championships in Denmark this June. Spain go into Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine next year, as defending champions.

=>  Austrian pubcaster, ORF, acquired Sat highlights rights to the Austrian Bundesliga until end 2012-13 season, complementing its one live match /week. ORF begins its highlights coverage end April. The broadcaster already holds live rights to broadcast the League’s Sun afternoon match but has not shown highlights from the league since 2004. Commercial broadcaster, Puls 4, reportedly made an unsuccessful bid of €400,000 ($571,000) for the same highlights rights last autumn. ORF and pay-TV Sky, retained live rights to the 10-team league from 2010/11 to 2012/13, agreeing to €17 mil total /season. ORF’s share is about €8m /season.

=>  Austria’s pay-TV, Sky Österreich, renewed rights to show UEFA Champions League until the end of the 2014/15 season. The new 3-yr deal in Austria follows renewal of Champions League rights in Germany by parent, Sky Deutschland. Sky Österreich will have exclusive rights in Austria for 15 of the 16 games each match week, with commercial channel, Puls 4, recently winning rights to show one game per match week. Sky Deutschland’s deal is reported to be worth over €50 mil ($72.5 mil) /season, including rights to broadcast all Champions League games on a live and delayed basis and to show highlights on Tue and Wed, while also renewing its rights to the Uefa Europa League.

=>  Broadcast rights negotiations for Italian basketball’s Serie A could stretch into Jul when no award was made at the end of the tender process issued in Feb. Sky Italia presently holds rights to covers the Coppa Italia, the annual competition featuring the league clubs, and the Supercoppa tournament, which pits the Coppa Italia winner against the league champions, and is worth around €3 mil ($4.34 mil).

=>  Uni. of South Dakota (USD) has agreed a 10-year, US$10 mil deal with Learfield Sports, who will oversee the school’s multimedia rights to athletic events. Learfield will operate USD’s marketing efforts within and outside the uni’s home and be responsible for sponsorship deals for its radio broadcasts and website. Learfield contracts with over 50 other US universities. Learfield will work with the Midco Sports Network, which serves South Dakota as well as Minnesota and North Dakota, in negotiating TV rights to selected USD contests. It will also look to renew USD’s radio contract with B102.7 in Sioux Falls, which expires next year.

=>  US college sports’ Pac-12 is also in line for a new broadcast deal with NBC for its American football, basketball and other sports from Western universities. Pac-12 sought a 10-yr deal worth $220 mil /year, plus commitment to launch a regional network. Start-up would cost in the region of $100 mil. The news comes after Fox Sports earlier signed a 13-yr, multi-million-dollar deal to acquire exclusive cable rights to the Big 12 Conference. In Jan, ESPN announced that it will launch a TV channel for events featuring the University of Texas after agreeing a 20-yr deal worth $300 mil in rights fees. IMG College negotiate the deal as the university’s multimedia rights holder.


BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION

=>  The US Tennis Association has selected IMG Media as US Open TV consultant for a wide range of non-US territories. The appointment covers the 4-year period from 2013-2016. IMG Media will represent the USTA in TV negotiations in Europe, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Asia (exc. Japan), for tennis' most famous competition. The 2010 US Open was seen in over 180 countries and 40,000 hours of TV coverage. The USTA will work with current US Open TV consultant Lagardère through this year as well as on a number of additional outside projects.

=>  UEFA announced the first broadcast deal in Asia for UEFA Champions League for new cycle 2012/13 to 2014/15, with Hong Kong’s i-Cable. The broadcaster renewed its exclusive rights to Champions League and Europa League after signing a new deal with Team Marketing. Live and delayed broadcasts of matches from both competitions will be shown on i-Cable’s Super Soccer and Cable Sports channels, with live internet and mobile coverage also offered in Hong Kong as part of the multi-platform coverage. The invitation to submit offers in Hong Kong was issued on Mar 14, closing on Apr 11. Elsewhere in Asia, Team recently issued invitations to submit offers in the Indian sub-continent, Malaysia Myanmar and Thailand (plus Laos and Cambodia).

=>  MP & Silva agreed a second broadcast deal in China for the Liga ACB basketball league, signing with Guangzhou TV. Having signed up Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation (Chinese coalition of 14 terrestrial, satellite, pay and mobile TV), Guangzhou TV has acquired rights for two matches per week. The deal marks the league’s third in Asia signed by MP & Silva after Singapore’s StarHub.

=>  UFA Sports Asia and Wharf House has brokered a TV rights deal on behalf of the International Sepak Takraw Federation with StarHub in Singapore. The deal covers live and highlights coverage of this year’s inaugural ISTAF World Cup and the 2011-12 ISTAF Super Series on StarHub TV. Coverage begins with the opening match of the 2011 ISTAF WC from Malaysia in Jul, broadcast on its SuperSports Arena channel. The 2011 ISTAF WC will be followed by the 2011/12 ISTAF Super Series of five tournaments staged in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iran and China. UFA Sports Asia’s deal with StarHub follows the completion of recent sepak takraw deals with pan-Asian Eurosport and Thailand’s FTA, Channel 3.

=>  Officials have denied that Chongqing satellite TV channel had run into problems after turning from a commercial channel into a public TV one in March 2010. There were rumours that Chongqing Municipal Broadcasting and Television Station (CMBTS) had cut 20% of its staff and reduced wages by 15% in order to fund the channel. The rumours were denied by CMBTS. The channel intended to be the first "red" satellite channel in China to honour the Communist Party (CPC). Two months later, advertising seemed to evaporate and in its slots were programmes promoting "red culture."


NEW MEDIA

=>  Over 10 mil live internet streams of the Cricket World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan on March 30 were delivered by ESPN Star Sports. The match was streamed on www.espnstar.com/cwclive, which also generated over 275 mil page views over the course of the tournament which took place on February 15 to April 3. The streams were delivered by Akamai Technologies.


STATS & DATA

=>  A new survey from ABI Research concluded that connectivity continues its inexorable march into home entertainment, forecasting 3 bil shipments of connected TV devices by 2016. The most common home entertainment devices to include media connectivity will be TVs and Blu-ray players. Such devices are predicted to grow by 21% until 2016. TV and video player connectivity is driven by streaming services such as Netflix (US) and LOVEFiLM (UK). Gaming consoles also create powerful demand for connectivity and still rank strongly in connected home entertainment which will increase shipment numbers through 2014.

=>  Current lack of compelling content and high costs has not stopped 3DTV from ramping up, according to RNCOS. Analysts believe the sluggish 3D market is about to throw off its concerns the general challenging economic conditions, to grow at a CAGR of 84% until 2013. This compares to 5% growth predicted for general global consumer electronics industry over the same period. Sales is expected to grow rapidly as manufacturers implement 3D as a standard feature across their HD flat-panel product lines. RNCOS anticipates increasingly slight price differential to encourage consumers to opt for 3D capable TVs. The US, Japan, and Western Europe will be the key markets for 3D TV sales in coming years.

=>  The value of STBs have grown over 2010 according to In-Stat. The 4Q10 Set Top Box Database Update shows worldwide STB revenues up in 4Q10 over 4Q09, totalling $5.7 bil for the quarter compared to $5.3 bil in 4Q09. Regional differences between platforms were stronger in particular markets. In N. America, satellite STB unit shipments approached 18 mil in 2010 while worldwide IPTV STB unit shipments increased by 3.7 mil in 2010. European cables STB revenues are forecast to be $212 mil in 1Q11. N. America and Asia-Pac saw significant migration from SD to HD while in the developing Middle East/Africa and Latin America markets SD is still growing with HD only just making an appearance. In-Stat found that in 2010, in Latin America, 8 mil more SD set top box units were shipped than HD boxes.


EVENTS

=>  Wimbledon has announced that singles champions - men and women - will each receive a record £1.1 mil at the 2011 tournament. The All England Club has increased the winners' pot by £100,000 on last year, raising the total prize fund by 6.4% to £14.6 mil. Wimbledon will also unveil the new #3 and #4 courts this year, increasing overall capacity by 1,000 to 38,500. To celebrate the 125th championships, Wimbledon has arranged for the Antiques Roadshow to record an episode at the All England Club, Blue Peter will record a special to be broadcast on the second Mon of the championships, and AELTC has commissioned four 30-minute documentaries charting the history of Wimbledon.