Thursday, 7th April 2011

RIGHTS FEE & DISTRIBUTION

=>  ESPN International extended its deal to broadcast golf’s US Masters in Latin America, the Caribbean and Middle East and North Africa regions. ESPN International acquired exclusive pay-TV rights, along with online and mobile rights.

=>  German pubcaster, ZDF has acquired FTA TV rights for the UEFA Champions League for seasons 2012/13 to 2014/15. The contract comprises one live game per match day, daily highlights reports from other games as well as the qualifying games and the UEFA Super Cup. Pay-TV, Sky Deutschland, will continue to screen all matches of the Champions and Europa Leagues. UEFA is reported to have secured an increase from €40 mil (US$56.75 mil) to €54 mil (US$76.7 mil) per year.

=>  [Excerpt] In Germany, ARD and ZDF were willing to offer €6 mil ($8.2 mil) for the rights to the IAAF World Athletics Series from 2011 to 2013, well below IEC’s asking price of €15 mil. By comparison, ARD and ZDF paid over €20 mil for previous IAAF rights package that included the 2007 World Championships in Osaka and the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, plus a further fee, thought to be worth up to a two-digit million figure (in Euros), for production costs in Berlin.

=>  UK’s Sky Sports has agreed a £195 mil (US$316.6 mil) 3-year deal with the Football League to be the exclusive TV broadcaster of lower-league soccer and two domestic cup competitions, starting 2012/13. Sky Sports will show 75 matches from the nPower Football League, the promotion play-offs including all three finals, 15 matches in the Carling Cup and at least two matches and the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy per season for three years. This new contract marks a decrease in value compared to the current TV rights, held by the BBC and Sky, signed in 2009, worth UK£264 (US$420.5 million), equating to a 26% drop. An FTA highlights package is expected to command a seven-figure sum and is still available to broadcasters.

=>  Italian broadcast group, Mediaset, has been awarded digital terrestrial rights to Italian second-tier Serie bwin previously held by Dahlia TV. The deal covers the remainder of the 2010-11 season, including promotion and relegation playoffs, and is reported to be worth €900,000 ($1.28 mil). Another digital broadcaster, Europa 7 had also bid for ‘Live Gold Package B’ rights.

=>  Only 3 of the 9 packages have been sold in domestic broadcast rights tender launched by Romanian soccer’s top-tier Liga 1 after broadcasters displayed little interest in some of the rights on offer. Liga 1 rights from 2008-09 to 2010-11 were acquired by RCS-RDS and Antena 1 for €85 mil ($121 mil) but three deals in the latest tender for the period from 2011-12 to 2013-14 are worth only €36.6 mil. RCS-RDS won package 1 bidding €13.2 mil (or €4.4 mil) per season. Romtelecom was the only bidder for package 2, winning with €12.9 mil (or €4.3 mil) per season. Antena 1 picked up package 8, paying €10.5 mil (or €3.5 mil) per season.

=>  Belgium’s Pro League is close to launching domestic broadcast rights tender for top-tier Jupiler Pro League after various delays. Live rights to the league are currently held by telecom, Belgacom, which pays €45.7 mil ($64.8 mil) per season. The deal for 2008-09 to 2010-11 was below the set target of €50 -65 mil per season, but more than €36 mil per season paid by Belgacom in the last rights period. Having acquired all TV rights, Belgacom sub-licensed highlights rights to public-service broadcasters VRT and RTBF for around €8 mil a season.

=>  Télévision Tunisienne, national broadcaster in Tunisia, has written to the Fédération Tunisienne de Football demanding changes to its contract to show Tunisia’s top-tier Ligue 1 after the competition was suspended in Jan following political unrest. Originally signed for a 2-year deal for 2010-11 and 2011-12, the broadcaster asked for the length of deal to be reduced and rights payment changed to TD4 mil ($2.91 mil). The broadcaster held rights to the league in the previous two seasons, showing games on its Tunisie 7 and Tunisie 21 channels.

=>  ESPN has filed a suit against Conference USA, alleging the college sports body violated its contract by failing to negotiate in good faith and by striking a new agreement with national TV network Fox. ESPN claimed it is owed damages and attorneys' fees because at the time C-USA struck the deal with Fox, a period of exclusivity over contract negotiations still existed with ESPN. Fox is not named in the suit. In January, C-USA agreed a 5-year, $43-mil deal with Fox running to the end of the 2015/16 season. A selection of C-USA events will continue to be shown on the CBS College Sports television network. The ESPN agreement, which totaled $21.9 mil over 5 years, expired after the 2010-11 season.


BROADCAST

=>  The Asia-Pac broadcasting and cable TV market had total revenue of $73,004.8 mil in 2009, representing a CAGR of 4% for the period 2005-09, according to Datamonitor in their Asia-Pacific Media Industry Guide, which also states that Asia-Pac media industry had total revenue of $192.5bn in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5% for the period 2006-10. Meanwhile, Asia-Pac movies and entertainment market generated total revenues of $20.7bn in 2009, representing a CAGR of 1.8% for the period 2005-09. The music and video market had total revenue of $9.5bn in 2009, representing a CAGR of -5.2% for the period 2005-09.

=>  China is undergoing a broadcast boom and revenues from TV and radio businesses exceeded 210 bil Yuan (£19.5bn) last year, according to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). The vice-director of SARFT, Zhang Haitao, said the period of the government's 11th Five Year Plan, 2006 to 2010, annual revenues from broadcasting rose by 20% per year. CCTV, the Shanghai Media Group and the Hunan Broadcasting System led the field, each taking in over 10 bil Yuan in ad revenues. CCTV is still undisputed number one, but Shanghai Media Group now has equaled CCTV’s status in the new media and IPTV area.


NEW MEDIA

=>  Major League Baseball Advanced Media expects revenues of $550 mil in 2011, according to MLB commissioner, Bud Selig. Selig described MLBAM as “the perfect marriage of the old guard, baseball, and the new guard, the internet.” He said: “In 2010, MLB.com had more than 2 billion visitors for the fourth consecutive year.” Last year, 34 million tickets for MLB games were sold online, he said, concluding: “MLBAM will play a critical role in engaging with the next generation of fans.”


OTHER BUSINESS NEWS

=>  Natalie Grainger is standing down as president of the Women's International Squash Players' Association with immediate effect. Grainger had been a board member of WISPA for 13 years and president for eight. Vice-president Jaclyn Hawkes will be acting president of WISPA for an interim period. WISPA also announced that it is re-branding its top-tier championships as the WISPA World Series, bringing it into line with men’s squash’s top-tier PSA World Series. The series was previously known as the WISPA World Tour. The events that will make up 2011 WISPA World Series: Cayman Islands Open, Australian Open, Qatar International, Hong Kong Open and the World Open.

=>  IMG World has announced that it will exit its venture with AIBA for the World Series of Boxing. WSB was jointly created by AIBA and IMG in 2009, in which AIBA had a 75% controlling majority per stake and IMG held 25%. WSB had an inauspicious start when Indian corporate biggie Videocon pulled out as sponsor of WSB's Delhi franchise just before the first WSB campaign was to get underway last Nov. Subsequently, the Delhi franchise was dropped from WSB after AIBA-IMG failed to find a replacement sponsor. WSB concludes later this month, with the team finals on 6-7 May and the individual championships on 27-28 May.

=>  ESPN Star Sports has played down mounting talk of a split, a move which would have a significant impact on the sports rights landscape across the continent. The ESS joint venture was always regarded as a marriage of convenience that could unravel at any time and there are now claims that they have divergent ideas on the future direction of the business, which led to a decision to part company, possibly as early as the end of June. The broadcaster now operates 17 ESPN and Star Sports networks throughout Asia and has been developing 3D television, internet and mobile services and events management business in the past year.

=>  Hockey Australia is to experiment with a new international tournament that the FIH hopes can be the platform to entice new fans, broadcasters and commercial partners. The International Super Series is to be held in conjunction with the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting event in Perth, playing between Oct 20 and 23, with Australian national teams competing against India, Pakistan, Malaysia and New Zealand. The International Super Series will adopt a short format, with each match consisting of two 15-minute halves, compared with the traditional match length of two 35-minute halves.