RIGHTS FEES
=> ABC Sports 5 was the lone bidder for exclusive rights to cover the Philippine Basketball Association games for the next 5 years after ABS-CBN decided not to submit a bid, technically disarming a bidding war with the opt-out. The exclusive PBA TV rights could well be back to ABC 5 after being held by Solar Sports from 2008-2011. The league commissioner did not disclose details but it would be safe to say ABC 5 had met PBA requirement for a 5-year term with a base franchise fee of P.9 bil. ABC Sports 5’s plan is to telecast the PBA games on IBC 13 and NBC radio. Solar Sports is bowing out after the current PBA season; it paid the PBA nearly P.5 bil at the end of their 3-year partnership.
EVENTS
=> Badminton chiefs bowed under pressure to two superpowers in sports and world economy, India and China, and ruled that for now, the ‘more legs please’, approach to higher TV viewership by forcing women shuttlers to wear skirts, is not mandatory. The new regulation had sparked massive protests and saw badminton gain unprecedented media coverage. The Badminton World Federation (BWF), met on the sidelines of the Sudirman Cup world mixed team championships in Qingdao and came to this decision. Some had accused the game's administrators of sexism, but badminton bosses countered that they were merely trying to boost the profile of the women's game and help attract more sponsorship.
BIZ & BITES
=> AirAsia has returned as official sponsor for Team Lotus for a second year earning full rights to the brand through a sponsorship deal worth US$ 3.1 million (RM 9.4 million). The partnership lasts through the 2011 F1 season which kicked-off on 26 May and includes marketing, branding and hospitality rights as well as the rights to the use of the team partner logos and images. The deal extends to Team Lotus' driver development programme for the season where AirAsia represents the race squad as title sponsor. AirAsia's affiliation with the F1 team is aimed at raising the company's profile as the preferred airline for sports tourism.
=> Malaysia’s Measat signed a 10-yr deal with Thailand’s sole private satellite operator, Thaicom, to provide bandwidth capacity and related broadband services in Malaysia, to be called Measat 5. Measat’s subsidiary, which signed the deal, would secure a major portion of Thaicom’s Ipstar capacity over Malaysia allowing Measat to provide bandwidth capacity and related broadband services via satellite in Malaysia. The Ipstar broadband satellite is one of the largest communication satellites, delivering broadband services to users in Asia-Pacific, with 17 gateways in Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Monday, 30th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> South Africa’s Supersport has become the official broadcaster of domestic cricket in Kenya, and said that it is interested in one day buying the rights to Ghana's top soccer league. The Ghana Premier League rights are presently held by Metro TV. The two-and-a-half year deal, signed in April 2009, was worth 1.7 million cedis ($1.13 million). Metro replaced rights-holder Gateway Broadcast Services, which went into liquidation in early 2009.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Star India and Zee Entertainment Enterprises confirmed joining forces to market a bouquet of 68 channels in India. The formation of a joint broadcast distribution company by the rival entertainment giants could potentially change India’s broadcast landscape. The respective distribution arms, Zee Turner and Star Den, have formed a 50:50 joint venture; Zee Turner is a 74:26 JV between Zee Entertainment and Turner International and Star Den Media is an equal JV between Star India and Den Networks . The Competition Commission of India is planning to look into the alliance. Both Zee and Star maintained that the venture would not be a threat to competition. The JV is expected to increase pressure on ESPN Star Sports to review its longstanding status as the only independently distributed sports channels in this market.
=> IEC in Sports has entered a deal with European volleyball’s CEV to distribute TV rights for this year's Beach Volleyball European Championship. IEC has guaranteed the coverage of 24 games (minimum) from the 3-tournament championship, including all semi-finals, third-fourth play-off and finals.
STATS & DATA
=> A report from DisplaySearch found TV consumption habits across the world vary greatly by country and new viewing patterns are taking hold. The Global TV Replacement Study found that the US ranked 4th when it came to percentage of consumers using pay-TV. India boasted the highest part of pay-TV customers, in the high 90% region. The US lagged behind with 11% of consumers using mobile phones or smart phones to view mobile TV and mobile video content. Mobile device use in Japan, Indonesia, India, Brazil and China was significantly higher, especially in the case of China. This may be due to the fact that aside from Japan, other regions may more developed mobile infrastructure than TV broadcast system.
EVENTS
=> The ASBC Asian Men’s Boxing Championship that was scheduled to be held in June at Amman, Jordan from the 17-27 June has been postponed and will not be hosted by Jordan Amateur Boxing Association. The championship is now scheduled to take place in August and will be held in the city of Incheon, Korea. Exact dates will be intimated as and when finalized by Aiba.
BIZ & BITES
=> FIFA will open a "full-blown" investigation into allegations that Mohd bin Hammam and Jack Warner offered financial incentives to members of the Caribbean Football Union and has provisionally suspended them from all football activity. Howewver, Sepp Blatter will not face investigation into the allegations that he knew about those payments. He will be free to stand for re-election unopposed at this week’s presidential vote after Bin Hammam withdrew from the race. The ethics committee said there was sufficient evidence to further investigate allegations that bribes of $40,000 were offered to delegates at a Caribbean football association meeting in May. Payments were allegedly made to secure votes for Bin Hammam in his campaign to unseat Blatter as the head of FIFA. The evidence was submitted to Fifa by the American executive committee member Chuck Blazer.
=> The UEFA Champions League finals will be worth a record €126 mil (£109m; $178m) to the winner and €73 mil (£63m) to the loser, a MasterCard-commissioned study shows. Man Utd and FC Barca will collectively scoop €200 mil, making it the most lucrative final in European club football’s history. The record windfall comprises of prize money, a boost for the club's brand, enhanced media rights and increased value of the squad. The final is worth £45m to the host city, London, and the winning club’s city is likely to receive a boost of £15m through increased tourism and local expenditure. Other UCL Final earning numbers - expected boost to European economy: €100m, total economic impact: €369m.
=> Meanwhile, it is estimated that ITV made in over £8m in TV ad revenue during the UCL Final, dubbed Europe's biggest football night of the year, as some late spots in key breaks went for up to £300,000 for 30-secs. The game was shown simultaneously on BSkyB’s Sky Sports and it is believed that Sky Media could have raked in £2m in ad revenue, as clients looked to book simultaneous spots on both broadcasts.
=> South Africa’s Supersport has become the official broadcaster of domestic cricket in Kenya, and said that it is interested in one day buying the rights to Ghana's top soccer league. The Ghana Premier League rights are presently held by Metro TV. The two-and-a-half year deal, signed in April 2009, was worth 1.7 million cedis ($1.13 million). Metro replaced rights-holder Gateway Broadcast Services, which went into liquidation in early 2009.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Star India and Zee Entertainment Enterprises confirmed joining forces to market a bouquet of 68 channels in India. The formation of a joint broadcast distribution company by the rival entertainment giants could potentially change India’s broadcast landscape. The respective distribution arms, Zee Turner and Star Den, have formed a 50:50 joint venture; Zee Turner is a 74:26 JV between Zee Entertainment and Turner International and Star Den Media is an equal JV between Star India and Den Networks . The Competition Commission of India is planning to look into the alliance. Both Zee and Star maintained that the venture would not be a threat to competition. The JV is expected to increase pressure on ESPN Star Sports to review its longstanding status as the only independently distributed sports channels in this market.
=> IEC in Sports has entered a deal with European volleyball’s CEV to distribute TV rights for this year's Beach Volleyball European Championship. IEC has guaranteed the coverage of 24 games (minimum) from the 3-tournament championship, including all semi-finals, third-fourth play-off and finals.
STATS & DATA
=> A report from DisplaySearch found TV consumption habits across the world vary greatly by country and new viewing patterns are taking hold. The Global TV Replacement Study found that the US ranked 4th when it came to percentage of consumers using pay-TV. India boasted the highest part of pay-TV customers, in the high 90% region. The US lagged behind with 11% of consumers using mobile phones or smart phones to view mobile TV and mobile video content. Mobile device use in Japan, Indonesia, India, Brazil and China was significantly higher, especially in the case of China. This may be due to the fact that aside from Japan, other regions may more developed mobile infrastructure than TV broadcast system.
EVENTS
=> The ASBC Asian Men’s Boxing Championship that was scheduled to be held in June at Amman, Jordan from the 17-27 June has been postponed and will not be hosted by Jordan Amateur Boxing Association. The championship is now scheduled to take place in August and will be held in the city of Incheon, Korea. Exact dates will be intimated as and when finalized by Aiba.
BIZ & BITES
=> FIFA will open a "full-blown" investigation into allegations that Mohd bin Hammam and Jack Warner offered financial incentives to members of the Caribbean Football Union and has provisionally suspended them from all football activity. Howewver, Sepp Blatter will not face investigation into the allegations that he knew about those payments. He will be free to stand for re-election unopposed at this week’s presidential vote after Bin Hammam withdrew from the race. The ethics committee said there was sufficient evidence to further investigate allegations that bribes of $40,000 were offered to delegates at a Caribbean football association meeting in May. Payments were allegedly made to secure votes for Bin Hammam in his campaign to unseat Blatter as the head of FIFA. The evidence was submitted to Fifa by the American executive committee member Chuck Blazer.
=> The UEFA Champions League finals will be worth a record €126 mil (£109m; $178m) to the winner and €73 mil (£63m) to the loser, a MasterCard-commissioned study shows. Man Utd and FC Barca will collectively scoop €200 mil, making it the most lucrative final in European club football’s history. The record windfall comprises of prize money, a boost for the club's brand, enhanced media rights and increased value of the squad. The final is worth £45m to the host city, London, and the winning club’s city is likely to receive a boost of £15m through increased tourism and local expenditure. Other UCL Final earning numbers - expected boost to European economy: €100m, total economic impact: €369m.
=> Meanwhile, it is estimated that ITV made in over £8m in TV ad revenue during the UCL Final, dubbed Europe's biggest football night of the year, as some late spots in key breaks went for up to £300,000 for 30-secs. The game was shown simultaneously on BSkyB’s Sky Sports and it is believed that Sky Media could have raked in £2m in ad revenue, as clients looked to book simultaneous spots on both broadcasts.
Friday, 27th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> The Philippine Basketball Association is looking at a minimum bid of P900 mil for the TV rights of Philippines’s most successful and longest-running professional sports league. The previous contract between the PBA and Solar Sports was worth P483 mil over 3 years but the contract up for bidding is for a 5-year period. Two broadcasters are in the running to secure TV rights; ABS-CBN and TV 5. The former has long history in sports broadcasting and actually televised the latter games of the Commissioner’s Cup over Studio 23 but TV 5, when it was still owned by a Malaysian conglomerate, won the TV rights in 2006. The PBA is hoping to get “impressive” proposals from the both networks which are in a battle for broadcast supremacy along with GMA 7. Solar Sports is in the final season of a three-year deal that will end Aug. 31. It has decided not to bid for the next contract.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Neo Sports has entered a 3-year agreement with Total Sports Asia to acquire media rights of the OSIM BWF World Superseries from 2011 to 2013 for the Indian Subcontinent. The Series comprises of 7 Superseries events, 5 Superseries Premier Events and 1 Superseries Finals. The calendar comprises of premium events like the All England Badminton Championships, Indonesia Open, China Open and other leading badminton events from across the world.
STATS & DATA
=> Increases in monthly fees from pay-TV platforms to TV stations could drive overall U.S. broadcast retransmission fees to $3.61 bil in 2017 from $1.14 bil in 2010, says SNL Kagan. SNL Kagan notes that retrans revenues rose from $631 mil in 2009 to $766 mil in 2010. For pure-play TV station owners, revenue stream was equal to 52% of cash flow on average in 2010, rising to as much as 76% of cash flow. Retrans fee has been a contentious issue in the U.S., leading to a number of spats between networks and pay-TV platforms. Networks have taken issue with the fees they receive from pay-TV, which are often considerably lower than fees paid by cable networks. Broadcast retrans revenues are forecast to rise 28% this year to $1.46 bil.
BIZ & BITES
=> Mohamed Bin Hammam, FIFA presidential challenger accused of bribing voters, has conter-accused his opponent, Sepp Blatter, of effectively approving the alleged payments and called for him to be investigated as well. The Qatari alleges that his co-accused, Jack Warner, had told Blatter about the payments but the FIFA president took no action. FIFA’s code of ethics places a duty of disclosure on any official to "report any evidence of violations of conduct to the Fifa secretary general", for transfer to the ethics committee. Bin Hammam formally wrote to Fifa's secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, to request investigation be widened to include Blatter. If Bin Hammam is to be condemned he will seek to take Blatter down with him and, in a high stakes strategy, appearing to accept that payments were made but claims Blatter knew about them and said nothing.
=> Australian pay-TV FOXTEL has made a bid to acquire rival AUSTAR for A$1.52 (US$1.61) /share to create a merged subscription TV provider that, when combined, could generate revenues of over A$2.8 bil ($3 bil) annually. The A$1.9 billion acquisition would create a merged operation with more than 2,500 full-time employees, anticipated revenues of over A$2.8 billion and combined investment in original Australian content of more than A$500 million ($530 million) per annum. FOXTEL notes that a merged platform would be able to accelerate the rollout of new digital products and services. Plus, customers in regional areas would receive access to new digital subscription channels as well as flexible packages and pricing options.
=> The Philippine Basketball Association is looking at a minimum bid of P900 mil for the TV rights of Philippines’s most successful and longest-running professional sports league. The previous contract between the PBA and Solar Sports was worth P483 mil over 3 years but the contract up for bidding is for a 5-year period. Two broadcasters are in the running to secure TV rights; ABS-CBN and TV 5. The former has long history in sports broadcasting and actually televised the latter games of the Commissioner’s Cup over Studio 23 but TV 5, when it was still owned by a Malaysian conglomerate, won the TV rights in 2006. The PBA is hoping to get “impressive” proposals from the both networks which are in a battle for broadcast supremacy along with GMA 7. Solar Sports is in the final season of a three-year deal that will end Aug. 31. It has decided not to bid for the next contract.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Neo Sports has entered a 3-year agreement with Total Sports Asia to acquire media rights of the OSIM BWF World Superseries from 2011 to 2013 for the Indian Subcontinent. The Series comprises of 7 Superseries events, 5 Superseries Premier Events and 1 Superseries Finals. The calendar comprises of premium events like the All England Badminton Championships, Indonesia Open, China Open and other leading badminton events from across the world.
STATS & DATA
=> Increases in monthly fees from pay-TV platforms to TV stations could drive overall U.S. broadcast retransmission fees to $3.61 bil in 2017 from $1.14 bil in 2010, says SNL Kagan. SNL Kagan notes that retrans revenues rose from $631 mil in 2009 to $766 mil in 2010. For pure-play TV station owners, revenue stream was equal to 52% of cash flow on average in 2010, rising to as much as 76% of cash flow. Retrans fee has been a contentious issue in the U.S., leading to a number of spats between networks and pay-TV platforms. Networks have taken issue with the fees they receive from pay-TV, which are often considerably lower than fees paid by cable networks. Broadcast retrans revenues are forecast to rise 28% this year to $1.46 bil.
BIZ & BITES
=> Mohamed Bin Hammam, FIFA presidential challenger accused of bribing voters, has conter-accused his opponent, Sepp Blatter, of effectively approving the alleged payments and called for him to be investigated as well. The Qatari alleges that his co-accused, Jack Warner, had told Blatter about the payments but the FIFA president took no action. FIFA’s code of ethics places a duty of disclosure on any official to "report any evidence of violations of conduct to the Fifa secretary general", for transfer to the ethics committee. Bin Hammam formally wrote to Fifa's secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, to request investigation be widened to include Blatter. If Bin Hammam is to be condemned he will seek to take Blatter down with him and, in a high stakes strategy, appearing to accept that payments were made but claims Blatter knew about them and said nothing.
=> Australian pay-TV FOXTEL has made a bid to acquire rival AUSTAR for A$1.52 (US$1.61) /share to create a merged subscription TV provider that, when combined, could generate revenues of over A$2.8 bil ($3 bil) annually. The A$1.9 billion acquisition would create a merged operation with more than 2,500 full-time employees, anticipated revenues of over A$2.8 billion and combined investment in original Australian content of more than A$500 million ($530 million) per annum. FOXTEL notes that a merged platform would be able to accelerate the rollout of new digital products and services. Plus, customers in regional areas would receive access to new digital subscription channels as well as flexible packages and pricing options.
Thursday, 26th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> São Paulo has finally broken away from Clube dos 13 to join other clubs in signing individual media rights contracts with the Globo TV network. The club signed a deal for all its media rights in the top-flight Campeonato Brasileiro league with Globo for the 2012 to 2015 seasons. The club said that it was "fully satisfied" with the increased rights fees it will earn under the new deal. São Paulo, third most-popular club in the country after Flamengo and Corinthians, will earn close to R$65 mil ($40 mil) /season from sale of all media rights, as well as some perimeter advertising – nearly doubling what it will earn this season. It is thought that the Clube dos 13 will be dissolved as a representative body once all 20 clubs have signed individual media rights deals.
=> The rights deal agreed with Mediaset España for Euro 2012 is said to be near €70 mil ($98.3 mil). Sogecable, now known as Prisa TV, held Spanish broadcast rights for Euro 2008 and that was thought to be worth €75 mil. Negotiations entered a second round after the first round failed to produce an offer that matched UEFA's asking price of €75 mil. All 31 matches from Euro 2012 will be carried live on Mediaset España’s Telecinco and/or Cuatro along with a magazine and highlights programme, as well as internet and mobile services.
=> Man. Utd broke the £60-mil ($97-mil) barrier in TV income and prize money this season, earning £60.4 mil in total, with £13.5 mil coming from domestic TV appearances and £15.1 mil for finishing in top spot. Every spot on the EPL table is worth £756,000. In contrast, Blackpool earned the least, £39.8 mil, when only 10 of their league matches were carried live while West Ham Utd earned £40.25 mil, due to an extra 4 matches being shown live despite finishing the season below Blackpool. In total, the 20 EPL clubs received £952.75 mil in 2010/11, up from £830.96 mil last year. The EPL is bringing in £1.94 bil for the period 2010/11 to 12/13 through domestic live rights with BSkyB (£1.62 bil) and ESPN (£150 mil) and highlights with the BBC (£173 million).
EVENTS
=> Arsenal announced a 2-game tour of Asia aimed at boosting the club's commercial appeal in the region. The team will take on a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur on Jul 13, before heading to China to play top-tier Chinese Super League side Hangzhou Greentown on Jul 16. Arsenal last visited China for a pre-season game in Beijing 16 years ago.
=> The Women’s International Squash Players’ Association has added the US Open to its top-tier WISPA World Series, promising the largest-ever prize fund for the tournament. Drexel University will host the 2011 US Open Squash Championships between Oct 1 to 6. The prize pot has doubled from last year to $60,000. The US Open joins the Cayman Islands Open, Australian Open, Qatar Invitational, Hong Kong Open and World Open in the WISPA World Series. In April, WISPA rebranded its top-tier championships as the World Series, bringing it into line with men’s squash’s top-tier PSA World Series. It will be only the second time in the history of the US Open that the men's and women's events have been staged simultaneously.
=> São Paulo has finally broken away from Clube dos 13 to join other clubs in signing individual media rights contracts with the Globo TV network. The club signed a deal for all its media rights in the top-flight Campeonato Brasileiro league with Globo for the 2012 to 2015 seasons. The club said that it was "fully satisfied" with the increased rights fees it will earn under the new deal. São Paulo, third most-popular club in the country after Flamengo and Corinthians, will earn close to R$65 mil ($40 mil) /season from sale of all media rights, as well as some perimeter advertising – nearly doubling what it will earn this season. It is thought that the Clube dos 13 will be dissolved as a representative body once all 20 clubs have signed individual media rights deals.
=> The rights deal agreed with Mediaset España for Euro 2012 is said to be near €70 mil ($98.3 mil). Sogecable, now known as Prisa TV, held Spanish broadcast rights for Euro 2008 and that was thought to be worth €75 mil. Negotiations entered a second round after the first round failed to produce an offer that matched UEFA's asking price of €75 mil. All 31 matches from Euro 2012 will be carried live on Mediaset España’s Telecinco and/or Cuatro along with a magazine and highlights programme, as well as internet and mobile services.
=> Man. Utd broke the £60-mil ($97-mil) barrier in TV income and prize money this season, earning £60.4 mil in total, with £13.5 mil coming from domestic TV appearances and £15.1 mil for finishing in top spot. Every spot on the EPL table is worth £756,000. In contrast, Blackpool earned the least, £39.8 mil, when only 10 of their league matches were carried live while West Ham Utd earned £40.25 mil, due to an extra 4 matches being shown live despite finishing the season below Blackpool. In total, the 20 EPL clubs received £952.75 mil in 2010/11, up from £830.96 mil last year. The EPL is bringing in £1.94 bil for the period 2010/11 to 12/13 through domestic live rights with BSkyB (£1.62 bil) and ESPN (£150 mil) and highlights with the BBC (£173 million).
EVENTS
=> Arsenal announced a 2-game tour of Asia aimed at boosting the club's commercial appeal in the region. The team will take on a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur on Jul 13, before heading to China to play top-tier Chinese Super League side Hangzhou Greentown on Jul 16. Arsenal last visited China for a pre-season game in Beijing 16 years ago.
=> The Women’s International Squash Players’ Association has added the US Open to its top-tier WISPA World Series, promising the largest-ever prize fund for the tournament. Drexel University will host the 2011 US Open Squash Championships between Oct 1 to 6. The prize pot has doubled from last year to $60,000. The US Open joins the Cayman Islands Open, Australian Open, Qatar Invitational, Hong Kong Open and World Open in the WISPA World Series. In April, WISPA rebranded its top-tier championships as the World Series, bringing it into line with men’s squash’s top-tier PSA World Series. It will be only the second time in the history of the US Open that the men's and women's events have been staged simultaneously.
Wednesday, 25th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Thailand’s GMM Grammy has won broadcast rights to Euro 2012 in a US$9 mil deal with UEFA. Rival RS Promotion held rights to the 2008 Euro tournament. Kobkiat Sangwanich, MD for business development of GMM Media, believes Thailand's sports media industry is growing significantly so this is a timely opportunity. Grammy will broadcast the Euro U-21 Championship on Channel 3, Modernine TV and its satellite Play Channel. Grammy will continue to focus on satellite TV and digital media as it believes they have great potential. In Q1 2011, the company’s satellite TV business generated revenue of 95 mil baht, 28% growth year-on-year. It plans to introduce 5 more satellite channels to total 13. It also plans to launch its own set-top receivers in the near future. Digital media business earned 231 mil baht, driven mainly by increasing music download sales.
=> Mediaset España (owners of Telecinco and Cuatro) have acquired media rights to UEFA Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The deal also covers rights for the 2011 and 2013 European U-21 Championships in Denmark and Israel respectively. UEFA had set a minimum price of €75 mil ($105.5 mil) in Spain, who are the reigning world and European champions, becoming only the second ‘big five’ country after Germany where TV rights for Euro 2012 has been sold. In Germany, ARD and ZDF acquired live free-to-air TV, broadband and mobile rights worth €120 mil. The European Broadcasting Union distributes to the rest of Europe following a €130 mil acquisition of rights in territories outside of the ‘big five’, comprising of Spain, Germany, France, Italy and the UK).
=> Swiss pubcaster, SRG SSR, wants to increase the number of Switzerland's top-tier soccer Axpo Super League live games it showsfrom 10 matches currently, to 36 matches, or one match per round. Under a present deal that expires end 2011/12, the 170 Axpo Super League games /season are not shown by SRG SSR because the live rights are held by pay-TV, Teleclub. The deals with SRG SSR and Teleclub is worth just SFr10 mil ($11.4 mil) /season, with each broadcaster paying around half.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> IEC in Sports extended deals with the China Tennis Association to distribute TV rights to the WTA event in Guangzhou. The deal for the Guangzhou International Open runs through to 2013 and IEC will market rights to the tournament internationally. Renewal of deals with event organisers resulted in IEC being able to offer rights of 6 tournaments in Asia-Pacific in 2011; in Kuala Lumpur, Auckland, Pattaya, Tashkent and Guangzhou and WTA Tournament of Champions in Bali which is the season-end finale event for the women’s tour.
STATS & DATA
=> Demand for 3D TV continues to grow in China, with sales of 3D capable TV units accounting for over 10% of LCD sales during the Labour Day holidays in early May and is expected to continue rising to 5 mil 3DTVs sold by the end of 2011. China Market Monitor Co (CMMC) said 3DTVs would take 12 to 15% of the share in the panel TV sector by the end 2011, and Displaybank estimates over 86% of plasma TVs will support 3D technology by the end 2013. International panel makers are bringing their 3D technology to China in a rush to capture a share of the market.
BIZ & BITES
=> WWE announced the appointment of Rukin Kizilbash as general manager of WWE India to spearhead expansion across all lines of business, including consumer products and home entertainment, in India. Kizilbash will report to Dominic Hayes, senior VP and managing director of WWE International. WWE will open a new office in Mumbai on 1 June. This furthers WWE’s commitment to expanding internationally, with a focus on emerging economies. Currently, WWE programming is available in 75 mil TV homes across India on Ten Sports. Ten Sports is also one of the company’s highest revenue generating television partners.
=> Thailand’s GMM Grammy has won broadcast rights to Euro 2012 in a US$9 mil deal with UEFA. Rival RS Promotion held rights to the 2008 Euro tournament. Kobkiat Sangwanich, MD for business development of GMM Media, believes Thailand's sports media industry is growing significantly so this is a timely opportunity. Grammy will broadcast the Euro U-21 Championship on Channel 3, Modernine TV and its satellite Play Channel. Grammy will continue to focus on satellite TV and digital media as it believes they have great potential. In Q1 2011, the company’s satellite TV business generated revenue of 95 mil baht, 28% growth year-on-year. It plans to introduce 5 more satellite channels to total 13. It also plans to launch its own set-top receivers in the near future. Digital media business earned 231 mil baht, driven mainly by increasing music download sales.
=> Mediaset España (owners of Telecinco and Cuatro) have acquired media rights to UEFA Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The deal also covers rights for the 2011 and 2013 European U-21 Championships in Denmark and Israel respectively. UEFA had set a minimum price of €75 mil ($105.5 mil) in Spain, who are the reigning world and European champions, becoming only the second ‘big five’ country after Germany where TV rights for Euro 2012 has been sold. In Germany, ARD and ZDF acquired live free-to-air TV, broadband and mobile rights worth €120 mil. The European Broadcasting Union distributes to the rest of Europe following a €130 mil acquisition of rights in territories outside of the ‘big five’, comprising of Spain, Germany, France, Italy and the UK).
=> Swiss pubcaster, SRG SSR, wants to increase the number of Switzerland's top-tier soccer Axpo Super League live games it showsfrom 10 matches currently, to 36 matches, or one match per round. Under a present deal that expires end 2011/12, the 170 Axpo Super League games /season are not shown by SRG SSR because the live rights are held by pay-TV, Teleclub. The deals with SRG SSR and Teleclub is worth just SFr10 mil ($11.4 mil) /season, with each broadcaster paying around half.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> IEC in Sports extended deals with the China Tennis Association to distribute TV rights to the WTA event in Guangzhou. The deal for the Guangzhou International Open runs through to 2013 and IEC will market rights to the tournament internationally. Renewal of deals with event organisers resulted in IEC being able to offer rights of 6 tournaments in Asia-Pacific in 2011; in Kuala Lumpur, Auckland, Pattaya, Tashkent and Guangzhou and WTA Tournament of Champions in Bali which is the season-end finale event for the women’s tour.
STATS & DATA
=> Demand for 3D TV continues to grow in China, with sales of 3D capable TV units accounting for over 10% of LCD sales during the Labour Day holidays in early May and is expected to continue rising to 5 mil 3DTVs sold by the end of 2011. China Market Monitor Co (CMMC) said 3DTVs would take 12 to 15% of the share in the panel TV sector by the end 2011, and Displaybank estimates over 86% of plasma TVs will support 3D technology by the end 2013. International panel makers are bringing their 3D technology to China in a rush to capture a share of the market.
BIZ & BITES
=> WWE announced the appointment of Rukin Kizilbash as general manager of WWE India to spearhead expansion across all lines of business, including consumer products and home entertainment, in India. Kizilbash will report to Dominic Hayes, senior VP and managing director of WWE International. WWE will open a new office in Mumbai on 1 June. This furthers WWE’s commitment to expanding internationally, with a focus on emerging economies. Currently, WWE programming is available in 75 mil TV homes across India on Ten Sports. Ten Sports is also one of the company’s highest revenue generating television partners.
Tuesday, 24th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Malaysia’s Astro has been awarded exclusive media rights to the UEFA Champions League from 2012/13 to 2014/15, marking the end of coverage by ESPN Star Sports in the country. In the present 3-yr contract period, expiring at the end of next season, Astro shares rights to the Champions League in Malaysia and Brunei with ESS. Meanwhile, Ten Sports retained exclusive rights to the CL in the Indian sub-continent for a further 3 years and media group S Media acquired rights to the CL and Europa League in Myanmar from 2012/13 to 2014/15, The deal is rumoured to double what Ten paid from $1.4 mil /year to $ 3.5 mil for the new deal, beating out ESPN Star Sports and Neo Sports in the bidding. The new deals with Astro, Ten Sports and S Media comprise TV, internet and mobile rights in synch with UEFA's platform neutral approach.
=> IPL broadcast rights holder, Nimbus, is talking to 2 Kiwi broadcasters - Sky and TVNZ - for a 3-year deal. Season 4 of IPL had a strong presence from New Zealand with 9 players but there was no live, pay-TV coverage apparently because the price demanded by Nimbus was too rich. Nimbus is looking at a rights fee of $1.5 / year. The IPL does not have a broadcaster in Australia either since Ten Network pulled the plug on a 5-year deal it originally signed with World Sport Group, with which the BCCI rescinded its agreement. Ten reportedly paid between A$10 and A$15 mil for rights when it signed with WSG in 2008 and till last year, used to telecast the matches on free-to-air TV, followed by repeats on Ten's HD digital channel.
=> German pubcasters, ARD and ZDF, retained broadcast rights for Germany's home international matches from 2012/13 on. The 4-year deal runs until 2016 and covers German women’s home games, the third-tier 3.Liga and the Frauen Bundesliga. The deal is worth €175 mil ($245 mil) but excludes the Greman home qualifiers for Euro 2016, which will be marketed centrally by UEFA. ARD and ZDF’s current contract with the DFB runs until end 2011/12 season and covers home games (including all qualifiers), DFB Pokal, the 3. Liga and the Frauen Bundesliga. It is worth €80 mil /season.
=> Meanwhile, a separate tender for DFB Pokal from 2012/13 onwards will be issued later, with DFB expecting to award domestic rights by Sep. Pay-TV Sky Deutschland currently pays €18 mil /season average for all 63 DFB Pokal matches in a 4-year deal running to 2012. DFB had stated that the matches must be shown on free-to-air television on a channel with appropriate reach. The DFB Pokal finals for the 2010/11 season was played last week and watched by an average of 7.05 mil viewers on ARD, equal to a viewing share of 28.2%, which was considerably lower than the 10.09 mil recorded by ZDF for last year’s final and the lowest audience for the finals since 2004.
=> Bayern Munich received the highest share of TV revenue of the 18 Bundesliga clubs this season, with €3 mil ($4.27 mil) more than new champions, Borussia Dortmund. Bayern were awarded €29.96 mil in TV rights money for 2010/11. Despite finishing third, Bayern still emerged as the biggest earner because results for last four seasons were taken into consideration when dividing TV rights revenue of €368 million for the 2010-11 campaign. Dortmund were second in revenue earnings with €26.89 mil, ahead of Bayer Leverkusen with €26.57 mil. Bayern’s share of TV revenue was €24.69 mil (domestic) and €5.27 mil (international). Relegated St. Pauli finished bottom of the revenue table with €12.35 mil (domestic) and €850,000 (international) for their brief one year stint in the top-tier.
=> MP & Silva has submitted the highest offer in a tender process for broadcasting in Europe of the French Open, the French Tennis Federation said. The bid threatens to dislodge rights from the incumbent, European Broadcasting Union. In March, the FFT launched an invitation to tender for rights in Europe from 2012 to 2016. IMG Media and Lagardère Unlimited had also made offers but were rejected. FFT’s present 4-year, €56 mil ($80.2 mil) deal with EBU from 2008 to 2011 and that deal was already a 69% jump on the previous deal, thanks to increased interest in Spain. Outside of Europe, Sportfive is the FFT’s consultant for broadcast rights sales in Asia and Oceania (exc. Australia and Japan). Meanwhile, the FFT said is its French domestic broadcast partner France Télévisions, is not a foregone conclusion and raised possibilities of a deal in the future with other broadcasters. France Télévisions holds rights until 2013 in a €15.5-mil /year deal.
=> Ukraine’s top-tier Premier League launched a tender process for domestic broadcast rights for 3 seasons, from 2011/12. The full package carries a minimum purchase price of $6 mil for 180 live matches /season (6 per round). Delayed rights are also available separately. A deadline of June 6 has been set for applications and bids will be reviewed and announced by June 17. The UPL incumbent rights holder is national broadcaster, Inter+. The 2011/12 season starts July and runs through May, with a 3-month break beginning Dec during severe winters in Ukraine.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> China Digital TV announced strong demand for its conditional access (CA) systems in financial results for the first quarter of 2011 ended 31 Mar. Net revenues in Q1 2011 were US$19.3 mil, a 37.7% jump from Q1 2010 but a 41.2% decrease from Q4 2010. The company shipped 3.63 mil smart cards during Q1 2011, compared with 2.57 mil and 6.10 mil cards in Q1 & Q4 2010, respectively. Gross margin in Q1 was 79.5%, compared with 77.5% in the same period in 2010 and 80.8% in Q4 of 2010.
=> The men's singles final of the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam was the most-watched sporting event in China this year. The all-Chinese final was televised by CCTV and drew an average audience of 27 mil, with a reach of just under 100 mil. The figures surpassed those for the final of the women's singles final between China's Li Na and Belgium's Kim Clijsters at tennis' Australian Open in Jan, which attracted an average of 18 mil viewers to CCTV. This year's WTTC were sponsored by GAC Group, the Guangzhou-based automobile company.
=> Taj TV, which owns and operates 3 sports channels, is awaiting official clearance to launch its Golf-dedicated channel, Ten Golf, which will be fully owned by Taj TV (unlike a jv with Comcast Corp as was being planned by former partner Bukhatir Group). Ten Golf would build a subscription-based business model around the channel with Golf viewers in India estimated to be in the range of 6 to 7 mil. With the launch of Ten Golf, Taj TV will have four channel bouquet including - Ten Sports, Ten Action+ and Ten Cricket.
=> Sportfive have been appointed by Klitschko Management Group (KMG) to handle global media rights for the upcoming world heavyweight championship unification between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye which takes place at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg, Germany on Sat 2 Jul 2011. TV rights have already been sold in KMG’s home market of Germany, plus Austria, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the homeland’s of the two boxers, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Sportfive replaces Triumph Media Group, who have marketed a number of previous fights on behalf of KMG. Between 2001 and 2007, Sportfive worked as the agency for the Klitschko brothers, holding personal rights to both before KMG took over. The multi-year collaboration between the brothers and KMG to handle their TV rights, signed in 2009, recently come to its conclusion.
STATS & DATA
=> SNL Kagan forecasts strong growth for IPTV, with subs growing from 40 mil, as at the end of 2010, to over 70 mil by 2014. Kagan analyzed the top 75 media economies across N. America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pac and found that IPTV adoption increased at a 92.4% compound annual growth rate over the past 6 years. Analysis indicates Western Europe will continue to lead the world in IPTV subs in the next 4 years, reaching 26.7 mil households by 2014. China will become the second largest IPTV market, reaching 12.4 mil subs by 2014, with the U.S. in third. Latin America will grow 114%, while Eastern Europe grows 24.4%. IPTV revenues will grow from $12.9 bil in 2010 to $27 bil in 2014, or 11% of global pay-TV revenues.
EVENTS
=> India Yamaha Motor has set eyes on football, as it exclusively organises the Yamaha Asean Cup, U-13 Football 2011 for the first time in India which started 15 till 28 May with 120 players & 8 teams from Pune, Nagpur, Kerala, Kolkata and Assam. The winner will represent India at the third Yamaha Asean Cup U-13 Football Finals in Thailand from 15 to 17 July, comprising six teams from five Asian countries, namely, India, Thailand (2 teams), Indonesia, Vietnam & Malaysia.
=> Some women shuttlers are voluntarily donning skirts, although the Badminton World Federation’s controversial but binding regulation on attire comes into effect only in June. However, a majority of players are still angry, but BWF officials say that is the best way to earn money. What tennis witnessed two decades ago has come into play in badminton: show more leg is the new marketing mantra for BWF. The new rule requiring women to wear skirts has prompted fierce criticism from players of several countries, including China and Indonesia. The issue is likely to come up for more heated discussion at the BWF annual general meeting later next week.
=> ESPN will expand the X-Games on a global basis. Beginning in 2013, ESPN will stage 6 world-class X-Games events around the world - 2 in the US and 4 outside. ESPN is investing resources and focus behind this push for expansion outside the US market and will bring this action sports competition to cities around the world. The X-Games will continue to showcase action sports while showcasing artistic and social elements inherent in the action sports lifestyle and youth culture. Along with a commitment to distribute 130 hours of live TV of 6 X-Games events throughout ESPN networks in the US and international, a year-round action sports website will also help support the appetite for premier action sports content.
BIZ & BITES
=> 3D content remains low priority for broadcasters, according to Ovum, although Asia-Pacific seems to have a higher degree of interest in the medium. In its report The State of 3D (Strategic Focus), which analyses state of the 3D market, Ovum points to a clear lack of enthusiasm for 3D in the broadcast industry. Some 53% of respondents globally said 3D content production was “not an important business consideration”. However, production of 3D content was rated as a slightly higher priority by executives in Asia-Pacific companies. High cost of in infrastructure and personnel are major factors in the reluctance to invest in 3D production.
=> Tiger Woods will drop out of the top 10 in golf's world ranking next week, the first time he'll be 11th or lower since 1997, not winning a tournament since his marital scandal in 2009. But Tiger remains the world's most influential and highest earning athlete at 6th in Forbes' 'Celebrity 100 List'. At $75 mil, Woods is down $30 mil from last year's $105 mil (No. 5 in 2010), despite major sponsor pull-outs but still made $22 mil more Kobe Bryant. Woods still commands $3 mil per overseas appearance, and still collects from Nike and Electronic Arts. Behind Woods is LeBron James with $48 mil, up $5 mil from 2010 and ahead of Bryant in the power stakes. Roger Federer was 25th, placing him fourth among athletes. All told, the 19 athletes on the list this year earned a combined $647 mil. Forbes has been publishing the list annually since 1999.
=> Members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee introduced legislation that would classify illicit online streaming of copyrighted content a felony, bringing it in line with other forms of content theft. An industry coalition praised the bill for reconciling current legal disparity between the unlawful distribution of content through streaming and peer-to-peer (P2P) downloading. Under current federal law, a distinction exists between illegal streaming and downloading - two methods of distributing the same stolen, digital content. This legislation would make the illegal streaming of copyrighted works a felony, thereby standardizing its criminal classification with that of illegal P2P downloading, already a felony.
=> Disney is considering positioning itself as a major Olympics sponsor in order to boost its bid for rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games. The company's ESPN network said during a presentation to advertisers that it is very serious about making a bid for the games. Disney's main competitor, NBCU, has aired all Summer Olympics Games since 1988, and every Winter Olympics since 2002. ABC last aired the games in the winter of '88. NBC added a $200 mil sponsorship to its $2 bil bid for the 2010 and 2012 games, and sold $700 mil in GE products as a result. Disney and NBCU are expected to present their bids to the IOC next month.
=> Malaysia’s Astro has been awarded exclusive media rights to the UEFA Champions League from 2012/13 to 2014/15, marking the end of coverage by ESPN Star Sports in the country. In the present 3-yr contract period, expiring at the end of next season, Astro shares rights to the Champions League in Malaysia and Brunei with ESS. Meanwhile, Ten Sports retained exclusive rights to the CL in the Indian sub-continent for a further 3 years and media group S Media acquired rights to the CL and Europa League in Myanmar from 2012/13 to 2014/15, The deal is rumoured to double what Ten paid from $1.4 mil /year to $ 3.5 mil for the new deal, beating out ESPN Star Sports and Neo Sports in the bidding. The new deals with Astro, Ten Sports and S Media comprise TV, internet and mobile rights in synch with UEFA's platform neutral approach.
=> IPL broadcast rights holder, Nimbus, is talking to 2 Kiwi broadcasters - Sky and TVNZ - for a 3-year deal. Season 4 of IPL had a strong presence from New Zealand with 9 players but there was no live, pay-TV coverage apparently because the price demanded by Nimbus was too rich. Nimbus is looking at a rights fee of $1.5 / year. The IPL does not have a broadcaster in Australia either since Ten Network pulled the plug on a 5-year deal it originally signed with World Sport Group, with which the BCCI rescinded its agreement. Ten reportedly paid between A$10 and A$15 mil for rights when it signed with WSG in 2008 and till last year, used to telecast the matches on free-to-air TV, followed by repeats on Ten's HD digital channel.
=> German pubcasters, ARD and ZDF, retained broadcast rights for Germany's home international matches from 2012/13 on. The 4-year deal runs until 2016 and covers German women’s home games, the third-tier 3.Liga and the Frauen Bundesliga. The deal is worth €175 mil ($245 mil) but excludes the Greman home qualifiers for Euro 2016, which will be marketed centrally by UEFA. ARD and ZDF’s current contract with the DFB runs until end 2011/12 season and covers home games (including all qualifiers), DFB Pokal, the 3. Liga and the Frauen Bundesliga. It is worth €80 mil /season.
=> Meanwhile, a separate tender for DFB Pokal from 2012/13 onwards will be issued later, with DFB expecting to award domestic rights by Sep. Pay-TV Sky Deutschland currently pays €18 mil /season average for all 63 DFB Pokal matches in a 4-year deal running to 2012. DFB had stated that the matches must be shown on free-to-air television on a channel with appropriate reach. The DFB Pokal finals for the 2010/11 season was played last week and watched by an average of 7.05 mil viewers on ARD, equal to a viewing share of 28.2%, which was considerably lower than the 10.09 mil recorded by ZDF for last year’s final and the lowest audience for the finals since 2004.
=> Bayern Munich received the highest share of TV revenue of the 18 Bundesliga clubs this season, with €3 mil ($4.27 mil) more than new champions, Borussia Dortmund. Bayern were awarded €29.96 mil in TV rights money for 2010/11. Despite finishing third, Bayern still emerged as the biggest earner because results for last four seasons were taken into consideration when dividing TV rights revenue of €368 million for the 2010-11 campaign. Dortmund were second in revenue earnings with €26.89 mil, ahead of Bayer Leverkusen with €26.57 mil. Bayern’s share of TV revenue was €24.69 mil (domestic) and €5.27 mil (international). Relegated St. Pauli finished bottom of the revenue table with €12.35 mil (domestic) and €850,000 (international) for their brief one year stint in the top-tier.
=> MP & Silva has submitted the highest offer in a tender process for broadcasting in Europe of the French Open, the French Tennis Federation said. The bid threatens to dislodge rights from the incumbent, European Broadcasting Union. In March, the FFT launched an invitation to tender for rights in Europe from 2012 to 2016. IMG Media and Lagardère Unlimited had also made offers but were rejected. FFT’s present 4-year, €56 mil ($80.2 mil) deal with EBU from 2008 to 2011 and that deal was already a 69% jump on the previous deal, thanks to increased interest in Spain. Outside of Europe, Sportfive is the FFT’s consultant for broadcast rights sales in Asia and Oceania (exc. Australia and Japan). Meanwhile, the FFT said is its French domestic broadcast partner France Télévisions, is not a foregone conclusion and raised possibilities of a deal in the future with other broadcasters. France Télévisions holds rights until 2013 in a €15.5-mil /year deal.
=> Ukraine’s top-tier Premier League launched a tender process for domestic broadcast rights for 3 seasons, from 2011/12. The full package carries a minimum purchase price of $6 mil for 180 live matches /season (6 per round). Delayed rights are also available separately. A deadline of June 6 has been set for applications and bids will be reviewed and announced by June 17. The UPL incumbent rights holder is national broadcaster, Inter+. The 2011/12 season starts July and runs through May, with a 3-month break beginning Dec during severe winters in Ukraine.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> China Digital TV announced strong demand for its conditional access (CA) systems in financial results for the first quarter of 2011 ended 31 Mar. Net revenues in Q1 2011 were US$19.3 mil, a 37.7% jump from Q1 2010 but a 41.2% decrease from Q4 2010. The company shipped 3.63 mil smart cards during Q1 2011, compared with 2.57 mil and 6.10 mil cards in Q1 & Q4 2010, respectively. Gross margin in Q1 was 79.5%, compared with 77.5% in the same period in 2010 and 80.8% in Q4 of 2010.
=> The men's singles final of the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam was the most-watched sporting event in China this year. The all-Chinese final was televised by CCTV and drew an average audience of 27 mil, with a reach of just under 100 mil. The figures surpassed those for the final of the women's singles final between China's Li Na and Belgium's Kim Clijsters at tennis' Australian Open in Jan, which attracted an average of 18 mil viewers to CCTV. This year's WTTC were sponsored by GAC Group, the Guangzhou-based automobile company.
=> Taj TV, which owns and operates 3 sports channels, is awaiting official clearance to launch its Golf-dedicated channel, Ten Golf, which will be fully owned by Taj TV (unlike a jv with Comcast Corp as was being planned by former partner Bukhatir Group). Ten Golf would build a subscription-based business model around the channel with Golf viewers in India estimated to be in the range of 6 to 7 mil. With the launch of Ten Golf, Taj TV will have four channel bouquet including - Ten Sports, Ten Action+ and Ten Cricket.
=> Sportfive have been appointed by Klitschko Management Group (KMG) to handle global media rights for the upcoming world heavyweight championship unification between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye which takes place at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg, Germany on Sat 2 Jul 2011. TV rights have already been sold in KMG’s home market of Germany, plus Austria, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the homeland’s of the two boxers, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Sportfive replaces Triumph Media Group, who have marketed a number of previous fights on behalf of KMG. Between 2001 and 2007, Sportfive worked as the agency for the Klitschko brothers, holding personal rights to both before KMG took over. The multi-year collaboration between the brothers and KMG to handle their TV rights, signed in 2009, recently come to its conclusion.
STATS & DATA
=> SNL Kagan forecasts strong growth for IPTV, with subs growing from 40 mil, as at the end of 2010, to over 70 mil by 2014. Kagan analyzed the top 75 media economies across N. America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pac and found that IPTV adoption increased at a 92.4% compound annual growth rate over the past 6 years. Analysis indicates Western Europe will continue to lead the world in IPTV subs in the next 4 years, reaching 26.7 mil households by 2014. China will become the second largest IPTV market, reaching 12.4 mil subs by 2014, with the U.S. in third. Latin America will grow 114%, while Eastern Europe grows 24.4%. IPTV revenues will grow from $12.9 bil in 2010 to $27 bil in 2014, or 11% of global pay-TV revenues.
EVENTS
=> India Yamaha Motor has set eyes on football, as it exclusively organises the Yamaha Asean Cup, U-13 Football 2011 for the first time in India which started 15 till 28 May with 120 players & 8 teams from Pune, Nagpur, Kerala, Kolkata and Assam. The winner will represent India at the third Yamaha Asean Cup U-13 Football Finals in Thailand from 15 to 17 July, comprising six teams from five Asian countries, namely, India, Thailand (2 teams), Indonesia, Vietnam & Malaysia.
=> Some women shuttlers are voluntarily donning skirts, although the Badminton World Federation’s controversial but binding regulation on attire comes into effect only in June. However, a majority of players are still angry, but BWF officials say that is the best way to earn money. What tennis witnessed two decades ago has come into play in badminton: show more leg is the new marketing mantra for BWF. The new rule requiring women to wear skirts has prompted fierce criticism from players of several countries, including China and Indonesia. The issue is likely to come up for more heated discussion at the BWF annual general meeting later next week.
=> ESPN will expand the X-Games on a global basis. Beginning in 2013, ESPN will stage 6 world-class X-Games events around the world - 2 in the US and 4 outside. ESPN is investing resources and focus behind this push for expansion outside the US market and will bring this action sports competition to cities around the world. The X-Games will continue to showcase action sports while showcasing artistic and social elements inherent in the action sports lifestyle and youth culture. Along with a commitment to distribute 130 hours of live TV of 6 X-Games events throughout ESPN networks in the US and international, a year-round action sports website will also help support the appetite for premier action sports content.
BIZ & BITES
=> 3D content remains low priority for broadcasters, according to Ovum, although Asia-Pacific seems to have a higher degree of interest in the medium. In its report The State of 3D (Strategic Focus), which analyses state of the 3D market, Ovum points to a clear lack of enthusiasm for 3D in the broadcast industry. Some 53% of respondents globally said 3D content production was “not an important business consideration”. However, production of 3D content was rated as a slightly higher priority by executives in Asia-Pacific companies. High cost of in infrastructure and personnel are major factors in the reluctance to invest in 3D production.
=> Tiger Woods will drop out of the top 10 in golf's world ranking next week, the first time he'll be 11th or lower since 1997, not winning a tournament since his marital scandal in 2009. But Tiger remains the world's most influential and highest earning athlete at 6th in Forbes' 'Celebrity 100 List'. At $75 mil, Woods is down $30 mil from last year's $105 mil (No. 5 in 2010), despite major sponsor pull-outs but still made $22 mil more Kobe Bryant. Woods still commands $3 mil per overseas appearance, and still collects from Nike and Electronic Arts. Behind Woods is LeBron James with $48 mil, up $5 mil from 2010 and ahead of Bryant in the power stakes. Roger Federer was 25th, placing him fourth among athletes. All told, the 19 athletes on the list this year earned a combined $647 mil. Forbes has been publishing the list annually since 1999.
=> Members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee introduced legislation that would classify illicit online streaming of copyrighted content a felony, bringing it in line with other forms of content theft. An industry coalition praised the bill for reconciling current legal disparity between the unlawful distribution of content through streaming and peer-to-peer (P2P) downloading. Under current federal law, a distinction exists between illegal streaming and downloading - two methods of distributing the same stolen, digital content. This legislation would make the illegal streaming of copyrighted works a felony, thereby standardizing its criminal classification with that of illegal P2P downloading, already a felony.
=> Disney is considering positioning itself as a major Olympics sponsor in order to boost its bid for rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games. The company's ESPN network said during a presentation to advertisers that it is very serious about making a bid for the games. Disney's main competitor, NBCU, has aired all Summer Olympics Games since 1988, and every Winter Olympics since 2002. ABC last aired the games in the winter of '88. NBC added a $200 mil sponsorship to its $2 bil bid for the 2010 and 2012 games, and sold $700 mil in GE products as a result. Disney and NBCU are expected to present their bids to the IOC next month.
Wednesday, 18th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Pay-TV, Canal Plus Poland retained the Polish broadcast rights for the Ekstraklasa football top-tier, with an extended agreement. The new deal runs for the next three seasons from 2011/12, with Canal Plus receiving live broadcast rights to all of the league’s matches in HD, as well as exclusivity of best three matches per gameweek. Free-TV Polsat Digital and Eurosport replaced Orange Sport as sub-licensees to show selected matches over the next 3 years. Polsat. At US$40 mil /year, the deal is believed to be worth less than the current contract, valued at US$44 mil /annum.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Endemol Sport signed a 3-year deal with Sky Sports to become exclusive broadcaster of the Dublin Super Cup in the U.K. and Ireland. The DSC is a new pre-season tournament with the first team squads of Manchester City, Inter Milan, Celtic and a League of Ireland XI competing at the Aviva Stadium. The deal guarantees participation of a BPL team, a top Spanish or Italian club and one other European club competing with the Irish domestic league selection, Airtricity League XI. Sky Sports will air starting from the inaugural 2011 tournament through to 2013 in HD coverage and through a World Feed for viewers internationally. Endemol Sport is finalizing agreements with other broadcasters around the world for coverage of the 2011 Dublin Super Cup, to air in more than 100 territories across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas.
=> Athletics’ IAAF has sold all TV rights across the Middle East for World Athletics Series events from 2011 to 2013 in a deal with IBA, state broadcaster of Israel. IEC in Sports inked the deal with IBA to include the next two World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in August and Moscow in 2013. The IBA deal ensures that coverage of athletics in the Middle East region for the period 2011 to 2013 is completed as it complements the deal with Al Jazeera Sport signed in July 2008. The IAAF, through Dentsu, has also concluded a rights deal with SBS for Daegu 2011, where it will carry 35 hours of live broadcast.
=> Virgin Media has signed up to carry Eurosport’s 3D coverage of the 2011 French Open. Live action will be aired on a Virgin Media digital channel, as well other dedicated HD channels). Selected 3D matches will also be available on demand as part of Virgin's XL TV pack. It will be the first time the tournament has been shown in 3D in the UK. In 2010, 3D French Open coverage was not available on domestic TV sets outside France as the deal between Eurosport, Panasonic and the French Tennis Federation only applied to retail stores in Europe.
STATS & DATA
=> Despite the amount of free content available, Infonetics Research reports the enduring strength of pay-TV, finding that people will not hesitate in paying for content that is compelling and offers true value. Worldwide revenue from IPTV, cable TV and satellite TV services providers grew to $240 bil in 2010, an 11% increase over 2009. IPTV grew 45%, followed by satellite on 13%. In spite of accounting for the largest revenues, cable revenues slowed noticeably. Asia-Pac and Central and Latin America were the fastest growing video services markets in 2010, driven by analogue-to-digital conversion and new subscriber growth in markets such as Brazil, India, Malaysia, and Mexico.
=> The 3D TV market is poised to grow 500% this year, rising to over 300 mil in 2015, In-Stat reports. In-Stat expects 100% of all 40-inch and above DTV sets will eventually be 3D-enabled, causing shipments of 3D TV sets to increase and the the number of 3D TV households worldwide to grow. In 2011, Europe will be home to most 3D TV unit shipments, at just over 7 mil but by 2015, Asia Pacific will dominate with a 32% share of worldwide 3D TV shipments.
=> iPad users are more likely to download free branded apps than paid-for non-branded equivalent. 73% of respondents to UK's Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) stated preference for free branded content. A further 67% wanted brands to provide more exclusive content for the device with lifestyle (38%), games (27%) and entertainment (23%) highlighted as the most popular areas. User preference for branded content also made them more open to brand engagement with 81% seeking further interaction with a brand after using an app, with 19% buying a product or service, and 29% expressing an interest in a product or service. Almost 1,000 iPad users were consulted during the survey.
EVENTS
=> Japan has confirmed pulling out of July's Copa America as an invited team, because of issues over player availability. The Japan Football Association failed to secure guarantees that European clubs would be willing to release players for the tournament in Argentina. Japan's involvement in the Copa America was initially thrown into doubt by the devastating earthquake and tsunami which hit the country in March, although the JFA subsequently decided to take part, albeit without players from the delayed domestic J-League. Costa Rica is expected to replace Japan as one of two invitational teams at the tournament, with Mexico being the other.
=> France will host the Ryder Cup in 2018 for the first time, after seeing off four other European bidders. France was favourite to win, albeit facing a potentially strong sympathy vote for Spain following the death of, Severiano Ballesteros. France was selected ahead of Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain and plans to stage the event at Le Golf National, home of the French Open, near Paris. Spain hosted the Ryder Cup on the only occasion it was held in continental Europe, at Valderrama in 1997.
=> WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown are set to take place in Mexico at the Palacio de los Deportes Arena in Mexico City on October 15 and October 16, respectively. The impending broadcasts will make Mexico one of only four countries outside of the U.S. and Canada to have ever hosted Raw and SmackDown televised live events. The other countries include the U.K., Japan and Italy.
BIZ & BITES
=> Wigan Athletic chariman, Dave Whelan and David Beckham remain the wealthiest sportspeople in the UK, according to The Sunday Times Sport Rich List, which is restricted to current and former sports stars. Whelan, founder of retail giant JJB Sports and former player, continues to lead with a fortune of £190 mil ($308 mil). Beckham, who now plays for LA Galaxy, is second with £135 mil, ahead of ex-Irish rugby union player, Tony O’Reilly with £120 mil in assets. Eight of the top 12 in the rich list are current or former racing drivers, including 2008 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and 2009 champion Jenson Button.
=> FIFA exco, Worawi Makudi, intends legal action against former FA chief, Lord David Triesman, who has made bribery allegations against the Thai official. Worawi, also the head of Football Association of Thailand, denied Triesman’s claim that he asked for control of TV rights to a proposed Thailand-England friendly match in return for his support for England’s ultimately unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 World Cup. In the event, Russia was awarded the tournament and the proposed friendly match was called off. Triesman alleged last week that four FIFA exco members asked for, but were refused, incentives to support the bid. FIFA has asked the FA to provide evidence to support the claims, which have been denied by those implicated, namely Worawi, Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz and Ricardo Teixeira.
=> Indonesian soccer’s PSSI, have avoided sanctions from FIFA after they banned 2 candidates from coming elections. Arifin Panigoro, an oil tycoon who launched a breakaway Indonesian Premier League, and army general George Toisutta have been removed from the presidential shortlist ahead of the May 20 election in Jakarta. The PSSI electoral appeal committee had previously argued that both men could stand as candidates as they had no criminal records, but FIFA intervened, calling for their immediate removal. FIFA has already stopped PSSI chairman Nurdin Halid from standing for re-election; he was jailed in 2007 for misusing funds but continued to run the organisation from prison. His nomination would have violated FIFA statutes.
=> Sergio Rodriguez Jaramillo, president of the PanAmerican Squash Federation was attacked and killed in a drive-by shooting in his home city of Medellin in Colombia. Jamarillo had been president of the federation since 1997, and treasurer of the Colombian Olympic Committee. N Ramachandran, president of the World Squash Federation, said in a statement: “"The untimely death of Sergio Rodriguez is a great shock and a terrible tragedy. First and foremost for his loved ones, but squash and sport in general has lost a great friend whose contribution has been enduring. He will be greatly missed."
=> Gymnastics’ FIG suspended 11 national federations for failure to pay fees and financial obligations, bringing to 14 the total number of its member federations that are suspended. Newly-suspended federations are Cyprus, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Macau, Macedonia, Paraguay, Seychelles, Syria, Tajikistan and Yemen. Suspension means that the federations affected will not be able to participate in, or right to organise any official events of the FIG, amongst the sanctions. Previously suspended federations are those of Comores, Lesotho and North Korea.
=> Pay-TV, Canal Plus Poland retained the Polish broadcast rights for the Ekstraklasa football top-tier, with an extended agreement. The new deal runs for the next three seasons from 2011/12, with Canal Plus receiving live broadcast rights to all of the league’s matches in HD, as well as exclusivity of best three matches per gameweek. Free-TV Polsat Digital and Eurosport replaced Orange Sport as sub-licensees to show selected matches over the next 3 years. Polsat. At US$40 mil /year, the deal is believed to be worth less than the current contract, valued at US$44 mil /annum.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Endemol Sport signed a 3-year deal with Sky Sports to become exclusive broadcaster of the Dublin Super Cup in the U.K. and Ireland. The DSC is a new pre-season tournament with the first team squads of Manchester City, Inter Milan, Celtic and a League of Ireland XI competing at the Aviva Stadium. The deal guarantees participation of a BPL team, a top Spanish or Italian club and one other European club competing with the Irish domestic league selection, Airtricity League XI. Sky Sports will air starting from the inaugural 2011 tournament through to 2013 in HD coverage and through a World Feed for viewers internationally. Endemol Sport is finalizing agreements with other broadcasters around the world for coverage of the 2011 Dublin Super Cup, to air in more than 100 territories across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas.
=> Athletics’ IAAF has sold all TV rights across the Middle East for World Athletics Series events from 2011 to 2013 in a deal with IBA, state broadcaster of Israel. IEC in Sports inked the deal with IBA to include the next two World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in August and Moscow in 2013. The IBA deal ensures that coverage of athletics in the Middle East region for the period 2011 to 2013 is completed as it complements the deal with Al Jazeera Sport signed in July 2008. The IAAF, through Dentsu, has also concluded a rights deal with SBS for Daegu 2011, where it will carry 35 hours of live broadcast.
=> Virgin Media has signed up to carry Eurosport’s 3D coverage of the 2011 French Open. Live action will be aired on a Virgin Media digital channel, as well other dedicated HD channels). Selected 3D matches will also be available on demand as part of Virgin's XL TV pack. It will be the first time the tournament has been shown in 3D in the UK. In 2010, 3D French Open coverage was not available on domestic TV sets outside France as the deal between Eurosport, Panasonic and the French Tennis Federation only applied to retail stores in Europe.
STATS & DATA
=> Despite the amount of free content available, Infonetics Research reports the enduring strength of pay-TV, finding that people will not hesitate in paying for content that is compelling and offers true value. Worldwide revenue from IPTV, cable TV and satellite TV services providers grew to $240 bil in 2010, an 11% increase over 2009. IPTV grew 45%, followed by satellite on 13%. In spite of accounting for the largest revenues, cable revenues slowed noticeably. Asia-Pac and Central and Latin America were the fastest growing video services markets in 2010, driven by analogue-to-digital conversion and new subscriber growth in markets such as Brazil, India, Malaysia, and Mexico.
=> The 3D TV market is poised to grow 500% this year, rising to over 300 mil in 2015, In-Stat reports. In-Stat expects 100% of all 40-inch and above DTV sets will eventually be 3D-enabled, causing shipments of 3D TV sets to increase and the the number of 3D TV households worldwide to grow. In 2011, Europe will be home to most 3D TV unit shipments, at just over 7 mil but by 2015, Asia Pacific will dominate with a 32% share of worldwide 3D TV shipments.
=> iPad users are more likely to download free branded apps than paid-for non-branded equivalent. 73% of respondents to UK's Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) stated preference for free branded content. A further 67% wanted brands to provide more exclusive content for the device with lifestyle (38%), games (27%) and entertainment (23%) highlighted as the most popular areas. User preference for branded content also made them more open to brand engagement with 81% seeking further interaction with a brand after using an app, with 19% buying a product or service, and 29% expressing an interest in a product or service. Almost 1,000 iPad users were consulted during the survey.
EVENTS
=> Japan has confirmed pulling out of July's Copa America as an invited team, because of issues over player availability. The Japan Football Association failed to secure guarantees that European clubs would be willing to release players for the tournament in Argentina. Japan's involvement in the Copa America was initially thrown into doubt by the devastating earthquake and tsunami which hit the country in March, although the JFA subsequently decided to take part, albeit without players from the delayed domestic J-League. Costa Rica is expected to replace Japan as one of two invitational teams at the tournament, with Mexico being the other.
=> France will host the Ryder Cup in 2018 for the first time, after seeing off four other European bidders. France was favourite to win, albeit facing a potentially strong sympathy vote for Spain following the death of, Severiano Ballesteros. France was selected ahead of Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain and plans to stage the event at Le Golf National, home of the French Open, near Paris. Spain hosted the Ryder Cup on the only occasion it was held in continental Europe, at Valderrama in 1997.
=> WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown are set to take place in Mexico at the Palacio de los Deportes Arena in Mexico City on October 15 and October 16, respectively. The impending broadcasts will make Mexico one of only four countries outside of the U.S. and Canada to have ever hosted Raw and SmackDown televised live events. The other countries include the U.K., Japan and Italy.
BIZ & BITES
=> Wigan Athletic chariman, Dave Whelan and David Beckham remain the wealthiest sportspeople in the UK, according to The Sunday Times Sport Rich List, which is restricted to current and former sports stars. Whelan, founder of retail giant JJB Sports and former player, continues to lead with a fortune of £190 mil ($308 mil). Beckham, who now plays for LA Galaxy, is second with £135 mil, ahead of ex-Irish rugby union player, Tony O’Reilly with £120 mil in assets. Eight of the top 12 in the rich list are current or former racing drivers, including 2008 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and 2009 champion Jenson Button.
=> FIFA exco, Worawi Makudi, intends legal action against former FA chief, Lord David Triesman, who has made bribery allegations against the Thai official. Worawi, also the head of Football Association of Thailand, denied Triesman’s claim that he asked for control of TV rights to a proposed Thailand-England friendly match in return for his support for England’s ultimately unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 World Cup. In the event, Russia was awarded the tournament and the proposed friendly match was called off. Triesman alleged last week that four FIFA exco members asked for, but were refused, incentives to support the bid. FIFA has asked the FA to provide evidence to support the claims, which have been denied by those implicated, namely Worawi, Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz and Ricardo Teixeira.
=> Indonesian soccer’s PSSI, have avoided sanctions from FIFA after they banned 2 candidates from coming elections. Arifin Panigoro, an oil tycoon who launched a breakaway Indonesian Premier League, and army general George Toisutta have been removed from the presidential shortlist ahead of the May 20 election in Jakarta. The PSSI electoral appeal committee had previously argued that both men could stand as candidates as they had no criminal records, but FIFA intervened, calling for their immediate removal. FIFA has already stopped PSSI chairman Nurdin Halid from standing for re-election; he was jailed in 2007 for misusing funds but continued to run the organisation from prison. His nomination would have violated FIFA statutes.
=> Sergio Rodriguez Jaramillo, president of the PanAmerican Squash Federation was attacked and killed in a drive-by shooting in his home city of Medellin in Colombia. Jamarillo had been president of the federation since 1997, and treasurer of the Colombian Olympic Committee. N Ramachandran, president of the World Squash Federation, said in a statement: “"The untimely death of Sergio Rodriguez is a great shock and a terrible tragedy. First and foremost for his loved ones, but squash and sport in general has lost a great friend whose contribution has been enduring. He will be greatly missed."
=> Gymnastics’ FIG suspended 11 national federations for failure to pay fees and financial obligations, bringing to 14 the total number of its member federations that are suspended. Newly-suspended federations are Cyprus, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Macau, Macedonia, Paraguay, Seychelles, Syria, Tajikistan and Yemen. Suspension means that the federations affected will not be able to participate in, or right to organise any official events of the FIG, amongst the sanctions. Previously suspended federations are those of Comores, Lesotho and North Korea.
Monday, 16th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> The LFP has set a reserve of €600 mil ($854.4 million) on its 6 domestic TV packages up for tender as it strives to prevent a drop in the value of rights for Ligue 1 amid a perceived lack of interest from incumbent broadcasters. The LFP is vowing to match the €668 mil /year that it presently receives. A reserve of €110 mil has been set for packages one and two each, €100 mil each for three and four, and €90 mil each for five and six. A seventh, branded "Nomad" by the league, is for mobile broadcast on mobile and tablets, while packages eight and nine are video on demand and TV magazine shows, respectively. No reserve price has been set for those packages. TV revenue accounts for 57% of Ligue 1 clubs' budgets.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Multi Channels Asia (MCA) announced plans to create a pan regional sports channel, Sports Television International, in partnership with IEC in Sports, drawing upon IEC’s library of over 3,500 hours of sports programming and special events. Programming will include a mix of athletics, football, golf, motor sports, tennis, badminton, gymnastics and rugby. STI will first be launched in special preview mode this year with a full time channel roll out anticipated to follow later. STI will target Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, N.Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
=> UK’s ITV is expecting £8 mil ($13 mil) in ad revenues from live coverage of the UEFA Champions League final between Man. United and Barcelona in Wembley Stadium. ITV’s 30-sec ad spots are selling for £200,000, while BSkyB is expected to ring in £2 mil for the match on May 28. The news at a time of declining ad revenues at ITV, where sales dipped 9% this month and a fall of as much as 20% in June was forecasted, blaming the “continued economic uncertainty” for the gloomy outlook. Meanwhile, ITV’s rival, Channel 4, announced profits were up by £300,000 to nearly £4 mil in 2010 but also warned that revenues for the coming year are likely to be flat.
STATS & DATA
=> India will have the largest number of direct-to-home TV viewers in the world next year, overtaking the US. A Media Partners Asia report says 7 months is all it will take for the 6-player domestic Indian DTH industry to emerge at the top. The Indian DTH market will overtake the US with both gross and net (paying customers) subscribers crossing the 42-mil mark by 2012. The combined strength of Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Reliance Big, Airtel Digital and Videocon D2H will overtake the US' Direct TV and Dish Network, translating into a 20% lead over the American DTH market of 35 mil users next year.
EVENTS
=> The upcoming India Grand Prix has found a title sponsor in telecom giant Airtel, who signed a 5-year deal with Formula One Management in a deal reportedly valued at Rs 600 mil /year or a total of Rs 3 bil. The India GP is scheduled to hold its inaugural race on 31 October at the JPSI promoted Rs 17 billion Buddh International Circuit F1 track in Greater Noida, adjoining Delhi.
=> Basketball’s FIBA has begun an 8-month test phase for '3-on-3', for teams of three players instead of the traditional five, featured at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, with a view to launching a series of tournaments in 2012 that could lay foundation for a future Olympic sport. FIBA will test-stage 3-on-3 events using new rules and digital competition management system. The events will test the format of play that promises to make basketball accessible. FIBA's 213 member federations and potential tournament. The official global launch of 3-on-3 will take place next year, with a full pyramid of tournaments being rolled out, ranging from informal competitions to international championships, to a possible world professional tour.
BIZ & BITES
=> China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has denied banning crime, time-travel and spy TV shows. SARFT claimed that it instead suggested a delay in broadcast of the shows, in order to concentrate on the 90th anniversary celebrations of the founding of Communist China. Earlier, satellite television stations were reportedly asked to stop showing the three kinds of TV shows from May to July.
=> Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup finals has been rocked by allegations that it paid $1.5 mil in bribes to 2 FIFA Executive committee members, Jacques Anouma and Issa Hayatou. A parliamentary inquiry into football governance was told of evidence received that the pair were paid a fixer employed by the Qatar bid. The Sunday Times newspaper, in written evidence, also claim that a third Ex-Co, Amos Adamu, was set to receive the same amount, but was prevented from doing so after the Nigerian received a 3-year ban from FIFA last Nov for asking undercover reporters for $600,000 in exchange for his vote.
=> Football Association of Thailand’s, Worawi Makudi, who is a FIFA exco member has been removed as its head for failing to hold elections. The Sports Authority of Thailand said Worawi, implicated in the World Cup corruption scandal, and the executive board had been ousted because no election had been held since their previous term in office expired at the end of 2010. It was alleged that Worawi had asked for control of TV rights to a proposed Thailand-England friendly match, in return for voting for the England bid. He has denied the claim.
=> Meanwhile, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he was “shocked” by sensational new allegations of corruption involving 6 of his Executive Committee and promised that FIFA would act when evidence is provided. Blatter said. “First we have to have evidence. Then we will act immediately against anyone in breach of our ethical code.” Blatter, rocked by arguably the biggest scandal of all less than three weeks before running for President for the fourth time, told reporters his own conscience was clear.
=> Cycling’s UCI has deplored the publication by French sports newspaper, L’Equipe, of a list of riders’ grading from 1 to 10 on a ‘suspicion index’ in relation to possibility of involvement with doping, based on results of UCI’s pioneering ‘biological passport’ scheme. The UCI said it “deplores that this document has come into the possession of outsiders”, as since it is a tool on which anti-doping services organise activity during a race. The document relates specifically to blood tests carried out on the eve of last year’s Tour de France. The TDF and L’Equipe share a common parent company, the Amaury Group.
=> Manchester United announced a 33% increase in commercial revenues for nine months up to end March. Turnover totalled £75.3 mil ($122.5 mil) despite a £5-mil fall in match-day and media income, attributed to fewer home games in the period. The club is enroute to becoming the first English club to generate £100 mil in annual commercial revenues. Manchester United, owned by the Glazer family, has bought back £5.5 mil in bonds, taking the total amount purchased to £29.5 mil. Meanwhile, gross debt fell to £477.7 mil and the club has £113 mil in cash and £765.1 mil in other assets.
=> The LFP has set a reserve of €600 mil ($854.4 million) on its 6 domestic TV packages up for tender as it strives to prevent a drop in the value of rights for Ligue 1 amid a perceived lack of interest from incumbent broadcasters. The LFP is vowing to match the €668 mil /year that it presently receives. A reserve of €110 mil has been set for packages one and two each, €100 mil each for three and four, and €90 mil each for five and six. A seventh, branded "Nomad" by the league, is for mobile broadcast on mobile and tablets, while packages eight and nine are video on demand and TV magazine shows, respectively. No reserve price has been set for those packages. TV revenue accounts for 57% of Ligue 1 clubs' budgets.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Multi Channels Asia (MCA) announced plans to create a pan regional sports channel, Sports Television International, in partnership with IEC in Sports, drawing upon IEC’s library of over 3,500 hours of sports programming and special events. Programming will include a mix of athletics, football, golf, motor sports, tennis, badminton, gymnastics and rugby. STI will first be launched in special preview mode this year with a full time channel roll out anticipated to follow later. STI will target Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, N.Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
=> UK’s ITV is expecting £8 mil ($13 mil) in ad revenues from live coverage of the UEFA Champions League final between Man. United and Barcelona in Wembley Stadium. ITV’s 30-sec ad spots are selling for £200,000, while BSkyB is expected to ring in £2 mil for the match on May 28. The news at a time of declining ad revenues at ITV, where sales dipped 9% this month and a fall of as much as 20% in June was forecasted, blaming the “continued economic uncertainty” for the gloomy outlook. Meanwhile, ITV’s rival, Channel 4, announced profits were up by £300,000 to nearly £4 mil in 2010 but also warned that revenues for the coming year are likely to be flat.
STATS & DATA
=> India will have the largest number of direct-to-home TV viewers in the world next year, overtaking the US. A Media Partners Asia report says 7 months is all it will take for the 6-player domestic Indian DTH industry to emerge at the top. The Indian DTH market will overtake the US with both gross and net (paying customers) subscribers crossing the 42-mil mark by 2012. The combined strength of Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Reliance Big, Airtel Digital and Videocon D2H will overtake the US' Direct TV and Dish Network, translating into a 20% lead over the American DTH market of 35 mil users next year.
EVENTS
=> The upcoming India Grand Prix has found a title sponsor in telecom giant Airtel, who signed a 5-year deal with Formula One Management in a deal reportedly valued at Rs 600 mil /year or a total of Rs 3 bil. The India GP is scheduled to hold its inaugural race on 31 October at the JPSI promoted Rs 17 billion Buddh International Circuit F1 track in Greater Noida, adjoining Delhi.
=> Basketball’s FIBA has begun an 8-month test phase for '3-on-3', for teams of three players instead of the traditional five, featured at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, with a view to launching a series of tournaments in 2012 that could lay foundation for a future Olympic sport. FIBA will test-stage 3-on-3 events using new rules and digital competition management system. The events will test the format of play that promises to make basketball accessible. FIBA's 213 member federations and potential tournament. The official global launch of 3-on-3 will take place next year, with a full pyramid of tournaments being rolled out, ranging from informal competitions to international championships, to a possible world professional tour.
BIZ & BITES
=> China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has denied banning crime, time-travel and spy TV shows. SARFT claimed that it instead suggested a delay in broadcast of the shows, in order to concentrate on the 90th anniversary celebrations of the founding of Communist China. Earlier, satellite television stations were reportedly asked to stop showing the three kinds of TV shows from May to July.
=> Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup finals has been rocked by allegations that it paid $1.5 mil in bribes to 2 FIFA Executive committee members, Jacques Anouma and Issa Hayatou. A parliamentary inquiry into football governance was told of evidence received that the pair were paid a fixer employed by the Qatar bid. The Sunday Times newspaper, in written evidence, also claim that a third Ex-Co, Amos Adamu, was set to receive the same amount, but was prevented from doing so after the Nigerian received a 3-year ban from FIFA last Nov for asking undercover reporters for $600,000 in exchange for his vote.
=> Football Association of Thailand’s, Worawi Makudi, who is a FIFA exco member has been removed as its head for failing to hold elections. The Sports Authority of Thailand said Worawi, implicated in the World Cup corruption scandal, and the executive board had been ousted because no election had been held since their previous term in office expired at the end of 2010. It was alleged that Worawi had asked for control of TV rights to a proposed Thailand-England friendly match, in return for voting for the England bid. He has denied the claim.
=> Meanwhile, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he was “shocked” by sensational new allegations of corruption involving 6 of his Executive Committee and promised that FIFA would act when evidence is provided. Blatter said. “First we have to have evidence. Then we will act immediately against anyone in breach of our ethical code.” Blatter, rocked by arguably the biggest scandal of all less than three weeks before running for President for the fourth time, told reporters his own conscience was clear.
=> Cycling’s UCI has deplored the publication by French sports newspaper, L’Equipe, of a list of riders’ grading from 1 to 10 on a ‘suspicion index’ in relation to possibility of involvement with doping, based on results of UCI’s pioneering ‘biological passport’ scheme. The UCI said it “deplores that this document has come into the possession of outsiders”, as since it is a tool on which anti-doping services organise activity during a race. The document relates specifically to blood tests carried out on the eve of last year’s Tour de France. The TDF and L’Equipe share a common parent company, the Amaury Group.
=> Manchester United announced a 33% increase in commercial revenues for nine months up to end March. Turnover totalled £75.3 mil ($122.5 mil) despite a £5-mil fall in match-day and media income, attributed to fewer home games in the period. The club is enroute to becoming the first English club to generate £100 mil in annual commercial revenues. Manchester United, owned by the Glazer family, has bought back £5.5 mil in bonds, taking the total amount purchased to £29.5 mil. Meanwhile, gross debt fell to £477.7 mil and the club has £113 mil in cash and £765.1 mil in other assets.
Friday, 13th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Disney-owned ESPN and ABC, have been considering a joint bid for TV rights of the 2014 and 2016 Olympics in USA, with the International Olympic Committee due to launch its auction for the rights next month. ESPN is set to be a serious player in the battle for rights, presently held by rival NBC, although the recent Comcast acquisition has only shown lukewarm interest, given its claim that it lost about $223 mil on broadcasting last year’s winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. NBC paid a total of $2.2 bil for rights to the 2010 and 2012 games: $1.18 bil for the 2012 in London; $820 mil for Vancouver; and $200 mil from former NBC parent, GE, in sponsorship support.
=> Poland’s Ekstraklasa soccer league, agreed new domestic broadcast deals with pay-TV Canal+ Poland, for live rights to all games but with the league retaining option to launch its own TV channel. Ekstraklasa entered into private negotiations with broadcasters for the rights from 2011/12 to 2013/14 resulting in the deal. The new deals are reported to be worth slightly less /season than the 120 mil zlotys ($43.3 mil) /season paid by Canal+ and telecom, Telekomunikacja Polska, which runs the Orange Sport channel, for the deals that expire at the end of this season.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> TV coverage of the 2011 Giro d’Italia has reached 167 countries, in 350 mil homes, largely made possible by the agreement between RCS Sport – La Gazzetta dello Sport and Rai Trade Direction. In the Americas, the TV broadcast of the Giro is with Universal Sports (USA & Canada), ESPN (Latin America) and TDN (Mexico & Central America). Eurosport, airs in Europe, TV2 (Norway) and TV2 (Denmark) will air in Northern Europe. The Corsa Rosa will also be broadcast in Spain by ETB and Veo7. In Africa, Supersports will carry while in Asia races are visible on Jsports (Japan), Khabar TV (Kazhakistan), SBS (Australia), while back home in Italy, RAI has expanded on its coverage on Rai Sport 1 and Rai Sport 2.
STATS & DATA
=> Pay-TV in Asia, making up 48% or 367 mil of TV homes, will continue to make gains in coming years, Media Partners Asia says, generating revenues of $78 bil by 2020 and contingent upon investments being made in content, distribution and new technology. Growth hinges on improvement in ground-level execution, talent and regulation, especially in India, China and Southeast Asia. MPA’s Asia Pacific Pay-TV & Broadband Markets 2011 estimates pay-TV homes will reach 486 mil in 2015 (57% TV homes) and 570 mil in 2020 (62%). Digital pay-TV sub homes hit 148 mil (20% penetration) in 2010 and will rise to 362 mil (42%) by 2015 and 483 mil (52%) by 2020, led by China and India. The HD base was 12.4 mil in 2010, increasing to 45 mil by 2015 and 81 mil by 2020. Excluding China and India, HD penetration of digital pay-TV subs is forecast to double from 30% to 60% by 2020. Pay-TV revenues gained 14% in 2010 to $38 bil, led by ARPU growth in developed markets, sub gains in emerging ones and recovering ad market. Pay-TV advertising saw a 15% jump in 2010 to reach $8 bil, or 25% of the total TV ad pie. Sub revenues rose to $30 bil, a 14% hike. By 2015, MPA forecasts Asia-Pac pay-TV revenues will reach $60 bil, rising to $78 bil in 2020.
=> Sales of 3D TVs accounted for over 10% of total LCD TV sales in China during the Labour Day holidays in May, with models from China-based TV vendors accounting for 60% of total sales in the segment, according to All View Consulting (AVC). China-based Hisense was the top vendor of 3D TVs, followed by Sony, Changhong, Skyworth and Samsung Electronics. Pricing is the key for China-based vendors to grab a large chunk of the 3D TV market. Total LCD TV sales during the Labour Day holidays (30 April-2 May) reached 1.58 mil units, down 4.7% from a year earlier.
=> Disney-owned ESPN and ABC, have been considering a joint bid for TV rights of the 2014 and 2016 Olympics in USA, with the International Olympic Committee due to launch its auction for the rights next month. ESPN is set to be a serious player in the battle for rights, presently held by rival NBC, although the recent Comcast acquisition has only shown lukewarm interest, given its claim that it lost about $223 mil on broadcasting last year’s winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. NBC paid a total of $2.2 bil for rights to the 2010 and 2012 games: $1.18 bil for the 2012 in London; $820 mil for Vancouver; and $200 mil from former NBC parent, GE, in sponsorship support.
=> Poland’s Ekstraklasa soccer league, agreed new domestic broadcast deals with pay-TV Canal+ Poland, for live rights to all games but with the league retaining option to launch its own TV channel. Ekstraklasa entered into private negotiations with broadcasters for the rights from 2011/12 to 2013/14 resulting in the deal. The new deals are reported to be worth slightly less /season than the 120 mil zlotys ($43.3 mil) /season paid by Canal+ and telecom, Telekomunikacja Polska, which runs the Orange Sport channel, for the deals that expire at the end of this season.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> TV coverage of the 2011 Giro d’Italia has reached 167 countries, in 350 mil homes, largely made possible by the agreement between RCS Sport – La Gazzetta dello Sport and Rai Trade Direction. In the Americas, the TV broadcast of the Giro is with Universal Sports (USA & Canada), ESPN (Latin America) and TDN (Mexico & Central America). Eurosport, airs in Europe, TV2 (Norway) and TV2 (Denmark) will air in Northern Europe. The Corsa Rosa will also be broadcast in Spain by ETB and Veo7. In Africa, Supersports will carry while in Asia races are visible on Jsports (Japan), Khabar TV (Kazhakistan), SBS (Australia), while back home in Italy, RAI has expanded on its coverage on Rai Sport 1 and Rai Sport 2.
STATS & DATA
=> Pay-TV in Asia, making up 48% or 367 mil of TV homes, will continue to make gains in coming years, Media Partners Asia says, generating revenues of $78 bil by 2020 and contingent upon investments being made in content, distribution and new technology. Growth hinges on improvement in ground-level execution, talent and regulation, especially in India, China and Southeast Asia. MPA’s Asia Pacific Pay-TV & Broadband Markets 2011 estimates pay-TV homes will reach 486 mil in 2015 (57% TV homes) and 570 mil in 2020 (62%). Digital pay-TV sub homes hit 148 mil (20% penetration) in 2010 and will rise to 362 mil (42%) by 2015 and 483 mil (52%) by 2020, led by China and India. The HD base was 12.4 mil in 2010, increasing to 45 mil by 2015 and 81 mil by 2020. Excluding China and India, HD penetration of digital pay-TV subs is forecast to double from 30% to 60% by 2020. Pay-TV revenues gained 14% in 2010 to $38 bil, led by ARPU growth in developed markets, sub gains in emerging ones and recovering ad market. Pay-TV advertising saw a 15% jump in 2010 to reach $8 bil, or 25% of the total TV ad pie. Sub revenues rose to $30 bil, a 14% hike. By 2015, MPA forecasts Asia-Pac pay-TV revenues will reach $60 bil, rising to $78 bil in 2020.
=> Sales of 3D TVs accounted for over 10% of total LCD TV sales in China during the Labour Day holidays in May, with models from China-based TV vendors accounting for 60% of total sales in the segment, according to All View Consulting (AVC). China-based Hisense was the top vendor of 3D TVs, followed by Sony, Changhong, Skyworth and Samsung Electronics. Pricing is the key for China-based vendors to grab a large chunk of the 3D TV market. Total LCD TV sales during the Labour Day holidays (30 April-2 May) reached 1.58 mil units, down 4.7% from a year earlier.
Thursday, 12th May 2011
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Metan Development Group and Fusion TV have entered into an exclusive partnership to bring action sports and adventure travel content to China. The two will develop and distribute Fusion TV-branded online, mobile, IPTV and TV channels in China. The deal extends to Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia and Taiwan. Metan serves as the exclusive sales agent for Fusion's library, while Fusion is the exclusive content provider and co-production partner for Metan in the categories of action sports and adventure travel.
=> One World Sports has secured exclusive N. American rights to the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL) in a deal with World Sport Group. One World will broadcast weekly games on TV, broadband and mobile for the 16-team CSL, the highest level of pro football in China. The acquisition of the CSL media rights follows its other recent broadcast deals for the Korean K-League, Japanese J. League, AFC Champions League, and the live broadcast of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 this past January.
NEW MEDIA
=> The insatiable appetite for video from sources such as YouTube and Netflix is set to create a surge in global data traffic to more than 7 times the current rate. ABI Research calculates that by end 2011, traffic will rocket by 50% CAGR to 60,000 Petabytes. Driving traffic will be increased usage of laptops, tablets and devices with screens larger than mobile handsets. ABI predicts traffic generated by devices other than handsets will grow from about 65% of the total in 2011 to over three-quarters in the next five years. Yet, operators will need to innovate to monetise this OTT online video explosion. Operators should consider aligning pricing and data to suit usage patterns to ease help network congestion, compared to investments in infrastructure.
EVENTS
=> The International Table Tennis Federation awarded Japan hosting rights to the 2014 World Team Championships and Japan Table Tennis Association has chosen the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo as the venue. It will be the sixth time Japan has hosted table tennis world championships, the most recent event being the individual worlds in Yokohama in 2009. The JTTA is using the event to "convince the international community" that the country is on the road to recovery after the March earthquake and tsunami that devastated the north-east of Japan. In 2012, the World Team Table Tennis Championships will be in held in Germany and in 2013, the individual championships will be in France.
=> Meanwhile, ITTF teamed up with Peace and Sport, the organisation campaigning for peace through sports, to launch 'Peace and Sport Table Tennis Tournament' in Qatar in Nov. Based on 'Ping-Pong Diplomacy', the famous event that provided the catalyst for improved US-China relations in 1972, the aim of the cup is to encourage dialogue and good relations between nations. The tournament will consist of men's and women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles matches. Host nation Qatar will be joined by USA, Russia, Iran, Japan, India, China, South Korea, North Korea and Pakistan. Key government officials from each country will be invited to attend the two-day tournament.
=> Manchester Utd and Barcelona will renew their rivalry after the UEFA Champions League Final when they face each other in the United States this July as part of an exhibition soccer tournament title sponsored by Herbalife. The firm is the official nutrition company of the 2011 Herbalife World Football Challenge, featuring Barcelona, Manchester City, Manchester United and Real Madrid. Co-organised by Major League Soccer and Creative Artists Agency, the HWFC will see the cream of European soccer take on MLS and Mexican Primera División clubs including Chicago Fire, Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Revolution, Vancouver Whitecaps, Club América and Club Deportivo Guadalajara.
=> The uncertainty surrounding Japan's participation in July's Copa America looks set to be resolved soon when the Japan Football Association confirms its withdrawal over player availability. Costa Rica are believed to have been offered the vacancy, less than a month after the JFA said it would compete in Argentina after reaching agreement with the top-tier J-League. Japan's participation in the tournament had been in doubt since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the north-east of the country.
BIZ & BITES
=> The International Table Tennis Federation claimed it is now the 2nd largest sports federation in the world following approval of 6 new members. The new additions take to 215 the number of ITTF affiliated nations, 2 more than basketball's FIBA and 7 behind volleyball's FIVB. The ITTF also claims to be the only international federation with 100% coverage in Oceania.
=> The Women’s International Squash Players’ Association has appointed chairman Ingrid Lofdahl-Bentzer as acting chief executive, with immediate effect. The decision follows resignation of WISPA president Natalie Grainger who also held the position of principal. Lofdahl-Bentzer joined the WISPA board in 2005. She previously served as head of women's pro tennis at the International Tennis Federation and as advisor to the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters tournament. Grainger has quit her WISPA role to begin work on a project for Chelsea Piers New York, a multi-sports facility in Stamford, Connecticut.
=> Skype has been acquired by Microsoft for US$8.5 billion in cash. Skype will become a new business division of Microsoft and CEO Tony Bates will head the Microsoft Skype as president, reporting to Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer. The Skype deal is touted as the biggest deal in the 36-year history of Microsoft, surpassing its purchase of AQuantive for about USD6 billion in 2007. Skype debuted in 2003 and in September 2005, was bought by eBay for US$2.6 billion. In 2009, a majority stake was sold to an investor group for US$1.9 billion in cash and US$125 million note. eBay retained about a third.
Wednesday, 11th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> French pay-TV, Canal Plus, has finalised broadcast rights for French rugby union’s Top 14, signing a 5-year deal with the LNR. Canal+ secured exclusive rights for five seasons (2011/12 to 2015/16), including mobile rights, in a deal worth an average of €31.7 mil ($45.5 mil) /season, or €158.5 mil in total. The deal also includes VOD rights from 2012/13 onwards and a €4.5mil portion of the annual €31.7mil fee is variable as it is linked to the size of the broadcaster's Top 14 audiences. The final offer from Canal+ was accepted by LNR but was still below the league’s target of increasing domestic broadcast rights value by 50%.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> A 22.4% jump in subscriber growth for India’s DTH satellite TV offerings was recorded for Q4 2010. 32.05 mil people in India received pay-TV services from six private DTH providers by Dec, up from 26.4 mil at end Oct 2010, TRAI said. This compares to 23.77 mil new DTH subscriptions In India by Jun 2010. India’s love for pay TV over satellite shows no signs of abating with Airtel Digital recently announcing it had added 3.07 mil subs in 2011 alone. RNCOS anticipates DTH subs in India will reach 69 mil by 2014, at a CAGR of 23% between 2011 and 2014. However, Indian DTH continues to face challenges like low returns on average revenue per user (ARPU), expense of acquiring content and subscribers and high taxation.
=> IMG Media has signed a new 4-year broadcast rights distribution deal with equestrian’s FEI. The new deal runs until the end of 2014 and covers distribution of broadcast outside Europe for the quadrennial FEI World Equestrian Games in 2014, the FEI European Championships in 2011 and 2013 in jumping, dressage and eventing and the annual finals of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping and the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage. IMG’s contract renewal with the FEI follows on from a new deal in Europe announced last month with the European Broadcasting Union, the umbrella body of mainly public-service broadcasters.
=> Australians are applying for satellite TV smart cards at a rate of up to 600 /week, according to the Department of Broadband, Comm. and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), indicating that the on-going move away from analogue TV is not only to digital terrestrial broadcasts, but also to satellite. The government-funded Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) was established to prevent anyone from being left out in the switch and offers existing free-to-air (FTA) channels over satellite. DBCDE says VAST has about 21,000 viewing households across Australia. However, major population centres are, not yet eligible for VAST.
=> UK ESPN has snatched British rights to two major soccer tournaments in July away from Sky. The Copa América and Emirates Cup will be shown on ESPN UK. Both had been Sky Sports staples in previous British summers. On top of the Emirates Cup, ESPN UK also took rights of all pre-season tours involving Arsenal (touring Asia), Everton (USA) and Tottenham Hotspur (South Africa). Sky Sports has held TV rights to every Emirates Cup, a 4-team friendly tournament played at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium during the off- season, since its inception in 2007. The Copa América had been a Sky Sports fixture since 1997, with the past 5 editions of the South American national team tournament broadcast live
NEW MEDIA
=> The 2011 edition of tennis’ Power Horse World Team Cup, the annual teams ATP Tour event in Düsseldorf, will receive internet exposure with spobox.tv providing live coverage. The internet broadcaster will show free live coverage from May 15 to 20, having also streamed coverage of the tournament in the past. Spobox.tv will produce live and on-demand internet coverage to be shown on the official www.world-team-cup.tv website, along with player interviews, press conferences and magazine segments. Live TV coverage will be shown in Germany on FTA Sport1 and regional pubcaster, WDR. This year’s tournament was close to being scrapped before Triumph Media Group signed up Power Horse, the Austria-based energy drink brand, as the new title sponsor.
STATS & DATA
=> New research by Rentrak revealed the enduring popularity of TV-based video on-demand (VOD) services. Aggregating data from its OnDemand Essentials service, Rentrak found that in 2010, an average of 38 mil STBs /month accessed VOD content, an 11% increase over 2009. The survey also found 44% of all enabled STBs access VOD, which looks set to rise with VOD users making an average of 17.1 transactions /month in 2010 and movies-on-demand being up 9.1%, to accrue almost $1 bil in revenue. Not surprisingly, “free on demand” represented 74% of all VOD transactions in 2010 with music, kids and TV entertainment being the top FOD categories. TV entertainment was the fastest growing sub-sector up 31% year-on-year.
=> Eurosport is the best-known sports channel among French people over the age of 15, according to the CSA, France’s broadcast watchdog. Eurosport topped the poll of sports channels distributed on cable, satellite, digital terrestrial or IPTV with a recognition rate of 72%, ahead of pay-TV sports channel, Canal+ Sport, with 64%. Eurosport’s figure is 6% higher than last year. Infosport, Canal Plus’ sports news channel, was recognised by 40%, while Equidia, horse racing channel of PMU, France’s state run sports betting organisation, received 31% recognition.
=> French pay-TV, Canal Plus, has finalised broadcast rights for French rugby union’s Top 14, signing a 5-year deal with the LNR. Canal+ secured exclusive rights for five seasons (2011/12 to 2015/16), including mobile rights, in a deal worth an average of €31.7 mil ($45.5 mil) /season, or €158.5 mil in total. The deal also includes VOD rights from 2012/13 onwards and a €4.5mil portion of the annual €31.7mil fee is variable as it is linked to the size of the broadcaster's Top 14 audiences. The final offer from Canal+ was accepted by LNR but was still below the league’s target of increasing domestic broadcast rights value by 50%.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> A 22.4% jump in subscriber growth for India’s DTH satellite TV offerings was recorded for Q4 2010. 32.05 mil people in India received pay-TV services from six private DTH providers by Dec, up from 26.4 mil at end Oct 2010, TRAI said. This compares to 23.77 mil new DTH subscriptions In India by Jun 2010. India’s love for pay TV over satellite shows no signs of abating with Airtel Digital recently announcing it had added 3.07 mil subs in 2011 alone. RNCOS anticipates DTH subs in India will reach 69 mil by 2014, at a CAGR of 23% between 2011 and 2014. However, Indian DTH continues to face challenges like low returns on average revenue per user (ARPU), expense of acquiring content and subscribers and high taxation.
=> IMG Media has signed a new 4-year broadcast rights distribution deal with equestrian’s FEI. The new deal runs until the end of 2014 and covers distribution of broadcast outside Europe for the quadrennial FEI World Equestrian Games in 2014, the FEI European Championships in 2011 and 2013 in jumping, dressage and eventing and the annual finals of the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping and the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage. IMG’s contract renewal with the FEI follows on from a new deal in Europe announced last month with the European Broadcasting Union, the umbrella body of mainly public-service broadcasters.
=> Australians are applying for satellite TV smart cards at a rate of up to 600 /week, according to the Department of Broadband, Comm. and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), indicating that the on-going move away from analogue TV is not only to digital terrestrial broadcasts, but also to satellite. The government-funded Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) was established to prevent anyone from being left out in the switch and offers existing free-to-air (FTA) channels over satellite. DBCDE says VAST has about 21,000 viewing households across Australia. However, major population centres are, not yet eligible for VAST.
=> UK ESPN has snatched British rights to two major soccer tournaments in July away from Sky. The Copa América and Emirates Cup will be shown on ESPN UK. Both had been Sky Sports staples in previous British summers. On top of the Emirates Cup, ESPN UK also took rights of all pre-season tours involving Arsenal (touring Asia), Everton (USA) and Tottenham Hotspur (South Africa). Sky Sports has held TV rights to every Emirates Cup, a 4-team friendly tournament played at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium during the off- season, since its inception in 2007. The Copa América had been a Sky Sports fixture since 1997, with the past 5 editions of the South American national team tournament broadcast live
NEW MEDIA
=> The 2011 edition of tennis’ Power Horse World Team Cup, the annual teams ATP Tour event in Düsseldorf, will receive internet exposure with spobox.tv providing live coverage. The internet broadcaster will show free live coverage from May 15 to 20, having also streamed coverage of the tournament in the past. Spobox.tv will produce live and on-demand internet coverage to be shown on the official www.world-team-cup.tv website, along with player interviews, press conferences and magazine segments. Live TV coverage will be shown in Germany on FTA Sport1 and regional pubcaster, WDR. This year’s tournament was close to being scrapped before Triumph Media Group signed up Power Horse, the Austria-based energy drink brand, as the new title sponsor.
STATS & DATA
=> New research by Rentrak revealed the enduring popularity of TV-based video on-demand (VOD) services. Aggregating data from its OnDemand Essentials service, Rentrak found that in 2010, an average of 38 mil STBs /month accessed VOD content, an 11% increase over 2009. The survey also found 44% of all enabled STBs access VOD, which looks set to rise with VOD users making an average of 17.1 transactions /month in 2010 and movies-on-demand being up 9.1%, to accrue almost $1 bil in revenue. Not surprisingly, “free on demand” represented 74% of all VOD transactions in 2010 with music, kids and TV entertainment being the top FOD categories. TV entertainment was the fastest growing sub-sector up 31% year-on-year.
=> Eurosport is the best-known sports channel among French people over the age of 15, according to the CSA, France’s broadcast watchdog. Eurosport topped the poll of sports channels distributed on cable, satellite, digital terrestrial or IPTV with a recognition rate of 72%, ahead of pay-TV sports channel, Canal+ Sport, with 64%. Eurosport’s figure is 6% higher than last year. Infosport, Canal Plus’ sports news channel, was recognised by 40%, while Equidia, horse racing channel of PMU, France’s state run sports betting organisation, received 31% recognition.
Tuesday, 10th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Argentina's top-tier Primera División is facing "financial ruin," with debts of the five largest clubs exceeding total revenue from sale of media rights. The poor state of finances was outlined by local daily newspaper, Urgente 24, and is an unwelcome development for the AFA at the end of its second season of a state-backed 'Soccer for All' programme, in which 600 mil pesos ($141 mil) /year of public funds is spent acquiring the league’s media rights. The government agreed a deal with the AFA for the media rights to the league over 10 years, from 2009/10 to 2018/19, worth 600 mil pesos /season, while breaching an existing contract with incumbent, pay-TV TyC Sports, who was then paying 268 mil pesos /season. That deal ran until end of 2013/14. Debts of the five biggest clubs total 658.5 mil pesos, more than annual payment received from state broadcaster Canal 7 for the league's media rights. River Plate’s debts alone are estimated at 216 mil pesos.
=> The Barclays Premier League will pay out record sums in TV money to its clubs this season with the bottom club guaranteed at least £37 mil. Lucrative new overseas TV deals mean top-flight clubs earn an average of nearly £5 mil more /year than last season, with title-winner pocketing more than £57 mil. The Press Association Sport calculated that BPL has doubled TV earnings from £625 mil during 2007/10 to around £1.2 bil in the next 3 seasons. The £1.2 bil is 10 times what Germany's Bundesliga receives for foreign TV rights, 5 times that of Italy and 3 times Spain's La Liga earnings. BPL distributes broadcast rights income based partly on performance and number of a team's matches screened on domestic TV on top of a basic equal share. This season, each club will receive £13.8 mil as equal share of domestic TV rights and £17.7 mil for overseas TV rights, while every place in the Premier League table is worth £752,000.
=> French pay-TV, Canal+, is close to agreeing to French rugby union’s Top 14 exclusive rights to the next 4 seasons, including mobile rights currently held by rival Orange. Canal+ is currently paying between €31 mil and €33 mil /season. But Canal+’ new bid was originally reported as only €18 mil ($25.9 mil) /year for rights until 2015, which was rejected by the LNR. France Télévisions was also in the early running, bidding €725,000 /year to maintain coverage of the final of the top-tier Top 14, while FT and Canal+ made a joint bid of €500,000 /year for rights to the second-tier Pro D2. However, bids made in the tender process recently became null and void as candidates' offers were only valid for 120 days.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Arqiva has renewed a 3-year deal with the ATP World Tour. Arqiva will supply live global distribution of a number of ATP World Tour properties in high definition bringing live feeds and turning them around onto satellites for global distribution to Europe, Asia and the Americas. According to Steve Plasto, ATP Media chief executive, ATP Media is now the world's largest producer and distributor of high definition tennis.
=> TV coverage of the Giro d’Italia is distributed into 167 countries, with a reach of 350 mil homes. In Europe, the race is aired by Eurosport, TV2 Norway and TV2 Denmark as a result of the 2012 start in Denmark. In the Americas, the 2011 Giro is aired by Universal Sports in USA and Canada, ESPN Sur in Latin America (exc. Brazil), ESPN Brasil in Brazil and TDN in Mexico and Central America. TV deals have been signed in Africa with Supersport and Asian rights-holders include J Sports (Japan), while Australia’s SBS network has also picked up rights. The race is being broadcast in Italy by Rai, while internet coverage is provided by Gazzetta.it. Media rights are distributed by RCS Sport, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Rai Trade.
CONTENT
=> BCP Pte Ltd, owners of horse racing weekly magazine Winning Post, ended a 10-year association with Ten Sports by agreeing to a deal with Neo Sports for the show. Neo will start airing this week on Saturdays. The show is a magazine with 24-min of horse racing content from India along with international races from Singapore, England, Dubai, Europe. It also carries lifestyle, education on the sport and the breeding industry in India, Australia and other international venues. BCP says the deal with Neo will help grow the property and would generate as much as Rs 100 mil through sale of ad inventory. Winning Post has FlyKingfisher as title sponsor and the show is known as FlyKingfisher Winning Post. Winning Post attracted 27,000 viewers in Yr 1, rising to 45,000 in Yr 2 and reaching 1.7 mil in Yr 5.
NEW MEDIA
=> Mobile operators in emerging Asian markets urgently need to adjust content strategies to adapt to rapid market shifts, analysts Ovum says. While telcos are dominant in emerging markets’ mobile content space, this will change with the rise of 3G coverage, resulting from competition of new distribution platforms led by device and platform vendors. 3G connections account for a tenth of all connections across emerging markets in Asia-Pacific and is expected to grow to a third of connections by 2015. 3G device are forecast to be four fifths of all devices shipped in 2015.
EVENTS
=> Field hockey’s governing FIH said it is in talks with potential sponsors interested in backing a new high-profile league in India. Its The FIH has said it would approve the involvement of foreign players, while underscoring the need to ensure recruitment of these players does not affect major world tournaments. The launch of a new league, similar to cricket's successful Indian Premier League, will be seen as direct competition to the controversial World Hockey Series proposed by Nimbus Sports and Indian Hockey Federation. The FIH has refused to sanction the World Hockey Series but instead, backs rival Hockey India instead.
=> Sri Lankan boxer, Manju Wanniarachchi, has been stripped of the gold medal he won at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, after failing a second dope test for a banned substance. The Commowealth Games Federation Court, meeting in Malaysia said the boxer's urine sample was found to contain 19-Norandrosterone, a banned performance-enhancing steroid. He faces a 2-year ban. The Sri Lankan National Olympic Committee had already taken away Wanniarachchi's gold, achieved in the 56kg weight division, pending the completion of inquiries.
=> The third stage of 2011 Giro d'Italia was overshadowed by the tragic death of Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt after a crash. The Leopard-Trek rider fell at high speed on a descent 20 kilometres from the finish in Rapallo and could not be resuscitated. Weylandt is the first cyclist to be killed in one of the Grand Tours since Italian rider Fabio Casartelli died in a crash during the 1995 Tour de France.
BIZ & BITES
=> Sepp Blatter's hopes of securing a fourth term as president of FIFA has received boost when he was endorsed by UEFA. Blatter, the Swiss who has led FIFA since 1998, is up against Mohamed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation. The endorsement comes as no surprise since Blatter already champions UEFA president, Michel Platini, as his replacement at FIFA in 2015. Blatter promised to serve just one more term if re-elected. UEFA’s support is a further blow to Bin Hammam's hopes of usurping Blatter. The Qatari is advocating wide-ranging reform, proposing expansion of the FIFA executive committee from 24 to 41 members, while handing more influence to continental federations and doubling annual grants to national associations to $500,000. Blatter is promising stability but is suggesting changes to the voting system for deciding World Cup hosts.
=> FIFA pledged €20 mil ($28.5 mil) to Interpol to combat match-fixing in football. In the largest grant ever handed to Interpol by a private institution, a 10-year programme will be launched in which a dedicated Fifa Anti-Corruption Training Wing will operate within the Interpol Global Complex in Singapore. Training programmes will also be delivered from Interpol's regional bureaus and offices worldwide. Fifa will pay €4 mil /yr in the first two years, followed by €1.5 mil /yr for the next 8 years. Last year Interpol worked with police in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand on a programme that culminated in arrests and seizure of $10 mil across Asia in raids on illegal gambling on matches of the 2010 World Cup. Codenamed SOGA III, the raids disrupted over 800 gambling dens, which had over $155 mil in bets placed during the tournament in South Africa.
=> FIFA has warned Indonesian football’s PSSI of "serious sanctions" if it does not stop 4 banned candidates from standing in its May 20 elections. Majority of PSSI members want chairman Nurdin Halid removed from power, but an election scheduled in March was postponed by an appeals decision, prompting protests against the PSSI. Halid was jailed in 2007 for misusing funds but continued to run the organisation from prison. His nomination for re-election would violate FIFA's statutes. Meanwhile, ASEAN have said they will go ahead with a collective bid to host the 2030 World Cup. The battle to host 2030 already appears to be a fierce one, with Uruguay and Argentina preparing a joint bid to mark the centenary of the first World Cup, held in Uruguay, and China also mooted to be an interested party.
=> Argentina's top-tier Primera División is facing "financial ruin," with debts of the five largest clubs exceeding total revenue from sale of media rights. The poor state of finances was outlined by local daily newspaper, Urgente 24, and is an unwelcome development for the AFA at the end of its second season of a state-backed 'Soccer for All' programme, in which 600 mil pesos ($141 mil) /year of public funds is spent acquiring the league’s media rights. The government agreed a deal with the AFA for the media rights to the league over 10 years, from 2009/10 to 2018/19, worth 600 mil pesos /season, while breaching an existing contract with incumbent, pay-TV TyC Sports, who was then paying 268 mil pesos /season. That deal ran until end of 2013/14. Debts of the five biggest clubs total 658.5 mil pesos, more than annual payment received from state broadcaster Canal 7 for the league's media rights. River Plate’s debts alone are estimated at 216 mil pesos.
=> The Barclays Premier League will pay out record sums in TV money to its clubs this season with the bottom club guaranteed at least £37 mil. Lucrative new overseas TV deals mean top-flight clubs earn an average of nearly £5 mil more /year than last season, with title-winner pocketing more than £57 mil. The Press Association Sport calculated that BPL has doubled TV earnings from £625 mil during 2007/10 to around £1.2 bil in the next 3 seasons. The £1.2 bil is 10 times what Germany's Bundesliga receives for foreign TV rights, 5 times that of Italy and 3 times Spain's La Liga earnings. BPL distributes broadcast rights income based partly on performance and number of a team's matches screened on domestic TV on top of a basic equal share. This season, each club will receive £13.8 mil as equal share of domestic TV rights and £17.7 mil for overseas TV rights, while every place in the Premier League table is worth £752,000.
=> French pay-TV, Canal+, is close to agreeing to French rugby union’s Top 14 exclusive rights to the next 4 seasons, including mobile rights currently held by rival Orange. Canal+ is currently paying between €31 mil and €33 mil /season. But Canal+’ new bid was originally reported as only €18 mil ($25.9 mil) /year for rights until 2015, which was rejected by the LNR. France Télévisions was also in the early running, bidding €725,000 /year to maintain coverage of the final of the top-tier Top 14, while FT and Canal+ made a joint bid of €500,000 /year for rights to the second-tier Pro D2. However, bids made in the tender process recently became null and void as candidates' offers were only valid for 120 days.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Arqiva has renewed a 3-year deal with the ATP World Tour. Arqiva will supply live global distribution of a number of ATP World Tour properties in high definition bringing live feeds and turning them around onto satellites for global distribution to Europe, Asia and the Americas. According to Steve Plasto, ATP Media chief executive, ATP Media is now the world's largest producer and distributor of high definition tennis.
=> TV coverage of the Giro d’Italia is distributed into 167 countries, with a reach of 350 mil homes. In Europe, the race is aired by Eurosport, TV2 Norway and TV2 Denmark as a result of the 2012 start in Denmark. In the Americas, the 2011 Giro is aired by Universal Sports in USA and Canada, ESPN Sur in Latin America (exc. Brazil), ESPN Brasil in Brazil and TDN in Mexico and Central America. TV deals have been signed in Africa with Supersport and Asian rights-holders include J Sports (Japan), while Australia’s SBS network has also picked up rights. The race is being broadcast in Italy by Rai, while internet coverage is provided by Gazzetta.it. Media rights are distributed by RCS Sport, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Rai Trade.
CONTENT
=> BCP Pte Ltd, owners of horse racing weekly magazine Winning Post, ended a 10-year association with Ten Sports by agreeing to a deal with Neo Sports for the show. Neo will start airing this week on Saturdays. The show is a magazine with 24-min of horse racing content from India along with international races from Singapore, England, Dubai, Europe. It also carries lifestyle, education on the sport and the breeding industry in India, Australia and other international venues. BCP says the deal with Neo will help grow the property and would generate as much as Rs 100 mil through sale of ad inventory. Winning Post has FlyKingfisher as title sponsor and the show is known as FlyKingfisher Winning Post. Winning Post attracted 27,000 viewers in Yr 1, rising to 45,000 in Yr 2 and reaching 1.7 mil in Yr 5.
NEW MEDIA
=> Mobile operators in emerging Asian markets urgently need to adjust content strategies to adapt to rapid market shifts, analysts Ovum says. While telcos are dominant in emerging markets’ mobile content space, this will change with the rise of 3G coverage, resulting from competition of new distribution platforms led by device and platform vendors. 3G connections account for a tenth of all connections across emerging markets in Asia-Pacific and is expected to grow to a third of connections by 2015. 3G device are forecast to be four fifths of all devices shipped in 2015.
EVENTS
=> Field hockey’s governing FIH said it is in talks with potential sponsors interested in backing a new high-profile league in India. Its The FIH has said it would approve the involvement of foreign players, while underscoring the need to ensure recruitment of these players does not affect major world tournaments. The launch of a new league, similar to cricket's successful Indian Premier League, will be seen as direct competition to the controversial World Hockey Series proposed by Nimbus Sports and Indian Hockey Federation. The FIH has refused to sanction the World Hockey Series but instead, backs rival Hockey India instead.
=> Sri Lankan boxer, Manju Wanniarachchi, has been stripped of the gold medal he won at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, after failing a second dope test for a banned substance. The Commowealth Games Federation Court, meeting in Malaysia said the boxer's urine sample was found to contain 19-Norandrosterone, a banned performance-enhancing steroid. He faces a 2-year ban. The Sri Lankan National Olympic Committee had already taken away Wanniarachchi's gold, achieved in the 56kg weight division, pending the completion of inquiries.
=> The third stage of 2011 Giro d'Italia was overshadowed by the tragic death of Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt after a crash. The Leopard-Trek rider fell at high speed on a descent 20 kilometres from the finish in Rapallo and could not be resuscitated. Weylandt is the first cyclist to be killed in one of the Grand Tours since Italian rider Fabio Casartelli died in a crash during the 1995 Tour de France.
BIZ & BITES
=> Sepp Blatter's hopes of securing a fourth term as president of FIFA has received boost when he was endorsed by UEFA. Blatter, the Swiss who has led FIFA since 1998, is up against Mohamed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation. The endorsement comes as no surprise since Blatter already champions UEFA president, Michel Platini, as his replacement at FIFA in 2015. Blatter promised to serve just one more term if re-elected. UEFA’s support is a further blow to Bin Hammam's hopes of usurping Blatter. The Qatari is advocating wide-ranging reform, proposing expansion of the FIFA executive committee from 24 to 41 members, while handing more influence to continental federations and doubling annual grants to national associations to $500,000. Blatter is promising stability but is suggesting changes to the voting system for deciding World Cup hosts.
=> FIFA pledged €20 mil ($28.5 mil) to Interpol to combat match-fixing in football. In the largest grant ever handed to Interpol by a private institution, a 10-year programme will be launched in which a dedicated Fifa Anti-Corruption Training Wing will operate within the Interpol Global Complex in Singapore. Training programmes will also be delivered from Interpol's regional bureaus and offices worldwide. Fifa will pay €4 mil /yr in the first two years, followed by €1.5 mil /yr for the next 8 years. Last year Interpol worked with police in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand on a programme that culminated in arrests and seizure of $10 mil across Asia in raids on illegal gambling on matches of the 2010 World Cup. Codenamed SOGA III, the raids disrupted over 800 gambling dens, which had over $155 mil in bets placed during the tournament in South Africa.
=> FIFA has warned Indonesian football’s PSSI of "serious sanctions" if it does not stop 4 banned candidates from standing in its May 20 elections. Majority of PSSI members want chairman Nurdin Halid removed from power, but an election scheduled in March was postponed by an appeals decision, prompting protests against the PSSI. Halid was jailed in 2007 for misusing funds but continued to run the organisation from prison. His nomination for re-election would violate FIFA's statutes. Meanwhile, ASEAN have said they will go ahead with a collective bid to host the 2030 World Cup. The battle to host 2030 already appears to be a fierce one, with Uruguay and Argentina preparing a joint bid to mark the centenary of the first World Cup, held in Uruguay, and China also mooted to be an interested party.
Thursday, 5th May 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> The Belgian Pro League has proposed the sale of non-exclusive live rights for the Jupiler Pro League from next season. Pro League is preparing to launch a domestic broadcast rights tender amidst threats by 5 clubs to sell their rights separately. Exclusive live rights to the Belgian league are currently held by Belgacom, which pays €45.7 mil ($67.8 mil) /season. The 5 clubs initially announced they would sell their own rights after a vote in December to return to a format of an 18-team league, with no playoffs, was overturned. Four clubs dubbed the ‘G4’ - Anderlecht, Club Brugge, KAA Gent and KRC Genk - succeeded in reversing the decision through a second vote after talks with smaller clubs. The G4 clubs were keen to maintain more high-profile matches in a 16-team league (with playoffs) to boost their TV rights income.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> DFL Sports Enterprises has invited bids for broadcast rights to the 1. Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga in selected countries in Europe and Asia for the period from 2012/13 to 2014/15. The list includes Belgium, France, the Netherlands and various South-east Asian territories amongst others. In 2008, Sportsman Media Group agreed a deal to distribute Bundesliga broadcast rights for the current rights cycle in southern Europe and the Asia-Pacific, while Sportfive, picked up Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Japan and Korea. DFL Sports Enterprises has set a deadline of May 30 for bids for the rights in question. Sportsman’s current package for Asia-Pacific includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
=> Filipino pay-TV, Solar Sports, have won broadcast rights to the inaugural Sepaktakraw World Cup. In a deal brokered by UFA Sports Asia, Solar will screen live coverage and highlights from the 2011 ISTAF Sepaktakraw World Cup in Malaysia from 21 to 24 Jul. Solar reaches more than 2 mil households, and have previously broadcast coverage of Euro 2008, the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Vancouver 2010 winter Games and fights involving Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.
=> New Zealand’s MediaWorks have won radio rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Broadcast rights to the tournament, taking place in NZ between 9 Sep and 23 Oct 2011, were granted by Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL). Coverage of games from the seventh quadrennial Rugby World Cup will be broadcast across MediaWorks-owned stations RadioLive and LiveSport. New Zealand’s TV rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup are sold to Sky Network Television, Maori TV, TVNZ and Mediaworks TV (TV3).
=> One World Sports secured exclusive N. American broadcast rights to South Korea’s K-League. The deal with the World Sport Group, covers a ‘Game of the Week’ during every round of the 2011 K-League’s 30-week season. The K-League, which in Feb announced Hyundai Oilbank as its title sponsor, is in its 29th season. In recent years, the league has produced a number of notable players such as Bolton Wanderers winger Lee Chung-Yong, Celtic midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng and Monaco striker Park Chu-Young.
EVENTS
=> The Professional Squash Association has confirmed nine events that will comprise the top tier PSA World Series calendar for 2011. Additionally, there is PSA's annual premier World Open, in its 33rd edition, which will take place in Rotterdam from 30 Oct to 6 Nov. The PSA World Series features events with prize-funds upwards of $ 115,000, represent the pinnacle of the men's game and are the main focus of the PSA's global TV coverage. The events form a series throughout the year that will produce eight players who will compete in the PSA World Series Finals. PSA CEO Alex Gough said: “This year's TV output and distribution will be the best yet and we are all looking forward to the players battling it out for this year's PSA World Series title."
=> Badminton World Federation has clarified its new clothing regulations for women players to wear a skirt is applicable only to Level 1 to 3 tournaments. BWF deputy president Paisan Rangsikitpho said several players have welcomed the rule and understand the intention behind it. However, he explained that it was necessary to make it a mandatory rule as the sport becomes more professional. BWF have taken important and positive steps to raise the profile of women in Badminton, including equal prize money, standardized 21-point rally system and equal male and female participation across all events. The clothing regulation is another BWF initiative to raise the profile of women’s badminton.
=> French Ligue 1 look set to be spread out kick-off times across the weekend in future, with one match on Friday evening, as part of the domestic broadcast rights tender that is set to be issued soon. The LFP has been drawing up procedures for the tender for rights from 2012/13 onwards, and the plans include up to 7 kick-off times per week, compared with 4 currently. The Friday evening game would follow on from a game from the second-tier Ligue 2, while the 2pm Sunday match is said to have been inspired by England’s Premier League as the LFP aims to further enhance its appeal with broadcasters and fans in Asia. A poll by the LFP also found that French soccer fans would prefer to watch matches on Friday evenings as opposed to Sundays.
BIZ & BITES
=> WPP and IMG Worldwide have partnered to collaborate in offering products licensing and merchandising services. WPP and IMG will establish a joint team and share resources to offer and provide licensing services to clients from WPP’s portfolio of agencies. Executives from the WPP-IMG partnership will meet with advertisers expressing interest in developing brand licensing programs or who have potential to do so. The new WPP venture is an additive to IMG Licensing's existing operations and the latter will continue to serve existing and new clients without change.
=> The Hong Kong Jockey Club started a TV series in 2003 to raise awareness of lesser-known charitable causes and community works. Aiming to connect community to the club, it started this year’s campaign last week on TVB Jade. It planned 10 episodes this year, each covering a different area of focus such as environment, health, sports programmes and city development. The HKJC will implement print media advertorials, air adapted versions on cable TV and commercial radio in order to reach a wider audience. The club donates an average of HK$1 bil annually and is committed to making itself consumer-centric and cost-effective. In the past the club has also sponsored a series to educate the public on the dangers of illegal gambling.
=> Less than two weeks after such denying suggestions by the franchise owner, News Corp officially revealed it is to explore buying into Formula One. News Corp is looking into early stage exploration of creating a consortium with a view to formulating a long‐term plan for the development of F1. Investment house, EXOR, is controlled by Fiat owners the Agnelli Family, says that it and News Corp will approach potential minority partners and key stakeholders in the sport. In its statement, EXOR conceded that its work with News Corp carried no guarantees of actions that “will lead to an approach to Formula One’s current owners.”
=> The Belgian Pro League has proposed the sale of non-exclusive live rights for the Jupiler Pro League from next season. Pro League is preparing to launch a domestic broadcast rights tender amidst threats by 5 clubs to sell their rights separately. Exclusive live rights to the Belgian league are currently held by Belgacom, which pays €45.7 mil ($67.8 mil) /season. The 5 clubs initially announced they would sell their own rights after a vote in December to return to a format of an 18-team league, with no playoffs, was overturned. Four clubs dubbed the ‘G4’ - Anderlecht, Club Brugge, KAA Gent and KRC Genk - succeeded in reversing the decision through a second vote after talks with smaller clubs. The G4 clubs were keen to maintain more high-profile matches in a 16-team league (with playoffs) to boost their TV rights income.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> DFL Sports Enterprises has invited bids for broadcast rights to the 1. Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga in selected countries in Europe and Asia for the period from 2012/13 to 2014/15. The list includes Belgium, France, the Netherlands and various South-east Asian territories amongst others. In 2008, Sportsman Media Group agreed a deal to distribute Bundesliga broadcast rights for the current rights cycle in southern Europe and the Asia-Pacific, while Sportfive, picked up Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Japan and Korea. DFL Sports Enterprises has set a deadline of May 30 for bids for the rights in question. Sportsman’s current package for Asia-Pacific includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
=> Filipino pay-TV, Solar Sports, have won broadcast rights to the inaugural Sepaktakraw World Cup. In a deal brokered by UFA Sports Asia, Solar will screen live coverage and highlights from the 2011 ISTAF Sepaktakraw World Cup in Malaysia from 21 to 24 Jul. Solar reaches more than 2 mil households, and have previously broadcast coverage of Euro 2008, the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Vancouver 2010 winter Games and fights involving Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.
=> New Zealand’s MediaWorks have won radio rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Broadcast rights to the tournament, taking place in NZ between 9 Sep and 23 Oct 2011, were granted by Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL). Coverage of games from the seventh quadrennial Rugby World Cup will be broadcast across MediaWorks-owned stations RadioLive and LiveSport. New Zealand’s TV rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup are sold to Sky Network Television, Maori TV, TVNZ and Mediaworks TV (TV3).
=> One World Sports secured exclusive N. American broadcast rights to South Korea’s K-League. The deal with the World Sport Group, covers a ‘Game of the Week’ during every round of the 2011 K-League’s 30-week season. The K-League, which in Feb announced Hyundai Oilbank as its title sponsor, is in its 29th season. In recent years, the league has produced a number of notable players such as Bolton Wanderers winger Lee Chung-Yong, Celtic midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng and Monaco striker Park Chu-Young.
EVENTS
=> The Professional Squash Association has confirmed nine events that will comprise the top tier PSA World Series calendar for 2011. Additionally, there is PSA's annual premier World Open, in its 33rd edition, which will take place in Rotterdam from 30 Oct to 6 Nov. The PSA World Series features events with prize-funds upwards of $ 115,000, represent the pinnacle of the men's game and are the main focus of the PSA's global TV coverage. The events form a series throughout the year that will produce eight players who will compete in the PSA World Series Finals. PSA CEO Alex Gough said: “This year's TV output and distribution will be the best yet and we are all looking forward to the players battling it out for this year's PSA World Series title."
=> Badminton World Federation has clarified its new clothing regulations for women players to wear a skirt is applicable only to Level 1 to 3 tournaments. BWF deputy president Paisan Rangsikitpho said several players have welcomed the rule and understand the intention behind it. However, he explained that it was necessary to make it a mandatory rule as the sport becomes more professional. BWF have taken important and positive steps to raise the profile of women in Badminton, including equal prize money, standardized 21-point rally system and equal male and female participation across all events. The clothing regulation is another BWF initiative to raise the profile of women’s badminton.
=> French Ligue 1 look set to be spread out kick-off times across the weekend in future, with one match on Friday evening, as part of the domestic broadcast rights tender that is set to be issued soon. The LFP has been drawing up procedures for the tender for rights from 2012/13 onwards, and the plans include up to 7 kick-off times per week, compared with 4 currently. The Friday evening game would follow on from a game from the second-tier Ligue 2, while the 2pm Sunday match is said to have been inspired by England’s Premier League as the LFP aims to further enhance its appeal with broadcasters and fans in Asia. A poll by the LFP also found that French soccer fans would prefer to watch matches on Friday evenings as opposed to Sundays.
BIZ & BITES
=> WPP and IMG Worldwide have partnered to collaborate in offering products licensing and merchandising services. WPP and IMG will establish a joint team and share resources to offer and provide licensing services to clients from WPP’s portfolio of agencies. Executives from the WPP-IMG partnership will meet with advertisers expressing interest in developing brand licensing programs or who have potential to do so. The new WPP venture is an additive to IMG Licensing's existing operations and the latter will continue to serve existing and new clients without change.
=> The Hong Kong Jockey Club started a TV series in 2003 to raise awareness of lesser-known charitable causes and community works. Aiming to connect community to the club, it started this year’s campaign last week on TVB Jade. It planned 10 episodes this year, each covering a different area of focus such as environment, health, sports programmes and city development. The HKJC will implement print media advertorials, air adapted versions on cable TV and commercial radio in order to reach a wider audience. The club donates an average of HK$1 bil annually and is committed to making itself consumer-centric and cost-effective. In the past the club has also sponsored a series to educate the public on the dangers of illegal gambling.
=> Less than two weeks after such denying suggestions by the franchise owner, News Corp officially revealed it is to explore buying into Formula One. News Corp is looking into early stage exploration of creating a consortium with a view to formulating a long‐term plan for the development of F1. Investment house, EXOR, is controlled by Fiat owners the Agnelli Family, says that it and News Corp will approach potential minority partners and key stakeholders in the sport. In its statement, EXOR conceded that its work with News Corp carried no guarantees of actions that “will lead to an approach to Formula One’s current owners.”