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.