Tuesday, 31st May 2011

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.