Wednesday, 4th May 2011

RIGHTS FEES


=>  In the richest broadcast deal ever for a US college conference, the Pacific-10 Conference, which will soon become the Pacific-12 on July 1, reportedly will get $2.7 billion over 12 years from ESPN and Fox for rights to football and men’s basketball games. Pac-10 will also start its own network on cable television in 2012. Pac-10 will retain full ownership of its network, unlike other college conferences that have established their own TV channels. Pac-10’s new channel will carry at least 350 sports events. Pac-10 is also creating a digital channel, like ESPN3, to carry at least 500 events annually, and a new division to handle sponsorships. A formal announcement of the deal is expected today.

=>  [Excerpt] NASCAR’s current rights agreements end in 2014. Its current deals, totaling $4.48 bil over eight years, was signed in 2005, 2 years before Fox, ESPN and Turner took over those rights in 2007. In 2006, after NASCAR finalized its current media deal, it was averaging 7.855 mil viewers per race on Fox, FX, TNT and NBC. Last season, the fourth of its eight-year deal with Fox, ESPN and Turner, NASCAR races averaged 5.992 mil viewers across all the networks, meaning NASCAR lost nearly 2 mil viewers per race in the past 4 years, or 23.7% of its viewing audience. Through 8 races on Fox, NASCAR earned a 5.5 Nielsen rating and 9.6 mil viewers, giving it flat ratings with 2010 and a 5.9% viewership increase.


BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION

=>  The International Table Tennis Federation has announced a deal with Supersport across sub-Saharan Africa. The ITTF said the deal will ensure ‘‘mass TV coverage across Africa’’ and was the result of ‘‘the proactive drive of the ITTF to increase TV exposure of the sport in every continent.’’ A deal was brokered by Total Sports Asia. The ITTF said that the partnership between itself and Total Sports Asia ‘‘is clearly helping extend the reach of the sport and provide coverage in markets that were previously unobtainable.’’

=>  Korean commercial FTA, SBS, has extended its deal to cover golf’s OneAsia series for a further 5 years, with the series to be shown live. The broadcast adds to SBS’s coverage of USA’s PGA Tour and Korean tournaments. OneAsia said its TV coverage now reaches 400 mil homes in over 40 countries, via ESPN Star Sports, Jupiter Golf Network (Japan), Network Ten (Aus), Sky Sports (NZ), ESPN3 and America One (USA) and Viasat and Bloomberg TV (Europe). The 2011 series consists of 13 events, two of which - the Indonesian PGA Championship and Volvo China Open - have already been staged. The Korean Golf Association is one of the founders of OneAsia Series, which clashed repeatedly with the established Asian Tour since its launch in 2009.


STATS & DATA

=>  Market researcher RBCOS says mobile phone gaming in India is pacing ahead of those in developed countries and is among the fastest growing, and domestic companies account for a majority of the Indian mobile gaming market. Mobile gaming has emerged as the most vibrant and transforming division of the overall Indian gaming industry. The economic slowdown had no effects on the industry’s growth and the market performed remarkably well compared to the other major mobile gaming markets, including the US, Japan, and the UK. Increasing penetration of Internet and broadband, and rising user base, the market for mobile gaming in India is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 74% during 2010-2013.

=>  Research from Strategy Analytics found cause for concern in cable based pay-TV operators as 2 mil subs dropped out as telco TV and satellite TV operators gained customers over the same period. In the report titled, “Winning? Cable TV's Charlie Sheen Problem” found that US pay-TV market made only 273,000 net gains in 2010 with cable very much the whipping boy. Worryingly, cable subscribers had the lowest perceived value of all pay-TV. Furthermore, the cable industry was living in a firm of denial when it came to recognising the causes for the fall in subs; firms are urged to be realistic and circumspect about cord-cutting, which should be seen as an ‘engine-check light’ rather than a death knell for pay-TV.


EVENTS

=>  The BCCI said that all senior players are available for the tours of West Indies and England. This comes as a relief to Ten Sports, who holds broadcast rights for cricket played in West Indies, and will be banking on the World Cup champions to derive maximum commercial value from the bilateral series. India's tour to the Caribbean starts 6 days after the conclusion of the IPL, which began 6 days after the hectic ICC Cricket World Cup. The BCCI reluctantly acceded to the request to ensure that India's current position on the ICC Test and ODI standings were not compromised. Assurances aside, whether BCCI sends a full strength team to West Indies or not will only be revealed on 10 May.

=>  The 2011 Pan-Arab Games, to be held in Doha, in Dec has dismissed concerns about being rescheduled due to political instability. 22 countries invited by the Qatar Olympic Committee to attend the 12th Pan-Arab Games, 15 had replied in the affirmative. Twenty competition venues will be used to host 35 sports at the 2011 Pan-Arab Games, all of which have staged international events in the past. Al Jazeera Sports is the host broadcaster and TV rights holder for the games and will show all 35 sports in HD. Nine sports, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, will be televised live, with the remainder offered in delayed coverage.