RIGHTS FEES
=> Romanian cable, RCS-RDS, agreed to buy the remaining 6 unsold packages of broadcast rights for Romanian football top-tier Liga 1, adding to the package it acquired in April. RCS-RDS agreed a deal with the Romanian pro league, for unsold rights, agreeing to pay €45 mil ($64.2 mil) +VAT for the six packages from 2011/12 to 13/14. The deal raises RCS-RDS’s outlay on Liga 1 rights for the next 3 seasons to €58.2 mil +VAT. In April, Romtelecom, agreed to pay €12.9 mil +VAT and commercial Antena 1, agreed a deal of €10.5 mil +VAT for one package each; this means LPF’s nine packages of rights now fetch a total of €81.6 mil +VAT. Liga 1 rights from 2008/09 to 10/11 were acquired by a consortium of RCS-RDS and Antena 1 in a deal worth €85 mil +VAT or €102 mil in total. The new €81.6-mil deal is equal to over €100 mil (€101.2 mil) once VAT is included (VAT in Romania rose from 19% to 24% in 2010).
=> Italian broadcasters, Rai and La7, have both submitted bids for rights to Italian basketball’s top-tier Serie A for next 2 seasons. Lega Societa' di Pallacanestro Serie A said Rai has bid for the ‘gold’ package and La7 has bid for the ‘silver’ package in private negotiations. Pay-TV Sky Italia presently holds rights in an exclusive deal but there have been calls from clubs for more visibility for the league, which has also considered the idea of launching its own TV channel. Sky Italia’s rights also cover the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa tournament and is thought to be worth around €3 mil ($4.3 mil). Italian sports business consultancy, StageUp, is advising the league on the rights sale.
=> The Argentinian government added all away matches of River Plate to its portfolio of 'listed events,' meaning that the games must be shown on free-to-air television. The move came after the club lost their battle to remain in the top-tier Primera Division and will play in the second-tier Nacional B for the first time in their 110-year history next season. The TV rights to Nacional B are held by pay-TV TyC Sports, in a deal valued at 38 mil pesos ($9.28 mil) /season and it will retain River's home games. Under the terms of TyC Sports' deal, each club's local free-to-air channel is permitted to show that club's away matches.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> The AFC Asian Cup 2011 in Qatar had record TV viewing. Japan, China and Korea were top three viewer markets. Japan had 43.2% of total audience growing from 131 mil in the 2007 tournament, to 209.2 mil this year and in Korea from 29.5 mil to 41 mil, according to CSM Media Research. 63 mil viewers watched the semi-final between Japan and Korea, the highest rated match of the tournament, with Japanese and Koreans making up half of the viewers. In Japan, TV Asahi drew 24.46 mil viewers while KBS2 had 8 mil in Korea. Nearly 3,600 hours of TV was delivered to over 484 mil viewers in 80 countries across Asia-Pac, Europe, North America and North Africa. The event generated a total reach of more than 2.5 bil.
=> [Continued] The second most watched AFC Asian Cup 2011 match was the Japan-Australia final with 54.4 mil viewers, which Japan won a record fourth time. The Japan and Qatar q-final drew 45.63 mil, the 3rd highest rated match in TV viewership. Saudi Arabia and the UAE accounted for 5.8% and 1.1% of total audience. Despite China’s early exit, total views in China was 156.6 mil – 32% of total audience. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam had a combined audience of 24 mil. The event also enjoyed significant following on internet and social media platforms. Nearly 7 mil fans visited Asian Cup 2011’s official website while 2.5 mil followed the event on Facebook.
=> Korean pay-TV KBSN Sports acquired rights to sepak takraw's international calendar, including the inaugural ISTAF World Cup. KBSN, which reaches over 11 mil households in Korea, will show live coverage and highlights of the World Cup, followed by the first season of the ISTAF Super Series. The five Super Series tournaments will take place in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iran and China. The deal was brokered by UFA Sports Asiaon behalf of the International Sepak Takraw Federation. Indonesia’s TVRI,Filipino Solar Sports, pan-European Eurosport, Singapore’s StarHub and Thai Channel 3 have already signed similar deals.
STATS & DATA
=> A new ABI Research reports warns that subscription platforms must embrace online video to keep up with changes in media-consumption habits. Of the 2,000 U.S. consumers surveyed about consumer-electronic products in their households, only 10% did not subscribe to pay-TV. Consumers own connected devices are watching up to 8 hours of online video on those devices every week. Pay-TV should tap into this trend in its early days. Netflix and YouTube are the clear consumer favorites for online video, while the divide is greater for social networking where Facebook captures 97% of social networkers on CE devices (compared to 32% for MySpace, the next closest competitor.
Tuesday, 28th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Sri Lanka Cricket officials met with Singapore-based Somerset Entertainment Ventures to discuss the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League following the BCC of India board’s refusal to release their players. For SEV, the critical element now is to salvage whatever they can from the mess created by the BCCI's unilateral actions. SEV has already paid $300,000 as advance payment to SLV as part of financial commitments made when it secured the commercial rights to the tournament for the next 5 years.
=> Meanwhile, Ten Sports denied claims by Sri Lanka Cricket that it is owed payments of $5 mil from the Indian broadcaster. Ten, a long-time partner of SLC, holds rights to SL’s home matches in a 4-year deal worth $65 mil which expires in 2013 but SLC claims that Ten has fallen behind with the payments. Ten issued a similar denial in Nov 2010 when it was reported that they failed to pay $1.5 mil to SLC related for the Micromax Cup, a triangular ODI series involving Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand, played in Aug 2010. Despite Ten’s denial, SLC’s claims are likely to revive concerns over the status of the broadcaster’s other deals with national governing bodies after it was reported last year to have negotiated discounts and rescheduled payments.
=> The Italian Serie A has not received any bids for live domestic digital terrestrial rights for home matches of 8 clubs at the close of Friday’s deadline. The league had set a reserve price of €32 mil ($45.5 mil) for next season’s rights, the same value previously paid by Dahlia TV, the pay-TV broadcaster that went into liquidation. Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A said that any broadcasters keen to enter into private negotiations for ‘Package D – Silver Live’ rights are given until Tuesday to register their interest.
=> German pubcasters, ARD and ZDF are close to a deal with Int. Olympic Committee for 2014 in Sochi and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. In mid-2009, IOC asked for initial bids in Germany for rights of 2014 and 2016 games, with Sky Deutschland submitting a €100 mil ($142.8 mil) offer and incumbents, ARD and ZDF, delivering a bid worth less than Sky’s. In a bid to pressure the IOC, ARD said that it would review commitments to broadcasting every single Olympic sport between games if it lost the rights going forward and claimed a private broadcaster could not match the level of Olympics coverage on public-service TV. The IOC retained rights to sell the 2014 and 2016 in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK. They signed a €70m deal in 2009 with Spain’s TVE, followed a €152m deal with Sky Italia and a €25m agreement with Fox in Turkey in 2008.
=> Argentina’s River Plate will suffer ‘financial apocalypse’ after failing to remain in the domestic top-flight. The club lost to a second division club in a relegation playoff and will play in the second division for the first time in its 110-year history. Boca Juniors and Independiente are now the only Argentinian clubs never to have suffered relegation. TV rights for Nacional B are held by TyC Sports and held exclusive pay-TV rights to the Primera for over a decade, before the government stepped in and unilaterally took over the Primera rights two years ago in the Soccer for All scheme. Under the scheme, Nacional B clubs receive 3.5 mil pesos in media rights fees, representing an 89% drop in revenues from for River from 30.7 mil pesos /season in the top-flight.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> MEASAT hit a milestone with its HD services. MEASAT inked a deal with Encompass Digital Media to distribute ESPN HD and STAR Cricket HD channels in Asia. Both channels will be distributed on the new Encompass MEASAT-3 MCPC platform. ESPN HD is a 24-hr channel showcasing sports content from ESPN STAR Sports’ line-up of premier international sports. STAR Cricket HD is the latest HD channel by ESPN STAR Sports, dedicated to showcasing cricket action from around the globe.
NEW MEDIA
=> The WPP Group has launched a new company linking ad-buying technologies with a vast database of consumer profiles. Xaxis will manage what is being touted as the world's largest database of profiles, in a bid to accelerate targeted advertising across Web, social-networking sites, mobile phones and ultimately, TV sets. Detailed profiles of over 500 mil anonymous individuals includes demographic, financial, purchase, geographic and other information collected from their Web activities and ‘brick-and-mortar' transactions. Addressing privacy concerns, WPP said ads targeted using the data will include the industry's special privacy icon that alerts consumers that they are being targeted and gives them the chance to opt-out. Xaxis will begin operations in N. America, Europe and Australia and has plans to further expand later this year.
BIZ & BITES
=> Real Madrid earned record revenues of €450 mil ($640 mil) in the 2010/11 season and have budgeted €500 mil next season. The club earned €442.3 mil in 2009/10. Profits reached €30 mil, up from €24 million the prior year. RM’s net debts have been reduced from €327 mil to €244.6 mil. Player salaries fell from €368 mil in 2009 to €353 mil last year, although new signings for 2011/12 will mean that amount will surpass €400 mil. Of the €450 mil earned this past season, 34% (€153m) derives from gate receipts, 31% (€141m) from media rights and 30% (€137m) from marketing, including sales of merchandise.
=> Sri Lanka Cricket officials met with Singapore-based Somerset Entertainment Ventures to discuss the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League following the BCC of India board’s refusal to release their players. For SEV, the critical element now is to salvage whatever they can from the mess created by the BCCI's unilateral actions. SEV has already paid $300,000 as advance payment to SLV as part of financial commitments made when it secured the commercial rights to the tournament for the next 5 years.
=> Meanwhile, Ten Sports denied claims by Sri Lanka Cricket that it is owed payments of $5 mil from the Indian broadcaster. Ten, a long-time partner of SLC, holds rights to SL’s home matches in a 4-year deal worth $65 mil which expires in 2013 but SLC claims that Ten has fallen behind with the payments. Ten issued a similar denial in Nov 2010 when it was reported that they failed to pay $1.5 mil to SLC related for the Micromax Cup, a triangular ODI series involving Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand, played in Aug 2010. Despite Ten’s denial, SLC’s claims are likely to revive concerns over the status of the broadcaster’s other deals with national governing bodies after it was reported last year to have negotiated discounts and rescheduled payments.
=> The Italian Serie A has not received any bids for live domestic digital terrestrial rights for home matches of 8 clubs at the close of Friday’s deadline. The league had set a reserve price of €32 mil ($45.5 mil) for next season’s rights, the same value previously paid by Dahlia TV, the pay-TV broadcaster that went into liquidation. Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A said that any broadcasters keen to enter into private negotiations for ‘Package D – Silver Live’ rights are given until Tuesday to register their interest.
=> German pubcasters, ARD and ZDF are close to a deal with Int. Olympic Committee for 2014 in Sochi and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. In mid-2009, IOC asked for initial bids in Germany for rights of 2014 and 2016 games, with Sky Deutschland submitting a €100 mil ($142.8 mil) offer and incumbents, ARD and ZDF, delivering a bid worth less than Sky’s. In a bid to pressure the IOC, ARD said that it would review commitments to broadcasting every single Olympic sport between games if it lost the rights going forward and claimed a private broadcaster could not match the level of Olympics coverage on public-service TV. The IOC retained rights to sell the 2014 and 2016 in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK. They signed a €70m deal in 2009 with Spain’s TVE, followed a €152m deal with Sky Italia and a €25m agreement with Fox in Turkey in 2008.
=> Argentina’s River Plate will suffer ‘financial apocalypse’ after failing to remain in the domestic top-flight. The club lost to a second division club in a relegation playoff and will play in the second division for the first time in its 110-year history. Boca Juniors and Independiente are now the only Argentinian clubs never to have suffered relegation. TV rights for Nacional B are held by TyC Sports and held exclusive pay-TV rights to the Primera for over a decade, before the government stepped in and unilaterally took over the Primera rights two years ago in the Soccer for All scheme. Under the scheme, Nacional B clubs receive 3.5 mil pesos in media rights fees, representing an 89% drop in revenues from for River from 30.7 mil pesos /season in the top-flight.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> MEASAT hit a milestone with its HD services. MEASAT inked a deal with Encompass Digital Media to distribute ESPN HD and STAR Cricket HD channels in Asia. Both channels will be distributed on the new Encompass MEASAT-3 MCPC platform. ESPN HD is a 24-hr channel showcasing sports content from ESPN STAR Sports’ line-up of premier international sports. STAR Cricket HD is the latest HD channel by ESPN STAR Sports, dedicated to showcasing cricket action from around the globe.
NEW MEDIA
=> The WPP Group has launched a new company linking ad-buying technologies with a vast database of consumer profiles. Xaxis will manage what is being touted as the world's largest database of profiles, in a bid to accelerate targeted advertising across Web, social-networking sites, mobile phones and ultimately, TV sets. Detailed profiles of over 500 mil anonymous individuals includes demographic, financial, purchase, geographic and other information collected from their Web activities and ‘brick-and-mortar' transactions. Addressing privacy concerns, WPP said ads targeted using the data will include the industry's special privacy icon that alerts consumers that they are being targeted and gives them the chance to opt-out. Xaxis will begin operations in N. America, Europe and Australia and has plans to further expand later this year.
BIZ & BITES
=> Real Madrid earned record revenues of €450 mil ($640 mil) in the 2010/11 season and have budgeted €500 mil next season. The club earned €442.3 mil in 2009/10. Profits reached €30 mil, up from €24 million the prior year. RM’s net debts have been reduced from €327 mil to €244.6 mil. Player salaries fell from €368 mil in 2009 to €353 mil last year, although new signings for 2011/12 will mean that amount will surpass €400 mil. Of the €450 mil earned this past season, 34% (€153m) derives from gate receipts, 31% (€141m) from media rights and 30% (€137m) from marketing, including sales of merchandise.
Monday, 27th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> MP & Silva, Eurosport and Setanta Sports Australia have been awarded rights to German Bundesliga from 2012/13 to 14/15 after packages of international rights were allocated. MPS picked up rights in Belgium, Vietnam and Japan, Eurosport won rights in the Netherlands while Setanta was awarded rights in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Rights in France have yet to be awarded. Deals signed directly with broadcasters include Russian pay-TV, NTV Plus, South Africa’s Supersport and Malaysian pay, Astro. Sportfive’s problematic Bundesliga deal in the Netherlands previously , was signed with Dutch pay-TV, Sport1 Nov 2009. The deal for the remainder of 2009/10 followed by 2010/11 was worth between €500,000 ($710,550) and €750,000 /season. Sportfive also previously agreed Bundesliga deals from 2009/10 to 11/12 in Japan with Fuji TV and Gaora Sports.
=> The Bulgarian Football Union is calling for TV blackout on weekend foreign matches in Bulgaria to boost interest, attendances and commercial income in the domestic top-tier Bulgarian A League. Domestic broadcast rights, a major income earner fir the League, are held by Central European Media Enterprises’ Pro.BG and Ring.BG channels. Deals for current rights period were worth Lv6.4 mil ($4.65 mil) /season but value of the contract dropped last year when Pro.BG and Ring.BG were granted a reduction in negotiations with the league.
=> [Excerpt] Netball New Zealand in Feb signed a 4-year deal with Sky for NZ$2.3 mil to broadcast its live matches. TVNZ's bid was $700,000. While good for Netball NZ's coffers, the substantial winning raises suspicion that Sky flexed financial muscle to raise the benchmark so high that no free-to-air broadcaster will compete the next time rights are up for bid.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> The home and away legs of India’s 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against United Arab Emirates (UAE) will air on Ten Action+, say the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Fans had faced a broadcast blackout after the AIFF dissolved its broadcast and marketing rights deal for the nation’s club football I-League with Zee Sports in Oct 2010, four years short of its expiry. IMG Reliance now holds I-League rights, but was unable to provide national TV coverage of any game from last season’s league, ending in June. Ten Action + aired the first round Pre-Olympic qualifier in Doha between the Under 23 sides of Qatar and India on 19 June. It will also provide live coverage of India’s home leg against Qatar on 23 June, in which India is hoping to pull back a 1-3 deficit. India will then face UAE in the second round of Asia’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers at home on 23 Jul and away on 28 Jul 2011.
=> ESPN is using Australia as a major part of its growth strategy, seeking to position itself as a substantial player in the local TV sports market. Already controlling 46 TV networks outside America and major websites such as Cricinfo and Soccernet, ESPN is looking to expand its niche in Australia and Britain as it seeks further growth in the global market for sports viewers. The company recently launched new channels and websites in Australia, acquired a clutch of new international rights and invested heavily in HD broadcasts, laying down the gauntlet in terms of availability and quality of broadcast to Australian-owned stations. It signals a determination to prove itself an international broadcaster rather than a US network seeking global reach.
NEW MEDIA
=> Research in Motion launched the Playbook tablet in India, hoping to attract 1 mil plus existing Blackberry users who hanker for mobile TV and other vision-rich applications. Sale of tablet PCs in India are expected to reach 1 mil units in the next 12 months, thanks to roll out of 3G networks, offering higher mobile internet speeds. The PlayBook - which RIM hopes will compete with Apple iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab - is a 7-inch tablet that runs on a new RIM QNX OS. The RIM tablet is being launched across 15 countries including the UAE, Hong Kong and Australia over the next few weeks. An entry level 16GB RIM Playbook is priced in India at INR 27,990, INR 32,990 for the 32GB version, and INR 37,990 for the 64GB tablet.
STATS & DATA
=> Asia-Pac is expected to show highest growth in internet TV market; 59% /year until 2017, according to companiesandmarkets.com report. Internet TV: A Global Strategic Business Report notes that viewers seeking quality definition and range of entertainment and viewing options are driving demand within the world internet TV market, which is anticipated to achieve a value of $81.2bn by 2017. Growth in IPTV market has been driven by success and development of video over internet technologies. Internet TV demand will increase as consumers run electronic devices with internet-related technologies such as iPods, DVD players and games consoles, through TV. Consumers purchasing internet-enabled TVs will gain instant access to a variety of online content, although network bandwidth capacity will need to increase to cope with demand.
BIZ & BITES
=> The Football Association announced an extension to its agreement with AJE Big Cola for a further two years as official promotional partner to the England National Team in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia. AJE Big Cola will also now become a promotional partner to The FA Cup in the same territories. Whilst the Big Cola England National Team promotion will start end of 2011, Big Cola is focusing on promotions surrounding The FA Cup. The FA Cup is recognized as one of the most popular events in Asia and is broadcast widely throughout the region. The agreement was secured via The FA’s representing agent in Asia, Total Sports Asia (TSA).
=> South Africa's national soccer team will continue to be known as 'Bafana Bafana' after the SA Football Association paid R5mil ($726,000) to secure rights to the nickname. The sum will be paid over the course of a year to licencing company Stanton Woodrush, which registered the nickname 18 years ago when SAFA failed to act. Bafana Bafana was a moniker first attached to the team in 1992 by a newspaper reporter. Loosely translated from Zulu, it means 'our boys'. After South Africa won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, the nickname became firmly attached to the team and Safa sought to embrace it.
=> Qatari state-backed Al Jazeera’s successful bid for domestic rights to air French Ligue from 2012 -16 has robbed French pay-TV, Canal+ of a bargain, turning a one horse race into two. Qatar's incursion poses wider threat to commercially driven pay-TV operators to whom, live football is key content. But a question looms over how AJ will deliver to its new French audience; AJ doesn't have a mainstream platform in Europe and would probably need to partner an existing channel or launch a new one. Nor is it certain how AJ will recoup the rights which have fetched €510m for 5 of the nine lots offered do far. Qatar may be keen on promoting itself as a football powerhouse than making money -- but rivals will suffer. Other European operators rely on premium content to attract subs and shudder at the thought that deep-pocketed Qatar may start chasing domestic rights in other markets.
=> MP & Silva, Eurosport and Setanta Sports Australia have been awarded rights to German Bundesliga from 2012/13 to 14/15 after packages of international rights were allocated. MPS picked up rights in Belgium, Vietnam and Japan, Eurosport won rights in the Netherlands while Setanta was awarded rights in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Rights in France have yet to be awarded. Deals signed directly with broadcasters include Russian pay-TV, NTV Plus, South Africa’s Supersport and Malaysian pay, Astro. Sportfive’s problematic Bundesliga deal in the Netherlands previously , was signed with Dutch pay-TV, Sport1 Nov 2009. The deal for the remainder of 2009/10 followed by 2010/11 was worth between €500,000 ($710,550) and €750,000 /season. Sportfive also previously agreed Bundesliga deals from 2009/10 to 11/12 in Japan with Fuji TV and Gaora Sports.
=> The Bulgarian Football Union is calling for TV blackout on weekend foreign matches in Bulgaria to boost interest, attendances and commercial income in the domestic top-tier Bulgarian A League. Domestic broadcast rights, a major income earner fir the League, are held by Central European Media Enterprises’ Pro.BG and Ring.BG channels. Deals for current rights period were worth Lv6.4 mil ($4.65 mil) /season but value of the contract dropped last year when Pro.BG and Ring.BG were granted a reduction in negotiations with the league.
=> [Excerpt] Netball New Zealand in Feb signed a 4-year deal with Sky for NZ$2.3 mil to broadcast its live matches. TVNZ's bid was $700,000. While good for Netball NZ's coffers, the substantial winning raises suspicion that Sky flexed financial muscle to raise the benchmark so high that no free-to-air broadcaster will compete the next time rights are up for bid.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> The home and away legs of India’s 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against United Arab Emirates (UAE) will air on Ten Action+, say the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Fans had faced a broadcast blackout after the AIFF dissolved its broadcast and marketing rights deal for the nation’s club football I-League with Zee Sports in Oct 2010, four years short of its expiry. IMG Reliance now holds I-League rights, but was unable to provide national TV coverage of any game from last season’s league, ending in June. Ten Action + aired the first round Pre-Olympic qualifier in Doha between the Under 23 sides of Qatar and India on 19 June. It will also provide live coverage of India’s home leg against Qatar on 23 June, in which India is hoping to pull back a 1-3 deficit. India will then face UAE in the second round of Asia’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers at home on 23 Jul and away on 28 Jul 2011.
=> ESPN is using Australia as a major part of its growth strategy, seeking to position itself as a substantial player in the local TV sports market. Already controlling 46 TV networks outside America and major websites such as Cricinfo and Soccernet, ESPN is looking to expand its niche in Australia and Britain as it seeks further growth in the global market for sports viewers. The company recently launched new channels and websites in Australia, acquired a clutch of new international rights and invested heavily in HD broadcasts, laying down the gauntlet in terms of availability and quality of broadcast to Australian-owned stations. It signals a determination to prove itself an international broadcaster rather than a US network seeking global reach.
NEW MEDIA
=> Research in Motion launched the Playbook tablet in India, hoping to attract 1 mil plus existing Blackberry users who hanker for mobile TV and other vision-rich applications. Sale of tablet PCs in India are expected to reach 1 mil units in the next 12 months, thanks to roll out of 3G networks, offering higher mobile internet speeds. The PlayBook - which RIM hopes will compete with Apple iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab - is a 7-inch tablet that runs on a new RIM QNX OS. The RIM tablet is being launched across 15 countries including the UAE, Hong Kong and Australia over the next few weeks. An entry level 16GB RIM Playbook is priced in India at INR 27,990, INR 32,990 for the 32GB version, and INR 37,990 for the 64GB tablet.
STATS & DATA
=> Asia-Pac is expected to show highest growth in internet TV market; 59% /year until 2017, according to companiesandmarkets.com report. Internet TV: A Global Strategic Business Report notes that viewers seeking quality definition and range of entertainment and viewing options are driving demand within the world internet TV market, which is anticipated to achieve a value of $81.2bn by 2017. Growth in IPTV market has been driven by success and development of video over internet technologies. Internet TV demand will increase as consumers run electronic devices with internet-related technologies such as iPods, DVD players and games consoles, through TV. Consumers purchasing internet-enabled TVs will gain instant access to a variety of online content, although network bandwidth capacity will need to increase to cope with demand.
BIZ & BITES
=> The Football Association announced an extension to its agreement with AJE Big Cola for a further two years as official promotional partner to the England National Team in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia. AJE Big Cola will also now become a promotional partner to The FA Cup in the same territories. Whilst the Big Cola England National Team promotion will start end of 2011, Big Cola is focusing on promotions surrounding The FA Cup. The FA Cup is recognized as one of the most popular events in Asia and is broadcast widely throughout the region. The agreement was secured via The FA’s representing agent in Asia, Total Sports Asia (TSA).
=> South Africa's national soccer team will continue to be known as 'Bafana Bafana' after the SA Football Association paid R5mil ($726,000) to secure rights to the nickname. The sum will be paid over the course of a year to licencing company Stanton Woodrush, which registered the nickname 18 years ago when SAFA failed to act. Bafana Bafana was a moniker first attached to the team in 1992 by a newspaper reporter. Loosely translated from Zulu, it means 'our boys'. After South Africa won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, the nickname became firmly attached to the team and Safa sought to embrace it.
=> Qatari state-backed Al Jazeera’s successful bid for domestic rights to air French Ligue from 2012 -16 has robbed French pay-TV, Canal+ of a bargain, turning a one horse race into two. Qatar's incursion poses wider threat to commercially driven pay-TV operators to whom, live football is key content. But a question looms over how AJ will deliver to its new French audience; AJ doesn't have a mainstream platform in Europe and would probably need to partner an existing channel or launch a new one. Nor is it certain how AJ will recoup the rights which have fetched €510m for 5 of the nine lots offered do far. Qatar may be keen on promoting itself as a football powerhouse than making money -- but rivals will suffer. Other European operators rely on premium content to attract subs and shudder at the thought that deep-pocketed Qatar may start chasing domestic rights in other markets.
Friday, 24th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> French pay-TV Canal Plus was awarded 4 packages of domestic broadcast rights to French Ligue 1 from 2012/13 to 15/16, but will share coverage with Al Jazeera which picked up a package of rights to show 2 live games per round. The deals for 5 packages have raised €510 mil ($725.6 mil) /season, with 4 packages still unsold. Canal Plus is thought to be paying €420 mil /season and Al Jazeera €90 mil /season. Remaining packages (lots 6 through 9), did not meet LFP's reserve price and second round of bids will be called for if deals are not reached. The 7th package is for mobile and tablet rights, which Orange bid €10 mil /season for, a dramatic drop on the €60 mil /season it currently pays. Packages 8 and 9 cover magazine shows and video on-demand rights.
STATS & DATA
=> China's pay-TV revenues will reach $7.5 bil this year, according to SNL Kagan, surpassing Japan for the first time and making it Asia's top pay-TV market. Video service revenues in China were up by 31.1% 2010, reaching $5.8 bil, driven by cable digitization and a 9% increase in pay-TV homes. SNL Kagan is forecasting a 5.8% CAGR in multichannel subs between 2010 and 2015 to reach 259.5 mil. In that time, SNL Kagan expects a 20.5 % CAGR in revenues to reach $14.7 bil. The research also indicates that cable is the dominant platform, accounting for 96% of subscribers and 91.2% of revenues in 2010. By end 2010, 47% of subs had migrated to digital services. This base is forecast to grow by 22.5 mil homes in 2011 with gains seen in HD base, expected to reach 17.2 mil by 2015.
BIZ & BITES
=> Aston Villa have secured a 2-year shirt sponsorship with Genting, UK's largest operator of casinos, and becomes AV's principal partner from Jul 1 in a deal that initially runs to the end of the 2012/13 season. Genting replace FXPro on Villa shirts. Sources claim the deal is worth £16 mil (US$25 mil) over the next 2 years. Genting has its offices at Star City in Birmingham and operates over 40 casinos throughout the UK. It is part of the Genting Group, one of Malaysia's largest multi-national corporations.
=> French pay-TV Canal Plus was awarded 4 packages of domestic broadcast rights to French Ligue 1 from 2012/13 to 15/16, but will share coverage with Al Jazeera which picked up a package of rights to show 2 live games per round. The deals for 5 packages have raised €510 mil ($725.6 mil) /season, with 4 packages still unsold. Canal Plus is thought to be paying €420 mil /season and Al Jazeera €90 mil /season. Remaining packages (lots 6 through 9), did not meet LFP's reserve price and second round of bids will be called for if deals are not reached. The 7th package is for mobile and tablet rights, which Orange bid €10 mil /season for, a dramatic drop on the €60 mil /season it currently pays. Packages 8 and 9 cover magazine shows and video on-demand rights.
STATS & DATA
=> China's pay-TV revenues will reach $7.5 bil this year, according to SNL Kagan, surpassing Japan for the first time and making it Asia's top pay-TV market. Video service revenues in China were up by 31.1% 2010, reaching $5.8 bil, driven by cable digitization and a 9% increase in pay-TV homes. SNL Kagan is forecasting a 5.8% CAGR in multichannel subs between 2010 and 2015 to reach 259.5 mil. In that time, SNL Kagan expects a 20.5 % CAGR in revenues to reach $14.7 bil. The research also indicates that cable is the dominant platform, accounting for 96% of subscribers and 91.2% of revenues in 2010. By end 2010, 47% of subs had migrated to digital services. This base is forecast to grow by 22.5 mil homes in 2011 with gains seen in HD base, expected to reach 17.2 mil by 2015.
BIZ & BITES
=> Aston Villa have secured a 2-year shirt sponsorship with Genting, UK's largest operator of casinos, and becomes AV's principal partner from Jul 1 in a deal that initially runs to the end of the 2012/13 season. Genting replace FXPro on Villa shirts. Sources claim the deal is worth £16 mil (US$25 mil) over the next 2 years. Genting has its offices at Star City in Birmingham and operates over 40 casinos throughout the UK. It is part of the Genting Group, one of Malaysia's largest multi-national corporations.
Thursday, 23rd June 2011
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Pay-TV Sky New Zealand has acquired rights to men's table tennis' Liebherr 2011 ITTF Oceania Cup, to be held in Adelaide, Australia in July. Pay-TV Fox Sports is the host broadcaster of the tournament. The winner of the ITTF Oceania Cup, scheduled for July 20 to 22, will qualify to be Oceania’s representative at the 2011 Liebherr’s Men’s World Cup in Paris in November.
=> Sony has announced public viewing events for live 3D coverage of Wimbledon 2011 championship finals in over 22 countries, while broadcasters in 6 markets have confirmed plans for 3D TV transmissions. Sony has partnered with the AELTC to produce the Wimbledon 2011 men’s semi-finals, men’s final and women’s final in 3D. Broadcasters in the UK (BBC), USA (ESPN 3D), Germany (Sky Deutschland), Italy (Sky Italia), the Netherlands and Sweden have confirmed plans to air in 3D. Additionally, over 170 cinema screens in U.K., Ireland, Spain, Italy, Norway, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Austria, the U.S., Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay will carry select Wimbledon matches in 3D.
=> Top Rank’s Bob Arum will meet with TV network Showtime to discuss broadcast rights for the Nov 12 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. Arum is also waiting on an offer from HBO. With two networks making offers, TV rights to Pacquiao-Marquez III may ignite a bid war. Pacquiao’s most recent match against Shane Mosley was broadcasted on Showtime and earned Pacquiao the highest PPV numbers of his career with 1.3 mil views sold. If Top Rank and Arum are determined to bring boxing back to network TV, they may opt to give Showtime the rights. But HBO has more money to offer than Showtime, and could make a proposal that Top Rank cannot refuse.
BIZ & BITES
=> There is substantial proof that Mohd Bin Hammam paid bribes to garner support during his abandoned FIFA presidential campaign. FIFA’s ethics committee also said there was evidence that former vice-president Jack Warner was “an accessory to corruption.” Bin Hammam has been provisionally suspended from all soccer-related activity pending a full inquiry into claims that he offered bribes to members of the Caribbean Football Union to vote for him in the election. The Qatari, a member of FIFA’s executive committee, pulled out of the election prior to his suspension and incumbent president Sepp Blatter was duly re-elected unopposed.
=> Pay-TV Sky New Zealand has acquired rights to men's table tennis' Liebherr 2011 ITTF Oceania Cup, to be held in Adelaide, Australia in July. Pay-TV Fox Sports is the host broadcaster of the tournament. The winner of the ITTF Oceania Cup, scheduled for July 20 to 22, will qualify to be Oceania’s representative at the 2011 Liebherr’s Men’s World Cup in Paris in November.
=> Sony has announced public viewing events for live 3D coverage of Wimbledon 2011 championship finals in over 22 countries, while broadcasters in 6 markets have confirmed plans for 3D TV transmissions. Sony has partnered with the AELTC to produce the Wimbledon 2011 men’s semi-finals, men’s final and women’s final in 3D. Broadcasters in the UK (BBC), USA (ESPN 3D), Germany (Sky Deutschland), Italy (Sky Italia), the Netherlands and Sweden have confirmed plans to air in 3D. Additionally, over 170 cinema screens in U.K., Ireland, Spain, Italy, Norway, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Austria, the U.S., Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay will carry select Wimbledon matches in 3D.
=> Top Rank’s Bob Arum will meet with TV network Showtime to discuss broadcast rights for the Nov 12 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. Arum is also waiting on an offer from HBO. With two networks making offers, TV rights to Pacquiao-Marquez III may ignite a bid war. Pacquiao’s most recent match against Shane Mosley was broadcasted on Showtime and earned Pacquiao the highest PPV numbers of his career with 1.3 mil views sold. If Top Rank and Arum are determined to bring boxing back to network TV, they may opt to give Showtime the rights. But HBO has more money to offer than Showtime, and could make a proposal that Top Rank cannot refuse.
BIZ & BITES
=> There is substantial proof that Mohd Bin Hammam paid bribes to garner support during his abandoned FIFA presidential campaign. FIFA’s ethics committee also said there was evidence that former vice-president Jack Warner was “an accessory to corruption.” Bin Hammam has been provisionally suspended from all soccer-related activity pending a full inquiry into claims that he offered bribes to members of the Caribbean Football Union to vote for him in the election. The Qatari, a member of FIFA’s executive committee, pulled out of the election prior to his suspension and incumbent president Sepp Blatter was duly re-elected unopposed.
Wednesday, 22nd June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> New cross-carriage broadcast rules in Singapore means the winning bidder for the 2012 Euro Championships must make games available to rival media platforms. Both StarHub and SingTel are prepping bids for rights to Euro 2012 but legislation by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) last year prevents exclusive carriage of TV coverage on either operator. Sportfive is distributing the Euro 2012 broadcast rights in Singapore. The new legislation would affect deals signed after March 2010, triggered by high subs rates for top sports content such as the Premier League. In late 2009, SingTel defeated StarHub for Premier League rights from 2010/11 to 12/13 in a deal worth up to S$400 mil ($324.4 mil). There could also be FTA coverage of 2012 Euro if Mediacorp follows up its initial interest to show live games from the tournament for the first time since Euro 2004.
=> French pay-TV, Canal Plus, agreed an exclusive rights deal to show France’s top-tier handball league, LNH, until 2015. The 4-yr multi-platform deal comes into effect next season and replaces previous domestic deals with Orange and Eurosport which ran from 2008/09 to 10/11. Rights fee was lower than the previous contract; a tender was issued at end 2010 and drew a joint bid of €1 mil ($1.43 mil) /year from pubcaster France Télévisions and Eurosport, which was half of what was paid by Orange and Eurosport in the last rights cycle. Amaury Sport Organisation was appointed by the LNH to help negotiate this new broadcast rights contract.
=> BSkyB has agreed a record deal that may exceed £90m to maintain its position as the Rugby Super League's primary broadcast partner until 2016. Sky held exclusive live rights to the Super League since it paid £87m in spring of 1995 in a deal which was artificially inflated by the agreement of the British pro game to switch to a summer season and side with Rupert Murdoch in his battle to secure TV rights to Australian rugby league. Subsequent deals fell in value until a 5-yr agreement worth £63m to run from 2004/08 was struck, although that was renegotiated upwards in November 2007 to £50m in a new 3-yr contract from 2009/11.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> ESPN Star Sports clinched exclusive live coverage of Spain's La Liga for the 2012/13 to 2014/15 across 18 Asian markets. The deal covers standard and HD coverage, broadcast, online and mobile, plus select games in 3D in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and North Korea, plus China and South Korea in English only. Coverage will be delivered on ESPN, Star Sports, ESPN HD, ESPN Player and Mobile ESPN. La Liga rounds out a football portfolio at ESS that already includes the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and England home matches and major tournaments from the Asian Football Confederation.
STATS & DATA
=> Fixed broadband and IPTV are showing exceptional growth in Asia according to the Broadband Forum. Of a 15.2 mil increase subscribers in Q1 2011, fixed broadband in Asia grew by 2.9%, the biggest quarterly increase in the two years, representing an CAGR of 11.93%, based on data prepared by Point Topic. IPTV showed an increase of 34% in 12 months ending of March 2011. Asia is the fastest growing region for broadband with 16.21% - double that of the Americas. Asia's fixed broadband subs is 42% of the global total, up from 40% last year. Strong growth is seen in China with 42% of the net additions to global subs. Europe is still the largest region with over 21 mil subs, but Asia is catching up fast with 18 mil and both China and Taiwan showing growth of over 50%. Of the 2.9 mil new subs added this year (Q1 2011), 1.4 million came from Asia.
=> Mobile TV and video apps account for 40–60% of mobile data traffic on wireless networks according to the Mobile Analytics Report from Bytemobile. Increasing usage of mobile TV and video is driven by growth in the uptake in laptops, smartphones and tablets—in particular the iPhone, iPad and Android-based devices which are used to consume majority of mobile video. The report for Q2 2011 revealed that half of data traffic that is generated by these devices is from video. Although traffic across mobile networks have discernible peaks and troughs, wireless networks need to support video demand at all hours of the day.
=> New cross-carriage broadcast rules in Singapore means the winning bidder for the 2012 Euro Championships must make games available to rival media platforms. Both StarHub and SingTel are prepping bids for rights to Euro 2012 but legislation by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) last year prevents exclusive carriage of TV coverage on either operator. Sportfive is distributing the Euro 2012 broadcast rights in Singapore. The new legislation would affect deals signed after March 2010, triggered by high subs rates for top sports content such as the Premier League. In late 2009, SingTel defeated StarHub for Premier League rights from 2010/11 to 12/13 in a deal worth up to S$400 mil ($324.4 mil). There could also be FTA coverage of 2012 Euro if Mediacorp follows up its initial interest to show live games from the tournament for the first time since Euro 2004.
=> French pay-TV, Canal Plus, agreed an exclusive rights deal to show France’s top-tier handball league, LNH, until 2015. The 4-yr multi-platform deal comes into effect next season and replaces previous domestic deals with Orange and Eurosport which ran from 2008/09 to 10/11. Rights fee was lower than the previous contract; a tender was issued at end 2010 and drew a joint bid of €1 mil ($1.43 mil) /year from pubcaster France Télévisions and Eurosport, which was half of what was paid by Orange and Eurosport in the last rights cycle. Amaury Sport Organisation was appointed by the LNH to help negotiate this new broadcast rights contract.
=> BSkyB has agreed a record deal that may exceed £90m to maintain its position as the Rugby Super League's primary broadcast partner until 2016. Sky held exclusive live rights to the Super League since it paid £87m in spring of 1995 in a deal which was artificially inflated by the agreement of the British pro game to switch to a summer season and side with Rupert Murdoch in his battle to secure TV rights to Australian rugby league. Subsequent deals fell in value until a 5-yr agreement worth £63m to run from 2004/08 was struck, although that was renegotiated upwards in November 2007 to £50m in a new 3-yr contract from 2009/11.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> ESPN Star Sports clinched exclusive live coverage of Spain's La Liga for the 2012/13 to 2014/15 across 18 Asian markets. The deal covers standard and HD coverage, broadcast, online and mobile, plus select games in 3D in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and North Korea, plus China and South Korea in English only. Coverage will be delivered on ESPN, Star Sports, ESPN HD, ESPN Player and Mobile ESPN. La Liga rounds out a football portfolio at ESS that already includes the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and England home matches and major tournaments from the Asian Football Confederation.
STATS & DATA
=> Fixed broadband and IPTV are showing exceptional growth in Asia according to the Broadband Forum. Of a 15.2 mil increase subscribers in Q1 2011, fixed broadband in Asia grew by 2.9%, the biggest quarterly increase in the two years, representing an CAGR of 11.93%, based on data prepared by Point Topic. IPTV showed an increase of 34% in 12 months ending of March 2011. Asia is the fastest growing region for broadband with 16.21% - double that of the Americas. Asia's fixed broadband subs is 42% of the global total, up from 40% last year. Strong growth is seen in China with 42% of the net additions to global subs. Europe is still the largest region with over 21 mil subs, but Asia is catching up fast with 18 mil and both China and Taiwan showing growth of over 50%. Of the 2.9 mil new subs added this year (Q1 2011), 1.4 million came from Asia.
=> Mobile TV and video apps account for 40–60% of mobile data traffic on wireless networks according to the Mobile Analytics Report from Bytemobile. Increasing usage of mobile TV and video is driven by growth in the uptake in laptops, smartphones and tablets—in particular the iPhone, iPad and Android-based devices which are used to consume majority of mobile video. The report for Q2 2011 revealed that half of data traffic that is generated by these devices is from video. Although traffic across mobile networks have discernible peaks and troughs, wireless networks need to support video demand at all hours of the day.
Tuesday, 21st June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> The next World Cup Kabaddi will have a total prize purse of Rs 29.6 mil, close to half of the highest paying golf event in India, the Indian Open 2010 ($1.25 mn, or Rs66 mil), and triple the 2010 prize purse for the Asian Badminton Championship at Rs9 mil ($200,000). The first edition of the KWC had seen an initially hesitant channels pick up broadcast rights for Rs3.6 mil, but it made money, selling individual games to DTH subscribers in Canada, USA and other countries at $ 45 /TV set. This year, broadcast rights will be given away to the highest bidder. Twelve nations, including Pakistan, Canada and Afghanistan, have confirmed participation in the Cup. Besides hosts India, other teams include USA, Australia, UK, Iran, Italy, Norway and Spain.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> ESPN Star Sports expects strong viewership for the 125th Wimbledon Championship 2011, as fans eagerly anticipate Li Na repeating her landmark French Open victory. As the first Chinese to win a Grand Slam, Li’s win in Paris drew 116 mil viewers. The rising profile of Asian players is expected to resonate with viewers across the region. Last year over 65 mil Asian viewers watched the event, predominantly male while female tennis fan base is distinct and growing. The event will be available across all TV platforms on ESS, reaching 24 countries including China, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. ESS will show a record of nearly 350 live matches from eight courts over two weeks starting 20 June.
NEW MEDIA
=> The Badminton World Federation has launched an official online live streaming and video-on-demand channel, hosted by Google-owned YouTube. The BWF-Google deal was brokered by Total Sports Asia, who distributes broadcast rights for the BWF's annual top-tier World Super Series. The Li-Ning Singapore Open, which finished yesterday, was the first event to be streamed live on badmintonworld.tv, with five matches available each day, and the BWF said the initiative will be extended to cover the entire series, which runs from Jan to Dec.
STATS & DATA
=> A 17% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) has been observed in the spread of cable and satellite TV across India, while internet growth has risen by 32.5% - albeit from a low penetration base line. Q1 2011 show total reach of cable and satellite TV is now 416.51 mil, up from 403.51 mil registered in Q4 2010, and just under 383.61 mil homes a year ago. TV – inc. terrestrial – is now available in 522.44 mil Indian homes, up 5% on 516.41 mil at end 2010, and 509.86 mil Q1 2010. Internet is available in 25.92 mil homes, compared with 24.33 mil in Q4 2010, and 22.52 mil a year ago – according to the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa. The reach of radio fell from 163.91 mil to 161.48 mil in the same period: a drop of 8.3% negative CAGR.
BIZ & BITES
=> Controversial Trinidadian Jack Warner cut his ties with the international game after quitting his roles at FIFA and CONCACAF. 68-year-old Warner, who was a vice president of FIFA and president of CONCACAF, has been serving suspension pending a full inquiry by into allegations of bribery. However, the case against him has now been dropped. FIFA said it "regrets the turn of events that have led to Warner's decision", adding that "as a consequence of Warner’s self-determined resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed" and "the presumption of innocence is maintained."
=> Zee Entertainment unveiled a new logo and slogan, with the objective to develop a progressive outlook for the entire network, and its flagship channel Zee TV. The new look, which sports an abstract ‘Z’ and an aqua blue theme, will be carried across the group’s bouquet of channels globally. Creative aspects cost the company over $ 2 mil. Zee put together an extensive promotional drive that will be spread over a month across media outside the Zee Network channels.
=> The next World Cup Kabaddi will have a total prize purse of Rs 29.6 mil, close to half of the highest paying golf event in India, the Indian Open 2010 ($1.25 mn, or Rs66 mil), and triple the 2010 prize purse for the Asian Badminton Championship at Rs9 mil ($200,000). The first edition of the KWC had seen an initially hesitant channels pick up broadcast rights for Rs3.6 mil, but it made money, selling individual games to DTH subscribers in Canada, USA and other countries at $ 45 /TV set. This year, broadcast rights will be given away to the highest bidder. Twelve nations, including Pakistan, Canada and Afghanistan, have confirmed participation in the Cup. Besides hosts India, other teams include USA, Australia, UK, Iran, Italy, Norway and Spain.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> ESPN Star Sports expects strong viewership for the 125th Wimbledon Championship 2011, as fans eagerly anticipate Li Na repeating her landmark French Open victory. As the first Chinese to win a Grand Slam, Li’s win in Paris drew 116 mil viewers. The rising profile of Asian players is expected to resonate with viewers across the region. Last year over 65 mil Asian viewers watched the event, predominantly male while female tennis fan base is distinct and growing. The event will be available across all TV platforms on ESS, reaching 24 countries including China, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. ESS will show a record of nearly 350 live matches from eight courts over two weeks starting 20 June.
NEW MEDIA
=> The Badminton World Federation has launched an official online live streaming and video-on-demand channel, hosted by Google-owned YouTube. The BWF-Google deal was brokered by Total Sports Asia, who distributes broadcast rights for the BWF's annual top-tier World Super Series. The Li-Ning Singapore Open, which finished yesterday, was the first event to be streamed live on badmintonworld.tv, with five matches available each day, and the BWF said the initiative will be extended to cover the entire series, which runs from Jan to Dec.
STATS & DATA
=> A 17% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) has been observed in the spread of cable and satellite TV across India, while internet growth has risen by 32.5% - albeit from a low penetration base line. Q1 2011 show total reach of cable and satellite TV is now 416.51 mil, up from 403.51 mil registered in Q4 2010, and just under 383.61 mil homes a year ago. TV – inc. terrestrial – is now available in 522.44 mil Indian homes, up 5% on 516.41 mil at end 2010, and 509.86 mil Q1 2010. Internet is available in 25.92 mil homes, compared with 24.33 mil in Q4 2010, and 22.52 mil a year ago – according to the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa. The reach of radio fell from 163.91 mil to 161.48 mil in the same period: a drop of 8.3% negative CAGR.
BIZ & BITES
=> Controversial Trinidadian Jack Warner cut his ties with the international game after quitting his roles at FIFA and CONCACAF. 68-year-old Warner, who was a vice president of FIFA and president of CONCACAF, has been serving suspension pending a full inquiry by into allegations of bribery. However, the case against him has now been dropped. FIFA said it "regrets the turn of events that have led to Warner's decision", adding that "as a consequence of Warner’s self-determined resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed" and "the presumption of innocence is maintained."
=> Zee Entertainment unveiled a new logo and slogan, with the objective to develop a progressive outlook for the entire network, and its flagship channel Zee TV. The new look, which sports an abstract ‘Z’ and an aqua blue theme, will be carried across the group’s bouquet of channels globally. Creative aspects cost the company over $ 2 mil. Zee put together an extensive promotional drive that will be spread over a month across media outside the Zee Network channels.
Monday, 20th June 2011
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Taj TV is planning to launch Ten Sports in HD, featuring content from across its three channels - Ten Sports, Ten Cricket and Ten Actions+. Taj is waiting for a clearance from the Information & Broadcast Ministry to launch the channel and pricing has not been finalised. Ten Sports HD will be available on DTH platform as well as on digital platforms of cable operators. UEFA Champions League, Moto GP, Tour De France, athletics, cricket involving India and premium cricket series will be shown on Ten Sports HD. HD subscriber base is expected to rise in India to in the next three years to 5 mil. Taj had launched Ten Cricket HD channels during the on-going India-West Indies series.
EVENTS
=> 200 players will participate in the Badminton Asia Youth U-19 Championships at Uttar Pradesh Badminton Academy (UPBA) , Lucknow from July 2 to 9. The draw will take place on June 28. Mixed team events will be held July 2 to 5, and competitions in individual events will from July 5 to 9. Participating countries include China, Afghanistan, Iran, Jordan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Syria, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nepal, Lebanon and India.
=> World Snooker announced format changes of the UK Championship starting from this year, to ensure more matches be televised live. Second only to the World Championship as the biggest ranking event on the snooker calendar, the UK Championship, which will be played in York between Dec 3 and 11 on two tables, rather than the traditional four. Matches will be shorter until the quarter-finals stage - 11 frames, rather than 17, all played in one session. The semi-finals will be best of 17 frames and the final best of 19. The tournament will be televised in the UK by the BBC, across Europe on Eurosport and on CCTV, China.
BIZ & BITES
=> Japan Credit Bureau International (JCBI) will take primary sponsorship of Vietnam’s national soccer team in 2 years’ time. The deal, reportedly worth US$1 mil /year, will take effect after current contract with Panasonic expires in 2013, covering both the national and Olympic teams. The agreement will include the display of JCBI logos at the national soccer stadium as well as the incorporation of Vietnamese Football Federation (VFF) branding at JCBI merchants. JCBI are looking to extend their presence in Vietnam and will collaborate with Vietnamese banks to release a new VFF branded credit card in August of this year. The card will be accepted at more than 12,000 locations across Vietnam.
=> The IOC has dealt FIFA a fresh blow after revealing its ethics commission is investigating claims made in BBC’s 'Panorama' that FIFA's honorary president Joao Havelange took bribes. The allegations centre on the relationship between Havelange, now 95 and a member of the IOC since 1963, and ISL, FIFA's marketing partner when Havelange was president between 1974 and 1998. In its 'Fifa: Football's Shame' programme last month, Panorama claimed: "Havelange got a $1-mil bung in 1997. Sepp Blatter [Havelange's successor as Fifa president] knew about it. He did nothing." The IOC revealed that its ethics commission has been in dialogue with BBC producers since Nov 2010, when another Panorama episode claimed Issa Hayatou, president of Africa’s CAF and FIFA vice-president, had taken a £10,000 ($16,095) payment from the now-defunct ISL.
=> Taj TV is planning to launch Ten Sports in HD, featuring content from across its three channels - Ten Sports, Ten Cricket and Ten Actions+. Taj is waiting for a clearance from the Information & Broadcast Ministry to launch the channel and pricing has not been finalised. Ten Sports HD will be available on DTH platform as well as on digital platforms of cable operators. UEFA Champions League, Moto GP, Tour De France, athletics, cricket involving India and premium cricket series will be shown on Ten Sports HD. HD subscriber base is expected to rise in India to in the next three years to 5 mil. Taj had launched Ten Cricket HD channels during the on-going India-West Indies series.
EVENTS
=> 200 players will participate in the Badminton Asia Youth U-19 Championships at Uttar Pradesh Badminton Academy (UPBA) , Lucknow from July 2 to 9. The draw will take place on June 28. Mixed team events will be held July 2 to 5, and competitions in individual events will from July 5 to 9. Participating countries include China, Afghanistan, Iran, Jordan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Syria, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nepal, Lebanon and India.
=> World Snooker announced format changes of the UK Championship starting from this year, to ensure more matches be televised live. Second only to the World Championship as the biggest ranking event on the snooker calendar, the UK Championship, which will be played in York between Dec 3 and 11 on two tables, rather than the traditional four. Matches will be shorter until the quarter-finals stage - 11 frames, rather than 17, all played in one session. The semi-finals will be best of 17 frames and the final best of 19. The tournament will be televised in the UK by the BBC, across Europe on Eurosport and on CCTV, China.
BIZ & BITES
=> Japan Credit Bureau International (JCBI) will take primary sponsorship of Vietnam’s national soccer team in 2 years’ time. The deal, reportedly worth US$1 mil /year, will take effect after current contract with Panasonic expires in 2013, covering both the national and Olympic teams. The agreement will include the display of JCBI logos at the national soccer stadium as well as the incorporation of Vietnamese Football Federation (VFF) branding at JCBI merchants. JCBI are looking to extend their presence in Vietnam and will collaborate with Vietnamese banks to release a new VFF branded credit card in August of this year. The card will be accepted at more than 12,000 locations across Vietnam.
=> The IOC has dealt FIFA a fresh blow after revealing its ethics commission is investigating claims made in BBC’s 'Panorama' that FIFA's honorary president Joao Havelange took bribes. The allegations centre on the relationship between Havelange, now 95 and a member of the IOC since 1963, and ISL, FIFA's marketing partner when Havelange was president between 1974 and 1998. In its 'Fifa: Football's Shame' programme last month, Panorama claimed: "Havelange got a $1-mil bung in 1997. Sepp Blatter [Havelange's successor as Fifa president] knew about it. He did nothing." The IOC revealed that its ethics commission has been in dialogue with BBC producers since Nov 2010, when another Panorama episode claimed Issa Hayatou, president of Africa’s CAF and FIFA vice-president, had taken a £10,000 ($16,095) payment from the now-defunct ISL.
Friday, 17th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
• The cost of a TV rights for a dboxing deal signed by German pubcaster, ARD, with Sauerland Event could be reduced. In 2010, ARD and Sauerland signed a deal covering 2013 to 2015 worth €54 mil ($76.3 mil) but the administrative council of WDR, the regional public-service broadcaster, recently voted against the deal. WDR’s council said Sauerland has now offered ARD "a shortening of the [contract] duration and a reduction in the overall cost." Members of the influential WDR council have questioned the value of boxing rights and are annoyed that they were only presented with the deal a year after it was signed.
• State-run Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) suffered a major blow when it was outbid for the rights to carry the Olympics on TV in 2014 and 2016. Sports fans will now need to tune into national commercial television station TV2 to catch the action. Bergen-based TV2 won the bidding round for both the Olympics 2014 and 2016. TV2 is rumoured to offer NOK100 mil to carry the Olympics, called simply “OL” in Norway. Bidding was reportedly brisk between NRK and TV2 but NRK felt forced to withdraw.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
• Bloomberg Television has agreed a deal for highlights of golf’s Asian Tour until the end 2011, adding to an agreement to broadcast highlights of the rival OneAsia series. Asian Tour Media, the jv between the Asian Tour and IMG negotiated the deal, and Bloomberg TV will begin coverage with highlights of this week’s Queens’s Cup in Thailand. The Asian Tour said that the agreement would allow Bloomberg TV’s global audience of "over 290 million households" to see the highlights shows, and that the tour’s global broadcast footprint will now be over 800 million homes and close to 200 countries. OneAsia has a deal in place for tournament highlights to be shown on Bloomberg Television in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
NEW MEDIA
• Copa America 2011 will be streamed live on YouTube, after a deal sealed by Traffic Sports and Google. The internet video sharing network will show live coverage of all 26 games taking place next month in Argentina, on a dedicated channel. Each match will also be available on demand. Google said that they were “delighted to bring the action from the 2011 Copa America to the YouTube community across more than 50 countries, from Argentina, to the USA and Europe." Viewers can watch match highlights and other catch-up clips as well as live coverage. The Copa America is scheduled for July 1 to 24 .
BIZ & BITES
• England’s Football Association dismissed possibilities of conflict between beverage partners after Budweiser was unveiled as the new title sponsor of the FA Cup in a 3-year deal worth £25 mil ($40.2 mil). The competition will be known as 'The FA Cup with Budweiser'. Budweiser replaces energy provider, E.ON, whose 5-year deal with the FA Cup ended last month. Carlsberg is already the official beer of the England national team, in a deal that runs until June 2014, and is a founding partner of Wembley Stadium.
• The cost of a TV rights for a dboxing deal signed by German pubcaster, ARD, with Sauerland Event could be reduced. In 2010, ARD and Sauerland signed a deal covering 2013 to 2015 worth €54 mil ($76.3 mil) but the administrative council of WDR, the regional public-service broadcaster, recently voted against the deal. WDR’s council said Sauerland has now offered ARD "a shortening of the [contract] duration and a reduction in the overall cost." Members of the influential WDR council have questioned the value of boxing rights and are annoyed that they were only presented with the deal a year after it was signed.
• State-run Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) suffered a major blow when it was outbid for the rights to carry the Olympics on TV in 2014 and 2016. Sports fans will now need to tune into national commercial television station TV2 to catch the action. Bergen-based TV2 won the bidding round for both the Olympics 2014 and 2016. TV2 is rumoured to offer NOK100 mil to carry the Olympics, called simply “OL” in Norway. Bidding was reportedly brisk between NRK and TV2 but NRK felt forced to withdraw.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
• Bloomberg Television has agreed a deal for highlights of golf’s Asian Tour until the end 2011, adding to an agreement to broadcast highlights of the rival OneAsia series. Asian Tour Media, the jv between the Asian Tour and IMG negotiated the deal, and Bloomberg TV will begin coverage with highlights of this week’s Queens’s Cup in Thailand. The Asian Tour said that the agreement would allow Bloomberg TV’s global audience of "over 290 million households" to see the highlights shows, and that the tour’s global broadcast footprint will now be over 800 million homes and close to 200 countries. OneAsia has a deal in place for tournament highlights to be shown on Bloomberg Television in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
NEW MEDIA
• Copa America 2011 will be streamed live on YouTube, after a deal sealed by Traffic Sports and Google. The internet video sharing network will show live coverage of all 26 games taking place next month in Argentina, on a dedicated channel. Each match will also be available on demand. Google said that they were “delighted to bring the action from the 2011 Copa America to the YouTube community across more than 50 countries, from Argentina, to the USA and Europe." Viewers can watch match highlights and other catch-up clips as well as live coverage. The Copa America is scheduled for July 1 to 24 .
BIZ & BITES
• England’s Football Association dismissed possibilities of conflict between beverage partners after Budweiser was unveiled as the new title sponsor of the FA Cup in a 3-year deal worth £25 mil ($40.2 mil). The competition will be known as 'The FA Cup with Budweiser'. Budweiser replaces energy provider, E.ON, whose 5-year deal with the FA Cup ended last month. Carlsberg is already the official beer of the England national team, in a deal that runs until June 2014, and is a founding partner of Wembley Stadium.
Thursday, 16th June 2011
STATS & DATA
=> The global media and entertainment market will grow from $1.4 trillion in 2010 to $1.9 trillion in 2015, a 5.7% CAGR, reports PwC. In Asia Pacific, a 6.5% CAGR is predicted for the E&M segment, reaching $539 bil in 2015. Japan remains dominant, followed by China, S Korea, Australia, India and Indonesia. PwC says global E&M business is driven by a need to engage consumers with content on multiple devices, creating multiple opportunities for monetization. Digital is expected to account for 33.9% of E&M spending in 2015 up from 26% this year. Globally, TV advertising is expected to grow at 6.5% CAGR from 2011 to 2015, reaching $232.6 bil. A 7% CAGR for TV subs and license fees are also expected, rising from $203.1 bil in 2010 to $285.2 bil in 2015. Global TV subs and license fee market increased by 5.9% in 2010, led by double-digit gains in Latin America and Asia Pacific.
=> Despite proliferation of Internet and mobile devices for accessing video content, overall traditional TV viewership increased by 22 minutes /month /person over last year, reports Nielsen in its Cross Platform Report. TV is still the dominant source of video content for all demographics. The study indicates that consumers are willing to pay for content; 91% of households paid for TV subscription in Q1 2011. Mobile video viewing increased 41% over last year, and time-shifted TV is also on the rise. The lightest traditional TV users stream significantly more Internet video, and the heaviest streamers under-indexing for traditional TV viewership. This is particularly the case for those aged 18 to 34. More than a third of the TV/Internet population is not streaming, whereas less than 1% are not watching TV.
EVENTS
=> Cricket Australia revived its one-day international tri-series for the forthcoming home season, when India and Sri Lanka will be the other competing teams. CA announced the schedule for 2011-12, including a 2-match home test series against New Zealand at the start of Dec, a 4-match test series and a 2-match Twenty20 series against India from Dec to Feb and 12-match ODI tri-series in Feb and Mar. The long-running tri-series was replaced by individual series against touring teams in 2008-09, but is restored, in part to appeal to broadcasters in the Indian subcontinent. Australia, 2011 World Cup winners India and runners-up Sri Lanka are the three top-ranked ODI teams in the world.
BIZ & BITES
=> Lagardère named Alain Lemarchand, Seamus O’Brien and Kevin O’Connor as heads of new geographical zones at its sports division Lagardère Unlimited, following departures of Olivier Guiguet and Stéphane Schindler. O’Brien, chairman and chief executive of Lagardère-owned World Sport Group, is chief operating officer for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East. Along with World Sport Group, which was founded by O’Brien in Hong Kong in 1992, the Lagardère Unlimited stable also includes the Sportfive, IEC in Sports, Upsolut, PR Event and BEST agencies.
=> The global media and entertainment market will grow from $1.4 trillion in 2010 to $1.9 trillion in 2015, a 5.7% CAGR, reports PwC. In Asia Pacific, a 6.5% CAGR is predicted for the E&M segment, reaching $539 bil in 2015. Japan remains dominant, followed by China, S Korea, Australia, India and Indonesia. PwC says global E&M business is driven by a need to engage consumers with content on multiple devices, creating multiple opportunities for monetization. Digital is expected to account for 33.9% of E&M spending in 2015 up from 26% this year. Globally, TV advertising is expected to grow at 6.5% CAGR from 2011 to 2015, reaching $232.6 bil. A 7% CAGR for TV subs and license fees are also expected, rising from $203.1 bil in 2010 to $285.2 bil in 2015. Global TV subs and license fee market increased by 5.9% in 2010, led by double-digit gains in Latin America and Asia Pacific.
=> Despite proliferation of Internet and mobile devices for accessing video content, overall traditional TV viewership increased by 22 minutes /month /person over last year, reports Nielsen in its Cross Platform Report. TV is still the dominant source of video content for all demographics. The study indicates that consumers are willing to pay for content; 91% of households paid for TV subscription in Q1 2011. Mobile video viewing increased 41% over last year, and time-shifted TV is also on the rise. The lightest traditional TV users stream significantly more Internet video, and the heaviest streamers under-indexing for traditional TV viewership. This is particularly the case for those aged 18 to 34. More than a third of the TV/Internet population is not streaming, whereas less than 1% are not watching TV.
EVENTS
=> Cricket Australia revived its one-day international tri-series for the forthcoming home season, when India and Sri Lanka will be the other competing teams. CA announced the schedule for 2011-12, including a 2-match home test series against New Zealand at the start of Dec, a 4-match test series and a 2-match Twenty20 series against India from Dec to Feb and 12-match ODI tri-series in Feb and Mar. The long-running tri-series was replaced by individual series against touring teams in 2008-09, but is restored, in part to appeal to broadcasters in the Indian subcontinent. Australia, 2011 World Cup winners India and runners-up Sri Lanka are the three top-ranked ODI teams in the world.
BIZ & BITES
=> Lagardère named Alain Lemarchand, Seamus O’Brien and Kevin O’Connor as heads of new geographical zones at its sports division Lagardère Unlimited, following departures of Olivier Guiguet and Stéphane Schindler. O’Brien, chairman and chief executive of Lagardère-owned World Sport Group, is chief operating officer for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East. Along with World Sport Group, which was founded by O’Brien in Hong Kong in 1992, the Lagardère Unlimited stable also includes the Sportfive, IEC in Sports, Upsolut, PR Event and BEST agencies.
Tuesday, 14th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> The Philippine Basketball Association will discuss a new offer by ABC Sport 5 of P800 mil to assume TV rights for the next 5years. TV5’s new offer represents a P100-million cut from its original offer of P917 mil made last week. The emerging TV power initially offered P917 mil to nail broadcast rights of the league until 2016, but reduced it by P117 million after the PBA met last week, with only P650 million in cash and the rest to be charged as marketing expense in promoting the league’s games. TV5’s reduced offer is still heavy considering that incumbent Solar pays the PBA a total of P170 mil for the last 3 seasons on their current contract.
=> French rugby union’s LNR secured an 11-fold value increase of annual media rights for its second-tier Pro D2. Eurosport, France Télévisions and incumbent Canal Plus have agreed to pay a combined €1.1 mil ($1.6 mil) /season for the next 4 years for live Pro D2 matches. For the period 2007-11, Canal Plus and France Télévisions paid a combined €100,000 /year and both were reported to have offered a joint bid of €500,000 /year for rights to the 16-team Pro D2 until the end of the 2014-15 season. All three will show the final live. Eurosport France already broadcasts ‘Au Contact,’ a rugby union magazine programme, and also shows live games from the Amlin Challenge Cup, Europe’s second-tier clubs competition.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Zee will launch its golf channel in August, its fourth sports channel. Ten Golf will be available in digital high definition (HD) across DTH (direct-to-home) platforms. Taj Television also owns Ten Cricket, soccer-dedicated Ten Action+ and its flagship sports channel Ten Sports. The channel was earlier expected to be launched by March-April this year. However, the delay in approvals from the information & broadcasting ministry caused it to revise the launch plan.
=> Pay-TV ESPN Brazil will show HD coverage of the FIM Superbike World Championship, after it reached agreement with Infront Motor Sports. The non-exclusive agreement began with this weekend’s San Marino round in Misano, Italy and is due to run for two seasons. Infront said that the number of broadcasters of the series has grown by 40% since it took control of TV distribution in 2007, with the series shown in 173 countries last year, reaching a cumulative audience of 498 mil viewers, a 33% increase on the previous year.
=> The UEFA Euro U-21 Championship in Denmark is receiving TV coverage in over 130 territories. UEFA said the tournament is receiving coverage in countries of the eight participating teams: Belarus (Belarus TV); Czech Republic (Czech TV); Denmark (TV2); Iceland (RUV); Spain (Cuatro); SSR SRG (Switzerland); England (British Sky Broadcasting); and Ukraine (TRK Football channel). The tournament is also being shown in other European countries, North Africa, Middle East, Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, USA, Canada, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia. Free live stream of the matches is available on Uefa.com in selected territories without television coverage.
STATS & DATA
=> Analyst, Digital TV Research calculated a strong growth in 2010 resulted in over half a bil digital TV homes supporting a pay-TV market worth of$155 billion. The Digital TV World Databook shows about 338 mil digital homes were added globally between 2006 and 2010, driving digital TV household penetration to 576 million or 42.5% at end 2010. Of the 338 mil, 169 mil were in the Asia Pacific, bringing its total to 218 mil. China became the largest digital TV household nation in 2010. However, only Finland was 100% digital. China had the most pay- TV subs at195 mil. USA and India also had more than 100 mil pay-TV subs. DTVR observed cable revenues flattening and IPTV revenues reached US$6 bil in 2010, up from under US$1 bil in 2006.
BIZ & BITES
=> Wuhan in China will stage commercial horse racing meetings from August, ending a 60-year ban on the activity in the country. The General Administration of Sports has approved the races, which will be organised by the Hubei provincial government and held at the Orient Lucky City racecourse. Betting will not be allowed although there will be small prizes for people who correctly guess the winning horse in each race. Races will be held on Saturday and comprise four to six races, with live TV coverage in China. Some 200 horse owners have already expressed an interest in participating but prize money has yet to be determined. Horse racing had been banned in China since 1949, although former colonies Hong Kong and Macau have well-developed industries.
=> The owners of Manchester United are considering floating the club on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The Glazers, who bought the club for £790 million in 2005, had talks with banks about listing in Asia as part of an exit strategy and been told that it could value the club at £1.7 bil ($2.8 bil). MU recently won a record 19th league title, generated £231.7 mil turnover in 9 months ending March 2011, up from £219.3 mil in the previous year. The club continued to post losses because of interest payments on the Glazers’ loans to fund the acquisition 6 years ago and despite on-field success, the family remained unpopular with the fans. There were also reports of a Middle East takeover although the club has repeatedly denied that it is for sale.
=> The Philippine Basketball Association will discuss a new offer by ABC Sport 5 of P800 mil to assume TV rights for the next 5years. TV5’s new offer represents a P100-million cut from its original offer of P917 mil made last week. The emerging TV power initially offered P917 mil to nail broadcast rights of the league until 2016, but reduced it by P117 million after the PBA met last week, with only P650 million in cash and the rest to be charged as marketing expense in promoting the league’s games. TV5’s reduced offer is still heavy considering that incumbent Solar pays the PBA a total of P170 mil for the last 3 seasons on their current contract.
=> French rugby union’s LNR secured an 11-fold value increase of annual media rights for its second-tier Pro D2. Eurosport, France Télévisions and incumbent Canal Plus have agreed to pay a combined €1.1 mil ($1.6 mil) /season for the next 4 years for live Pro D2 matches. For the period 2007-11, Canal Plus and France Télévisions paid a combined €100,000 /year and both were reported to have offered a joint bid of €500,000 /year for rights to the 16-team Pro D2 until the end of the 2014-15 season. All three will show the final live. Eurosport France already broadcasts ‘Au Contact,’ a rugby union magazine programme, and also shows live games from the Amlin Challenge Cup, Europe’s second-tier clubs competition.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Zee will launch its golf channel in August, its fourth sports channel. Ten Golf will be available in digital high definition (HD) across DTH (direct-to-home) platforms. Taj Television also owns Ten Cricket, soccer-dedicated Ten Action+ and its flagship sports channel Ten Sports. The channel was earlier expected to be launched by March-April this year. However, the delay in approvals from the information & broadcasting ministry caused it to revise the launch plan.
=> Pay-TV ESPN Brazil will show HD coverage of the FIM Superbike World Championship, after it reached agreement with Infront Motor Sports. The non-exclusive agreement began with this weekend’s San Marino round in Misano, Italy and is due to run for two seasons. Infront said that the number of broadcasters of the series has grown by 40% since it took control of TV distribution in 2007, with the series shown in 173 countries last year, reaching a cumulative audience of 498 mil viewers, a 33% increase on the previous year.
=> The UEFA Euro U-21 Championship in Denmark is receiving TV coverage in over 130 territories. UEFA said the tournament is receiving coverage in countries of the eight participating teams: Belarus (Belarus TV); Czech Republic (Czech TV); Denmark (TV2); Iceland (RUV); Spain (Cuatro); SSR SRG (Switzerland); England (British Sky Broadcasting); and Ukraine (TRK Football channel). The tournament is also being shown in other European countries, North Africa, Middle East, Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, USA, Canada, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia. Free live stream of the matches is available on Uefa.com in selected territories without television coverage.
STATS & DATA
=> Analyst, Digital TV Research calculated a strong growth in 2010 resulted in over half a bil digital TV homes supporting a pay-TV market worth of$155 billion. The Digital TV World Databook shows about 338 mil digital homes were added globally between 2006 and 2010, driving digital TV household penetration to 576 million or 42.5% at end 2010. Of the 338 mil, 169 mil were in the Asia Pacific, bringing its total to 218 mil. China became the largest digital TV household nation in 2010. However, only Finland was 100% digital. China had the most pay- TV subs at195 mil. USA and India also had more than 100 mil pay-TV subs. DTVR observed cable revenues flattening and IPTV revenues reached US$6 bil in 2010, up from under US$1 bil in 2006.
BIZ & BITES
=> Wuhan in China will stage commercial horse racing meetings from August, ending a 60-year ban on the activity in the country. The General Administration of Sports has approved the races, which will be organised by the Hubei provincial government and held at the Orient Lucky City racecourse. Betting will not be allowed although there will be small prizes for people who correctly guess the winning horse in each race. Races will be held on Saturday and comprise four to six races, with live TV coverage in China. Some 200 horse owners have already expressed an interest in participating but prize money has yet to be determined. Horse racing had been banned in China since 1949, although former colonies Hong Kong and Macau have well-developed industries.
=> The owners of Manchester United are considering floating the club on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The Glazers, who bought the club for £790 million in 2005, had talks with banks about listing in Asia as part of an exit strategy and been told that it could value the club at £1.7 bil ($2.8 bil). MU recently won a record 19th league title, generated £231.7 mil turnover in 9 months ending March 2011, up from £219.3 mil in the previous year. The club continued to post losses because of interest payments on the Glazers’ loans to fund the acquisition 6 years ago and despite on-field success, the family remained unpopular with the fans. There were also reports of a Middle East takeover although the club has repeatedly denied that it is for sale.
Monday, 13th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> UEFA has reached an exclusive agreement with Italian pubcaster, RAI, for broadcast rights to 2012 European Championship in Italy. RAI will offer FTA coverage of all 31 matches across its two channels RAI Uno and RAI Due. RAI will also supplement its coverage with dedicated magazine and highlights programmes and comprehensive internet and mobile services on a live and on-demand basis. Reports suggest that fees were less than UEFA anticipated and less than was commanded by Euro 2012. In Spain, Mediaset will pay US$98 mil for Euro 2016, short of the US$105 mil UEFA required. RAI is thought to be paying below its previous deal with UEFA, believed to be worth between €100 mil (US$145 mil) and €110 mil (US$160 mil).
=> When the International Olympic Committee announced it had agreed a new, $4.382-bil deal with NBC/Comcast for US TV rights of the four editions of the games between 2014 and 2020, its alacrity suggested that it was pleased with the money tabled. The previous 2-games deal was worth $2 bil, once a $200 mil sponsorship contribution from General Electric, NBC’s former parent company, is stripped out. This equates to $1 bil each for the 2010 winter and the 2012 summer games on average and compares with an average of $1.095 bil per games in the new deal. The share for the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi is $775 mil and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is $1.226 bil. NBC is to pay $963 mil for 2018 and $1.418 bil for 2020.
=> Canal Plus is set to launch a tender for broadcast production of live coverage of French rugby union’s Top 14 from 2011/12 to 15/16. Production rights are currently held by Euro Media. Canal Plus recently retained Top 14 rights for the 5 seasons in a deal worth €31.7 mil ($46.5 mil) /season, or €158.5 mil in total. The deal came after lengthy negotiations between Canal Plus and the LNR after the pay-TV’s initial offer of €18 mil /year, over €10 mil /year less than it paid under the terms of the previous contract, was rejected, following a tender process launched at the end of last year.
=> Canadian pubcaster CBC said it is interested in bidding for the rights of the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games, despite earlier saying that it would not. CBC was the traditional Olympic broadcaster in Canada until rights for the 2010 and 2012 games were acquired by a consortium of commercial broadcaster CTV and pay-TV Rogers. The CTV-Rogers consortium paid a record $153 mil for the Vancouver 2010 winter games ($90 mil) and the London 2012 Olympics ($63 mil).
=> Romanian cable operator, RCS-RDS, launched a third premium sports channel called Digi Sport 3 that will carry live coverage of sports events. Sports rights held by RCS-RDS include Romanian soccer’s top-tier Liga 1, English Premier League, Spanish Liga BBVA, Formula 1 and MotoGP. Liga 1 rights from 2008/09 to 2010/11 were acquired by a consortium formed by RCS-RDS and commercial network, Antena 1 in a deal worth €85 mil ($123.3 mil) plus VAT or €102 mil in total, but only three of nine packages were sold in a recent auction of the rights from next season onwards, with RCS-RDS picking up one package.
=> Belgian telecom, Telenet, which offers digital cable TV, has acquired rights for Belgian soccer top-tier Jupiler Pro League, as incumbent and rival Belgacom lost a chunk of rights in new deals worth under €166 mil ($239 mil) over 3 years. Telenet acquired 5 of the six rights packages, including the top three live matches per week, with Belgacom acquiring one package that covers the remaining six live matches per week. Non-live rights acquired by Telenet include highlights rights and a Monday evening magazine show. The deal is averagely worth €55.25 mil /season, about €10 mil /season more than the deal from 2008/09 to 10/11. French language pubcaster, RTBF, retained FTA rights for the next 3 seasons in a deal with Telenet, while Flemish language VTM acquired FTA highlights, replacing VRT, which had vowed not to bid under government calls to cut costs.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Hong Kong pay-IPTV, Now TV, has acquired rights to 2011 Rugby World Cup, to be held in New Zealand, and will show all 48 matches from the tournament live in HD. Now TV will also broadcast daily and weekly highlights, tournament review highlights and pre-tournament programmes. Now TV currently offers rugby content; the Six Nations, Tri-Nations and the Super 15 on the Setanta Sports Channel. The 2011 Rugby World Cup culminates with the final in Auckland on October 23.
=> Chinese state broadcaster, CCTV, said that home player Li Na's victory over Francesca Schiavone in last week's women's final of the French Open drew a domestic television audience of 116 mil. This surpasses the 60 mil who watched Li Na's defeat by Kim Clijsters in the final of this year's Australian Open. Li Na is the first Asian tennis player to win a grand slam tournament.
=> Kolkata’s Celebrity Management Group, which has commercial rights to Argentina’s 2 coming international football friendlies in Kolkata and Dhaka, expect to profit from the event through broadcast rights, sponsorship and gate receipts. Argentina will play Venezuela on 3 Sep at Kolkata and Nigeria on 6 Sep at Dhaka. CMG paid Rs460 mil to get the rights for these matches; a figure some say looks “unrealistic”. The company is expecting to earn $8 mil from the two matches. CMG claims that two channels - a sports broadcaster and an entertainment channel - have pitched for Indian sub-con TV rights, excluding West Bengal. CMG expects $1 mil for broadcast rights; a chunk will come from Indian sub-con. The match is expected to reach at least 150 countries.
=> India’s football league is resolute it will find a broadcast partner for the I-League 2011/12 after this season came to a close without a single match being televised. The lack football on air has been blamed on a lack of time available to find a new partner, after I-League rights were sold to IMG Reliance following the sudden termination of the 10-year broadcast and marketing rights deal between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Zee Sports in Oct, 4 years short of expiry. AIFF is confident that IMG Reliance is now more knowledgeable about Indian football six months into their agreement, and that this experience will aid the planning of forthcoming broadcasts.
=> A 200-channel expansion for Doordarshan’s DTH TV platform by end 2011 has been approved by India’s public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati. Guidelines for procurement by Doordarshan of Hindi movies have also been approved by the board, along with amendments to those of programmes commissioned by the state TV service. In another development, cross channel advertising is now allowed by other broadcasters and DTH operators, and a negiotiation team is also to investigate the possibility of out of court settlements of arbitration issues involving Prasar Bharati, which now amount to over INR 400 crore.
STATS & DATA
=> Sports websites registered a 38% increase in visits over past year on the back ICC Cricket World Cup driving a major chunk of the share in growth. comScore’s report titled "State of Internet with focus on India" says sports websites in India had a growth rate of 40% this year as compared to 29% in 2010 in All India 15+ TG. Sports websites globally registered -5% growth while Asia Pacific saw a negative growth of -13% during the same period. The India-Australia quarter-final and semi-final between India-Pakistan attracted highest visitors traffic with both matches attracting almost 1.7 mil unique visitors respectively. The finals between India-Sri Lanka had 1.4 mil unique visitors. Internet audience in India skews dramatically young: three-quarters of the web audience is under the age of 35, compared to 52% of the global average and 57% of the regional average.
=> China’s IPTV market revenue is set to grow at a CAGR of 38% from 2012 to 2014 according to RNCOS. This is attributed to the increasing disposable income of the Chinese, which per head increased at a CAGR of 12% during 2008-2010. RNCOS’ Chinese IPTV Market Analysis identifies factors that will help revenue surge, among which cheap rates of IPTV services due to the price wars between the telecom operators has been the most important one. IPTV is a niche in new technology and telecom operators are offering IPTV services at cheaper rates to attract more consumers. This will help the companies to boost their revenue and thus, the revenue of the IPTV industry as a whole.
=> An increase in multi-play services is a key driver in seeing worldwide pay-TV industry grow in subscriber numbers and service revenue. According to ABI Research, bundled services are more cost-effective than subscribing to each service separately and its uptake has been key to Q1 2011 service revenues growing 10% year on year to $53 bil. ABI said many operators have witnessed triple-play services reduce churn and increase ARPU for all of the different pay-TV platforms. ABI believes that analogue switch-off progress across the world drives increase in the number of customers receiving digital TV services and HD TV services. Asia Pacific is predicted to gain a larger market share than Western Europe in next two years driven by the cable TV sector, especially in China and India, with its potentially high number of cable TV subscribers.
EVENTS
=> The Bahrain Grand Prix has been cancelled after F1 teams complained about competing in the country on 30 Oct this year, as originally scheduled. By procedural limitations, the date for the Indian GP had been shifted to Dec 11, as announced by FIA. Changes in mid-season require the unanimity of all the F1 teams, which will have to be sought, but their consent seems a foregone conclusion. F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone had announced the Bahrain race was now "not on" after a complaint from teams at the rescheduling of the event, which was initially put back to 30 Oct amid condemnation from human rights groups as clashes intensified between Bahrain's majority Shia population and the Gulf kingdom's security forces.
BIZ & BITES
=> Mumbai-based entertainment company, Dream Theatre Private Ltd, has been appointed as a licensing agent in India for WWE. WWE products will be available in leading stand-alone stores as well as retail chain stores across the country including Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Hamleys, Pantaloons, Central, Crossword, More, Hypercity, Lilliput and others. 9 hours of WWE programming is broadcast each week on Ten Sports; WWE Superstars, Divas and Hall Of Famers can be seen on more than 68 mil homes across the country.
=> Premier League clubs’ revenue reached a record £2.03 bil in 2009/10 and will exceed £2.2 bil in 2010/11, according to the 20th Annual Review of Football Finance from Deloitte. The top 92 English clubs saw revenues increase by 5% to almost £2.7 bil in 2009/10. However, increase in PL clubs’ wage costs of £64m (5%) exceeded the rise in revenue (£49m), driving total wages up to over £1.4 bil, resulting in a record wages/revenue ratio of 68%. Revenue in the FL Championship exceeded £400m for the first time in 2009/10 (up 9%), largely due to the change in clubs and the presence of Newcastle United. Of the £2.6 bil net debt in the PL, around 40% (£1.0 bil) is in the form of non-interest bearing ‘soft loans’, majority relating to two clubs - Chelsea (£740m) and Fulham (£187m). On the plus side, PL clubs had £1.8 bil value of tangible fixed assets, reflecting the huge investment in facilities seen over the past 2 decades, and the carrying value of player registrations, which exceeds £1 bil.”
=> [Other Excerpts] The total European football market grew to a record £13.3 bil in 2009/10. The top 92 English clubs invested £179m in facilities in 2009/10 and £3.5 bil has been invested in English football clubs’ stadia and facilities over the last 20 years. Net debt in respect of PL clubs fell by 20%, from £3.3 bil in 2008/09 to £2.6 bil in 2009/10. The Government’s tax take from the top 92 football clubs will exceed £1 bil in 2010/11 due to increase in VAT (to 20%) and introduction of 50% rate for earnings over £150,000. PL clubs generated highest revenue (£2.0 bil) of any league in Europe in 2009/10, followed by Germany (£1.4 bil), Spain and Italy (each £1.3 bil), and France (£0.9 bil). The PL remained the second most profitable football league in the world, with slight increase in operating profits (up £4m to £83m) but op profits fell by 20% to £113m in the Bundesliga.
=> A Swiss MP and former employee of ISL, the now-defunct sports agency that was previously the marketing partner of FIFA, has claimed that the Zurich-based world governing body should lose its tax privileges unless it improves its governance. FIFA has appealed against publication of court documents concerning a bribery scandal involving ISL. The appeal is FIFA’s second after the public prosecutor’s office initially decided the documents could be revealed, in response to requests from journalists. Roland Rino Buechel, an MP for the Swiss People’s Party, who worked for ISL for a year before it went bankrupt, has introduced a motion demanding that FIFA improves its governance by the end of this year or faces new legislation on its tax privileges.
=> UEFA has reached an exclusive agreement with Italian pubcaster, RAI, for broadcast rights to 2012 European Championship in Italy. RAI will offer FTA coverage of all 31 matches across its two channels RAI Uno and RAI Due. RAI will also supplement its coverage with dedicated magazine and highlights programmes and comprehensive internet and mobile services on a live and on-demand basis. Reports suggest that fees were less than UEFA anticipated and less than was commanded by Euro 2012. In Spain, Mediaset will pay US$98 mil for Euro 2016, short of the US$105 mil UEFA required. RAI is thought to be paying below its previous deal with UEFA, believed to be worth between €100 mil (US$145 mil) and €110 mil (US$160 mil).
=> When the International Olympic Committee announced it had agreed a new, $4.382-bil deal with NBC/Comcast for US TV rights of the four editions of the games between 2014 and 2020, its alacrity suggested that it was pleased with the money tabled. The previous 2-games deal was worth $2 bil, once a $200 mil sponsorship contribution from General Electric, NBC’s former parent company, is stripped out. This equates to $1 bil each for the 2010 winter and the 2012 summer games on average and compares with an average of $1.095 bil per games in the new deal. The share for the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi is $775 mil and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is $1.226 bil. NBC is to pay $963 mil for 2018 and $1.418 bil for 2020.
=> Canal Plus is set to launch a tender for broadcast production of live coverage of French rugby union’s Top 14 from 2011/12 to 15/16. Production rights are currently held by Euro Media. Canal Plus recently retained Top 14 rights for the 5 seasons in a deal worth €31.7 mil ($46.5 mil) /season, or €158.5 mil in total. The deal came after lengthy negotiations between Canal Plus and the LNR after the pay-TV’s initial offer of €18 mil /year, over €10 mil /year less than it paid under the terms of the previous contract, was rejected, following a tender process launched at the end of last year.
=> Canadian pubcaster CBC said it is interested in bidding for the rights of the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games, despite earlier saying that it would not. CBC was the traditional Olympic broadcaster in Canada until rights for the 2010 and 2012 games were acquired by a consortium of commercial broadcaster CTV and pay-TV Rogers. The CTV-Rogers consortium paid a record $153 mil for the Vancouver 2010 winter games ($90 mil) and the London 2012 Olympics ($63 mil).
=> Romanian cable operator, RCS-RDS, launched a third premium sports channel called Digi Sport 3 that will carry live coverage of sports events. Sports rights held by RCS-RDS include Romanian soccer’s top-tier Liga 1, English Premier League, Spanish Liga BBVA, Formula 1 and MotoGP. Liga 1 rights from 2008/09 to 2010/11 were acquired by a consortium formed by RCS-RDS and commercial network, Antena 1 in a deal worth €85 mil ($123.3 mil) plus VAT or €102 mil in total, but only three of nine packages were sold in a recent auction of the rights from next season onwards, with RCS-RDS picking up one package.
=> Belgian telecom, Telenet, which offers digital cable TV, has acquired rights for Belgian soccer top-tier Jupiler Pro League, as incumbent and rival Belgacom lost a chunk of rights in new deals worth under €166 mil ($239 mil) over 3 years. Telenet acquired 5 of the six rights packages, including the top three live matches per week, with Belgacom acquiring one package that covers the remaining six live matches per week. Non-live rights acquired by Telenet include highlights rights and a Monday evening magazine show. The deal is averagely worth €55.25 mil /season, about €10 mil /season more than the deal from 2008/09 to 10/11. French language pubcaster, RTBF, retained FTA rights for the next 3 seasons in a deal with Telenet, while Flemish language VTM acquired FTA highlights, replacing VRT, which had vowed not to bid under government calls to cut costs.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Hong Kong pay-IPTV, Now TV, has acquired rights to 2011 Rugby World Cup, to be held in New Zealand, and will show all 48 matches from the tournament live in HD. Now TV will also broadcast daily and weekly highlights, tournament review highlights and pre-tournament programmes. Now TV currently offers rugby content; the Six Nations, Tri-Nations and the Super 15 on the Setanta Sports Channel. The 2011 Rugby World Cup culminates with the final in Auckland on October 23.
=> Chinese state broadcaster, CCTV, said that home player Li Na's victory over Francesca Schiavone in last week's women's final of the French Open drew a domestic television audience of 116 mil. This surpasses the 60 mil who watched Li Na's defeat by Kim Clijsters in the final of this year's Australian Open. Li Na is the first Asian tennis player to win a grand slam tournament.
=> Kolkata’s Celebrity Management Group, which has commercial rights to Argentina’s 2 coming international football friendlies in Kolkata and Dhaka, expect to profit from the event through broadcast rights, sponsorship and gate receipts. Argentina will play Venezuela on 3 Sep at Kolkata and Nigeria on 6 Sep at Dhaka. CMG paid Rs460 mil to get the rights for these matches; a figure some say looks “unrealistic”. The company is expecting to earn $8 mil from the two matches. CMG claims that two channels - a sports broadcaster and an entertainment channel - have pitched for Indian sub-con TV rights, excluding West Bengal. CMG expects $1 mil for broadcast rights; a chunk will come from Indian sub-con. The match is expected to reach at least 150 countries.
=> India’s football league is resolute it will find a broadcast partner for the I-League 2011/12 after this season came to a close without a single match being televised. The lack football on air has been blamed on a lack of time available to find a new partner, after I-League rights were sold to IMG Reliance following the sudden termination of the 10-year broadcast and marketing rights deal between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Zee Sports in Oct, 4 years short of expiry. AIFF is confident that IMG Reliance is now more knowledgeable about Indian football six months into their agreement, and that this experience will aid the planning of forthcoming broadcasts.
=> A 200-channel expansion for Doordarshan’s DTH TV platform by end 2011 has been approved by India’s public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati. Guidelines for procurement by Doordarshan of Hindi movies have also been approved by the board, along with amendments to those of programmes commissioned by the state TV service. In another development, cross channel advertising is now allowed by other broadcasters and DTH operators, and a negiotiation team is also to investigate the possibility of out of court settlements of arbitration issues involving Prasar Bharati, which now amount to over INR 400 crore.
STATS & DATA
=> Sports websites registered a 38% increase in visits over past year on the back ICC Cricket World Cup driving a major chunk of the share in growth. comScore’s report titled "State of Internet with focus on India" says sports websites in India had a growth rate of 40% this year as compared to 29% in 2010 in All India 15+ TG. Sports websites globally registered -5% growth while Asia Pacific saw a negative growth of -13% during the same period. The India-Australia quarter-final and semi-final between India-Pakistan attracted highest visitors traffic with both matches attracting almost 1.7 mil unique visitors respectively. The finals between India-Sri Lanka had 1.4 mil unique visitors. Internet audience in India skews dramatically young: three-quarters of the web audience is under the age of 35, compared to 52% of the global average and 57% of the regional average.
=> China’s IPTV market revenue is set to grow at a CAGR of 38% from 2012 to 2014 according to RNCOS. This is attributed to the increasing disposable income of the Chinese, which per head increased at a CAGR of 12% during 2008-2010. RNCOS’ Chinese IPTV Market Analysis identifies factors that will help revenue surge, among which cheap rates of IPTV services due to the price wars between the telecom operators has been the most important one. IPTV is a niche in new technology and telecom operators are offering IPTV services at cheaper rates to attract more consumers. This will help the companies to boost their revenue and thus, the revenue of the IPTV industry as a whole.
=> An increase in multi-play services is a key driver in seeing worldwide pay-TV industry grow in subscriber numbers and service revenue. According to ABI Research, bundled services are more cost-effective than subscribing to each service separately and its uptake has been key to Q1 2011 service revenues growing 10% year on year to $53 bil. ABI said many operators have witnessed triple-play services reduce churn and increase ARPU for all of the different pay-TV platforms. ABI believes that analogue switch-off progress across the world drives increase in the number of customers receiving digital TV services and HD TV services. Asia Pacific is predicted to gain a larger market share than Western Europe in next two years driven by the cable TV sector, especially in China and India, with its potentially high number of cable TV subscribers.
EVENTS
=> The Bahrain Grand Prix has been cancelled after F1 teams complained about competing in the country on 30 Oct this year, as originally scheduled. By procedural limitations, the date for the Indian GP had been shifted to Dec 11, as announced by FIA. Changes in mid-season require the unanimity of all the F1 teams, which will have to be sought, but their consent seems a foregone conclusion. F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone had announced the Bahrain race was now "not on" after a complaint from teams at the rescheduling of the event, which was initially put back to 30 Oct amid condemnation from human rights groups as clashes intensified between Bahrain's majority Shia population and the Gulf kingdom's security forces.
BIZ & BITES
=> Mumbai-based entertainment company, Dream Theatre Private Ltd, has been appointed as a licensing agent in India for WWE. WWE products will be available in leading stand-alone stores as well as retail chain stores across the country including Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Hamleys, Pantaloons, Central, Crossword, More, Hypercity, Lilliput and others. 9 hours of WWE programming is broadcast each week on Ten Sports; WWE Superstars, Divas and Hall Of Famers can be seen on more than 68 mil homes across the country.
=> Premier League clubs’ revenue reached a record £2.03 bil in 2009/10 and will exceed £2.2 bil in 2010/11, according to the 20th Annual Review of Football Finance from Deloitte. The top 92 English clubs saw revenues increase by 5% to almost £2.7 bil in 2009/10. However, increase in PL clubs’ wage costs of £64m (5%) exceeded the rise in revenue (£49m), driving total wages up to over £1.4 bil, resulting in a record wages/revenue ratio of 68%. Revenue in the FL Championship exceeded £400m for the first time in 2009/10 (up 9%), largely due to the change in clubs and the presence of Newcastle United. Of the £2.6 bil net debt in the PL, around 40% (£1.0 bil) is in the form of non-interest bearing ‘soft loans’, majority relating to two clubs - Chelsea (£740m) and Fulham (£187m). On the plus side, PL clubs had £1.8 bil value of tangible fixed assets, reflecting the huge investment in facilities seen over the past 2 decades, and the carrying value of player registrations, which exceeds £1 bil.”
=> [Other Excerpts] The total European football market grew to a record £13.3 bil in 2009/10. The top 92 English clubs invested £179m in facilities in 2009/10 and £3.5 bil has been invested in English football clubs’ stadia and facilities over the last 20 years. Net debt in respect of PL clubs fell by 20%, from £3.3 bil in 2008/09 to £2.6 bil in 2009/10. The Government’s tax take from the top 92 football clubs will exceed £1 bil in 2010/11 due to increase in VAT (to 20%) and introduction of 50% rate for earnings over £150,000. PL clubs generated highest revenue (£2.0 bil) of any league in Europe in 2009/10, followed by Germany (£1.4 bil), Spain and Italy (each £1.3 bil), and France (£0.9 bil). The PL remained the second most profitable football league in the world, with slight increase in operating profits (up £4m to £83m) but op profits fell by 20% to £113m in the Bundesliga.
=> A Swiss MP and former employee of ISL, the now-defunct sports agency that was previously the marketing partner of FIFA, has claimed that the Zurich-based world governing body should lose its tax privileges unless it improves its governance. FIFA has appealed against publication of court documents concerning a bribery scandal involving ISL. The appeal is FIFA’s second after the public prosecutor’s office initially decided the documents could be revealed, in response to requests from journalists. Roland Rino Buechel, an MP for the Swiss People’s Party, who worked for ISL for a year before it went bankrupt, has introduced a motion demanding that FIFA improves its governance by the end of this year or faces new legislation on its tax privileges.
Wednesday, 8th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Comcast Corp-owned NBCUniversal retained broadcast rights for the Olympic Games through 2020 with a staggering US$4.38 bil bid, beating ESPN and Fox for the property. Rights include all media platforms, including free-to-air TV, subscription TV, internet and mobile. The rights cover 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, 2016 Games in Rio De Janeiro, as well as the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games, which have yet to be awarded to a host city. The IOC has enjoyed a long partnership with NBCU, and this deal will mean that by 2020, NBCU will have covered a total of 17 editions of the Games, beginning in 1964. It also holds to the 2012 summer Games in London.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Taiwan`s broadcast TV will be completely digitized by July 2012, 6 months ahead of schedule. The move will take place along with the digitisation of cable TV, unleashing business opportunities worth some NT$20 billion, including the procurement of set-top boxes and digital TVs. Around 5.6 mil households, or 75% of 7.5 mil households with access broadcast TV channels, will have to buy digital TVs or install set-top boxes. Meanwhile, the government has targeted boosting the penetration of digital cable TV programmes to 50% by 2015. To facilitate development of HD digital TV, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) plans to issue five digital broadcast TV licences and two mobile TV licences next year.
STATS & DATA
=> Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast revealed the Middle East and Africa will be the fastest growing region for IP traffic. The VNI showed global Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015 with online video the key driver, with 1 mil minutes of internet video streamed per second. Traffic from the Middle East region will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52% between 2010 and 2015; an 8-fold increase in regional internet use. The VNI Forecast points to a total of 1.3 bil networked devices in the Middle East and Africa within 4 years. By then, Asia-Pacific will surpass North America to generate the most IP traffic (24.1 exabytes per month).
EVENTS
=> The World Squash Federation will launch the WSF Under-21 World Cup on Indian soil, and it will be hosted 1st to 5th Feb 2012 in Chennai. The inaugural U21 World Cup is an entirely new biennial event introducing a new age-group category in the sport. The new championship will be for mixed teams of two men and one woman, following the highly successful format of the biennial WSF World Cup.
=> The Netherlands has submitted a bid to host the International Softball Federation Women's World Championship in 2014. If successful, it will be the first time that a European city has held the biennial tournament. The 2012 Women's World Championship is slated to be held at Yukon, Whitehorse in Canada. In 2009, the ISF congress voted to hold the Women's World Championships every two years, as opposed to every four.
=> Comcast Corp-owned NBCUniversal retained broadcast rights for the Olympic Games through 2020 with a staggering US$4.38 bil bid, beating ESPN and Fox for the property. Rights include all media platforms, including free-to-air TV, subscription TV, internet and mobile. The rights cover 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, 2016 Games in Rio De Janeiro, as well as the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games, which have yet to be awarded to a host city. The IOC has enjoyed a long partnership with NBCU, and this deal will mean that by 2020, NBCU will have covered a total of 17 editions of the Games, beginning in 1964. It also holds to the 2012 summer Games in London.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Taiwan`s broadcast TV will be completely digitized by July 2012, 6 months ahead of schedule. The move will take place along with the digitisation of cable TV, unleashing business opportunities worth some NT$20 billion, including the procurement of set-top boxes and digital TVs. Around 5.6 mil households, or 75% of 7.5 mil households with access broadcast TV channels, will have to buy digital TVs or install set-top boxes. Meanwhile, the government has targeted boosting the penetration of digital cable TV programmes to 50% by 2015. To facilitate development of HD digital TV, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) plans to issue five digital broadcast TV licences and two mobile TV licences next year.
STATS & DATA
=> Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast revealed the Middle East and Africa will be the fastest growing region for IP traffic. The VNI showed global Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015 with online video the key driver, with 1 mil minutes of internet video streamed per second. Traffic from the Middle East region will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52% between 2010 and 2015; an 8-fold increase in regional internet use. The VNI Forecast points to a total of 1.3 bil networked devices in the Middle East and Africa within 4 years. By then, Asia-Pacific will surpass North America to generate the most IP traffic (24.1 exabytes per month).
EVENTS
=> The World Squash Federation will launch the WSF Under-21 World Cup on Indian soil, and it will be hosted 1st to 5th Feb 2012 in Chennai. The inaugural U21 World Cup is an entirely new biennial event introducing a new age-group category in the sport. The new championship will be for mixed teams of two men and one woman, following the highly successful format of the biennial WSF World Cup.
=> The Netherlands has submitted a bid to host the International Softball Federation Women's World Championship in 2014. If successful, it will be the first time that a European city has held the biennial tournament. The 2012 Women's World Championship is slated to be held at Yukon, Whitehorse in Canada. In 2009, the ISF congress voted to hold the Women's World Championships every two years, as opposed to every four.
Tuesday, 7th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> The DFB is expecting a high level of competition in Germany for the rights to the DFB Pokal, the knockout clubs competition when the tender process launches. Broadcast rights until the end of 2011/12 season are held by pubcasters ARD & ZDF and pay-TV Sky Deutschland. Commercial broadcaster Sat.1 could bid aggressively for the DFB Pokal rights after losing its rights to UEFA Champions League 2012/13 onwards to ZDF. ARD & ZDF recently renewed rights to Germany’s international home games, women’s team's home games, third-tier 3.Liga and the Frauen Bundesliga in a 4-year deal worth €175 mil ($255.8 mil). ARD & ZDF’s current deal with DFB (until 2011/12 season) for Germany’s home games (including all home qualifiers), the DFB Pokal, the 3. Liga and the Frauen Bundesliga (women's league) is thought to be worth €80 mil /season, while Sky Deutschland pays €18 mil /season for rights to all 63 DFB Pokal matches /season.
=> Pay-TV DirecTV Colombia has acquired live pay-TV rights to the domestic top flight Liga Postobón, second tier Torneo Postobón and the annual cup competition. The deal runs 2012 to 2016 and includes 9 weekly live matches. The rights fee is an increase on the 5-yr, $17-mil ($3.4 mil /season) deal currently running from 2007 to 2011, held by rivals Telmex and Une. Commercial broadcaster RCN also renewed its deal for two weekly free-to-air Liga Postobón matches for $12 mil over 5 seasons, up from $10 mil it pays presently. The Liga Postobón presently earns $4.4 mil /season in media rights fees; $1 mil annually from RCN and $3.4 mil /season from the Telmex-Une. The League believes it should be earning at least 3 times that amount, particularly with high level of pay-TV penetration; there are over 3.5 mil pay-TV subs in Colombia, with an average audience share of 38.7%.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Kolkata-based broadcaster Mahuaa Media Pvt Ltd secured rights to the Brazilian Football League in India for the first time. Total Sports Asia owns rights for the BFL in India and sold regional rights to Mahuaa Media, which will broadcast the Brazilian Football League on its channels, Mahuaa Bangla and Mahuaa Khobor. The current season of the Brazilian Football League kicked off on 21 May and runs till the last week of December. Two games per week, on Saturdays and Sundays, will be broadcast along with the 30 minutes weekly with the highlights show on ‘Footbrazil’.
=> Indonesia’s pubcaster, TVRI, has signed a 2-year rights deal to show sepak takraw’s international events calendar, beginning with the inaugural ISTAF World Cup. The deal was brokered by UFA Sports Asia on behalf of the Int. Sepak Takraw Federation. TVRI, with a reach of 40 mil households, will show live coverage and highlights from the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, followed by the first two seasons of the ISTAF Super Series. The Super Series consists of 5 tournaments staged in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iran and China. UFA Sports said that the ISTAF World Cup will be broadcast in 66 territories, with a potential "global TV audience in excess of 750 million viewers."
STATS & DATA
=> A report has predicted that Digital TV penetration will rise from 29% in 2010 to 73% by 2016. Digital TV Research says this growth represents 92 mil new homes for a total of 400 mil. China and India will dominate regional growth together making up 608 mil TV households, or 73% of the total by 2016 and also 467 mil, 77%, of digital TV homes. Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, are also primed for rapid digital TV growth; by 2016, these five will have 127 mil TV households combined, but only 38% digital and 24% pay-TV penetration. Of the 388 mil digital homes added between 2010 and 2016, 188 mil will come from cable; 85 mil from pay-IPTV; 68 mil from DTT; and 29 mil from pay DTH. Pay-TV penetration will rise from 49% in 2010 to 63% in 2016, adding 156 mil subs to take the total to 522 mil. By end 2010, $12.2 bil of $26.9 bil revenues were attributable to analogue cable TV sources, with digital cable, DTH and IPTV weighing with $7.1, $6.45 and $1.1 bil respectively. By 2016, digital cable will reap $17.3 bil, followed by DTH with $10.3 bil, IPTV with $5.4 bil and analogue cable with $4.2 bil. China will provide 296 mil pay-TV households and India 133 mil. Pay-TV penetration will be higher in South Korea (91%) and Hong Kong (85%). Legitimate pay TV penetration will be lowest in Indonesia (7%), with the Philippines and Thailand the next lowest, with 23% each.
EVENTS
=> The 2012 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals will be back on Chinese soil after a decade since the city of Guangzhou hosted the 2002 edition of the championships. Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, has been named the host city for the prestigious biennial team championships. The Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals 2012 will take place on 20-27 May 2012. Two bids were received – from Chinese Badminton Association and Indonesia Badminton Association – by the BWF for the hosting right of the Thomas Cup & Uber Cup Finals 2012.
BIZ & BITES
=> Commercial rights revenue of F1 will double to $3.3 bil by 2016, a 105% increase on 2010’s total revenue of 1.6 bil, according to industry monitor, Formula Money. F1 revenues are predicted to rise 12.7% a year, reaching $3.3 bil in 5 years’ and passing the $2-bil mark for the first time next year. Race hosting fees are expected to be a key area of expansion, with fees for hosting a race reaching $100 mil before the end of the decade. Race hosting fees presently stand at $50 mil. Other revenue sources are TV rights, trackside advertising, hospitality and sponsorship. Meanwhile, team sponsorship is set to rise again this year after falling to $802 mil in 2010, the fourth fall in 5 years. At the start of this season, teams’ sponsorship total had risen to $887 mil.
=> Two Korean golfers have been fined for skipping a Korean Golf Tour event to play in the more lucrative OneAsia series instead. Kim Dae-hyun and Kim Bi-o had written to the Korean Golf Tour for permission to take part in OneAsia’s $1-mil China Masters. Permission was denied but they took part regardless, incurring fines of Won 5 mil ($4,600) each. The Asian Tour has taken a hard line against the OneAsia series, launched in 2009, banning players from competing in the alternative tour’s events and accusing its rival of stealing tournaments. OneAsia is marketed by World Sport Group while the Asia Tour’s rights are brokered by IMG, which took over from World Sport Group, the distributor of the rights until the end of 2008.
=> The DFB is expecting a high level of competition in Germany for the rights to the DFB Pokal, the knockout clubs competition when the tender process launches. Broadcast rights until the end of 2011/12 season are held by pubcasters ARD & ZDF and pay-TV Sky Deutschland. Commercial broadcaster Sat.1 could bid aggressively for the DFB Pokal rights after losing its rights to UEFA Champions League 2012/13 onwards to ZDF. ARD & ZDF recently renewed rights to Germany’s international home games, women’s team's home games, third-tier 3.Liga and the Frauen Bundesliga in a 4-year deal worth €175 mil ($255.8 mil). ARD & ZDF’s current deal with DFB (until 2011/12 season) for Germany’s home games (including all home qualifiers), the DFB Pokal, the 3. Liga and the Frauen Bundesliga (women's league) is thought to be worth €80 mil /season, while Sky Deutschland pays €18 mil /season for rights to all 63 DFB Pokal matches /season.
=> Pay-TV DirecTV Colombia has acquired live pay-TV rights to the domestic top flight Liga Postobón, second tier Torneo Postobón and the annual cup competition. The deal runs 2012 to 2016 and includes 9 weekly live matches. The rights fee is an increase on the 5-yr, $17-mil ($3.4 mil /season) deal currently running from 2007 to 2011, held by rivals Telmex and Une. Commercial broadcaster RCN also renewed its deal for two weekly free-to-air Liga Postobón matches for $12 mil over 5 seasons, up from $10 mil it pays presently. The Liga Postobón presently earns $4.4 mil /season in media rights fees; $1 mil annually from RCN and $3.4 mil /season from the Telmex-Une. The League believes it should be earning at least 3 times that amount, particularly with high level of pay-TV penetration; there are over 3.5 mil pay-TV subs in Colombia, with an average audience share of 38.7%.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Kolkata-based broadcaster Mahuaa Media Pvt Ltd secured rights to the Brazilian Football League in India for the first time. Total Sports Asia owns rights for the BFL in India and sold regional rights to Mahuaa Media, which will broadcast the Brazilian Football League on its channels, Mahuaa Bangla and Mahuaa Khobor. The current season of the Brazilian Football League kicked off on 21 May and runs till the last week of December. Two games per week, on Saturdays and Sundays, will be broadcast along with the 30 minutes weekly with the highlights show on ‘Footbrazil’.
=> Indonesia’s pubcaster, TVRI, has signed a 2-year rights deal to show sepak takraw’s international events calendar, beginning with the inaugural ISTAF World Cup. The deal was brokered by UFA Sports Asia on behalf of the Int. Sepak Takraw Federation. TVRI, with a reach of 40 mil households, will show live coverage and highlights from the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, followed by the first two seasons of the ISTAF Super Series. The Super Series consists of 5 tournaments staged in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iran and China. UFA Sports said that the ISTAF World Cup will be broadcast in 66 territories, with a potential "global TV audience in excess of 750 million viewers."
STATS & DATA
=> A report has predicted that Digital TV penetration will rise from 29% in 2010 to 73% by 2016. Digital TV Research says this growth represents 92 mil new homes for a total of 400 mil. China and India will dominate regional growth together making up 608 mil TV households, or 73% of the total by 2016 and also 467 mil, 77%, of digital TV homes. Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, are also primed for rapid digital TV growth; by 2016, these five will have 127 mil TV households combined, but only 38% digital and 24% pay-TV penetration. Of the 388 mil digital homes added between 2010 and 2016, 188 mil will come from cable; 85 mil from pay-IPTV; 68 mil from DTT; and 29 mil from pay DTH. Pay-TV penetration will rise from 49% in 2010 to 63% in 2016, adding 156 mil subs to take the total to 522 mil. By end 2010, $12.2 bil of $26.9 bil revenues were attributable to analogue cable TV sources, with digital cable, DTH and IPTV weighing with $7.1, $6.45 and $1.1 bil respectively. By 2016, digital cable will reap $17.3 bil, followed by DTH with $10.3 bil, IPTV with $5.4 bil and analogue cable with $4.2 bil. China will provide 296 mil pay-TV households and India 133 mil. Pay-TV penetration will be higher in South Korea (91%) and Hong Kong (85%). Legitimate pay TV penetration will be lowest in Indonesia (7%), with the Philippines and Thailand the next lowest, with 23% each.
EVENTS
=> The 2012 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals will be back on Chinese soil after a decade since the city of Guangzhou hosted the 2002 edition of the championships. Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, has been named the host city for the prestigious biennial team championships. The Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals 2012 will take place on 20-27 May 2012. Two bids were received – from Chinese Badminton Association and Indonesia Badminton Association – by the BWF for the hosting right of the Thomas Cup & Uber Cup Finals 2012.
BIZ & BITES
=> Commercial rights revenue of F1 will double to $3.3 bil by 2016, a 105% increase on 2010’s total revenue of 1.6 bil, according to industry monitor, Formula Money. F1 revenues are predicted to rise 12.7% a year, reaching $3.3 bil in 5 years’ and passing the $2-bil mark for the first time next year. Race hosting fees are expected to be a key area of expansion, with fees for hosting a race reaching $100 mil before the end of the decade. Race hosting fees presently stand at $50 mil. Other revenue sources are TV rights, trackside advertising, hospitality and sponsorship. Meanwhile, team sponsorship is set to rise again this year after falling to $802 mil in 2010, the fourth fall in 5 years. At the start of this season, teams’ sponsorship total had risen to $887 mil.
=> Two Korean golfers have been fined for skipping a Korean Golf Tour event to play in the more lucrative OneAsia series instead. Kim Dae-hyun and Kim Bi-o had written to the Korean Golf Tour for permission to take part in OneAsia’s $1-mil China Masters. Permission was denied but they took part regardless, incurring fines of Won 5 mil ($4,600) each. The Asian Tour has taken a hard line against the OneAsia series, launched in 2009, banning players from competing in the alternative tour’s events and accusing its rival of stealing tournaments. OneAsia is marketed by World Sport Group while the Asia Tour’s rights are brokered by IMG, which took over from World Sport Group, the distributor of the rights until the end of 2008.
Monday, 6th June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Roland-Garros’ European TV rights for 2012-16 have been awarded to MP & Silva. European TV rights to the tennis tournament, whose price currently amounts to €15 million a year, had previously been owned by Eurosport. The FFT decision is a blow to the EBU, the consortium of European broadcasters led by Eurosport, whose major argument is to reach more than 120 mil households. TV rights remain the main source of cash for the French Open, representing 33.5% of total revenues equaling €47.5 million. 90 channels currently broadcast 6500 hours of matches into 214 countries to some 3 bil viewers. The FFT’s present 4-year, €56-mil ($81.1-mil) deal with EBU runs 2008 to 2011 representing a 69% increase in value on the previous deal.
=> Spanish top-flight side, Malaga, has called on Barcelona and Real Madrid to agree to fairer distribution of TVrevenue or face the prospect of playing "in a boring league." Real Madrid and Barcelona are set to earn close to €125 mil ($181 mil) each per season through to 2013-14, allowing them to afford transfer fees and wages commanded by the best players. The next two clubs, Atlético de Madrid and Valencia, will only earn close to €50 mil per season.
=> Super Sport SA has expressed concern about quality of TV production of the Ghana Premier League. Super Sports is not impressed with television production currently being provided by Optimum Media Prime, right holders of the Glo Premier League. OMP secured TV production and broadcast rights to the League in April 2009, in a deal worth GH¢1.7 mil (US$1,133 mil) with the GFA for two-and-half years. The South African-based OMP has recently signed lucrative deals with other leagues around Africa: Football Association of Zambia’s (FAZ) 3-year deal worth US$850,000 /year, Uganda Super League’s 5-year $5m broadcasting right deal and, Kenyan Premier League’s $11 mil dollars deal for the next 5 years.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> ESPN has launched ESPN HD on SKY NZ and ESPN3.com on ISKY in New Zealand, offering live and exclusive coverage of the ATP World Tour, NBA, NFL, MLB, European football and rugby, college sports, action sports and thousands of hours of news and information programming. ESPN3.com will be the online home for live and On Demand sports video available to SKY Sport subscribers with multiroom , delivering exclusive access to more than 2500 live events each year. ESPN3.com offers exclusive access to live online coverage of games that are not broadcast anywhere in NZ and simulcasts of games on ESPN and ESPN HD. ESPN3.com’s new video player allows users to participate in social networking features such as Facebook live stream conversations with friends and other fans who are watching ESPN3.com events.
STATS & DATA
=> Rising content acquisition cost is the biggest concern for Asia Pacific pay-TV platforms, according to CASBAA, followed by cost of distribution and the regulatory environment. CASBAA says 71.4% of respondents listed content costs are their big concern for this year, and 72% said that 2011 would be better than last year. The biggest threats to the Asia-Pac pay-TV business in 2011, are regulatory issues and piracy. Other concerns include increasing prominence of telcos in the pay-TV space, content exclusivity demands by dominant players and IPTV. Queried about upcoming investments, the respondents' top answers were increased content/channels and expansion/acquisition in current markets.
=> By 2015 there will be more connected TV sets than people in the world, Intel has predicted at the Spanish Association of Interactive TV Companies (AEDETI). In 4 years, there will be some half million content hours available for interactivity and nearly 15,000 mil TV sets connected through the internet. Yet, Intel assured that TV will carry on being the centre of life in the homes but with a big difference than at present since it will not be TV as we all know it but much more informative.
EVENTS
=> The Indian Grand Prix is now confirmed to be held as the final event in the 2011 FIA calendar in Dec and will combine the FIA Annual General Meeting and the annual prize giving gala. FIA says that the Bahrain Grand Prix is now confirmed for Oct 30 and India will host its event in Dec, but does not specify a date. The Indian Grand Prix 2012 has been slotted for Oct 28 next year. The FIA has also announced the calendar for the 2012 season in which, subject to confirmation, the Bahrain Grand Prix returns to the opening spot, with a date of Mar 11, meaning that Bahrain is in line to host two F1 races in the space four months.
=> Baseball’s IBAF expressed delight that the World Baseball Classic national team competition organised by Major League Baseball, will introduce a 16-team qualifying round ahead of the 2013 tournament. The IBAF has no direct involvement in the running or format of the World Baseball Classic, is enthused at the MLB’s efforts to expand the sport's global appeal. 28 nations will compete in the 2013 WBC, of which 16 will play in the tournament proper. 12 countries have qualified for the WBC based on performances at the 2009 tournament, and that they will be joined by four group winners from the new qualifying round, which takes place in 2012. Canada, Taiwan, Panama and South Africa will compete in the play-off round after failing to win a match in the 2009 WBC, while Israel, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines will be among the first-time participants.
=> PowerPlay Golf driven by Saab: Ignition, the first event in a new short-format golf concept aimed at revolutionising the sport for broadcasters and attracting a younger generation of fans, culminated with a win for Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall and an enthusiastic reception from a field that included names such as Gary Player, Paula Creamer, Ian Poulter, John Daley, Ian Woosnam and Helen Alfredsson. Hailed as golf’s Twenty20, PowerPlay Golf is played over nine holes, with 2 flags on every green. Golfers score extra points by taking a limited number of ‘PowerPlays’ to the harder black flag, “creating exciting risk-and-reward decisions on each tee.” PowerPlay Golf, the company behind the format which has already been piloted in 30 countries over the past three years, has teamed up with IMG to televise the series.
=> Roland-Garros’ European TV rights for 2012-16 have been awarded to MP & Silva. European TV rights to the tennis tournament, whose price currently amounts to €15 million a year, had previously been owned by Eurosport. The FFT decision is a blow to the EBU, the consortium of European broadcasters led by Eurosport, whose major argument is to reach more than 120 mil households. TV rights remain the main source of cash for the French Open, representing 33.5% of total revenues equaling €47.5 million. 90 channels currently broadcast 6500 hours of matches into 214 countries to some 3 bil viewers. The FFT’s present 4-year, €56-mil ($81.1-mil) deal with EBU runs 2008 to 2011 representing a 69% increase in value on the previous deal.
=> Spanish top-flight side, Malaga, has called on Barcelona and Real Madrid to agree to fairer distribution of TVrevenue or face the prospect of playing "in a boring league." Real Madrid and Barcelona are set to earn close to €125 mil ($181 mil) each per season through to 2013-14, allowing them to afford transfer fees and wages commanded by the best players. The next two clubs, Atlético de Madrid and Valencia, will only earn close to €50 mil per season.
=> Super Sport SA has expressed concern about quality of TV production of the Ghana Premier League. Super Sports is not impressed with television production currently being provided by Optimum Media Prime, right holders of the Glo Premier League. OMP secured TV production and broadcast rights to the League in April 2009, in a deal worth GH¢1.7 mil (US$1,133 mil) with the GFA for two-and-half years. The South African-based OMP has recently signed lucrative deals with other leagues around Africa: Football Association of Zambia’s (FAZ) 3-year deal worth US$850,000 /year, Uganda Super League’s 5-year $5m broadcasting right deal and, Kenyan Premier League’s $11 mil dollars deal for the next 5 years.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> ESPN has launched ESPN HD on SKY NZ and ESPN3.com on ISKY in New Zealand, offering live and exclusive coverage of the ATP World Tour, NBA, NFL, MLB, European football and rugby, college sports, action sports and thousands of hours of news and information programming. ESPN3.com will be the online home for live and On Demand sports video available to SKY Sport subscribers with multiroom , delivering exclusive access to more than 2500 live events each year. ESPN3.com offers exclusive access to live online coverage of games that are not broadcast anywhere in NZ and simulcasts of games on ESPN and ESPN HD. ESPN3.com’s new video player allows users to participate in social networking features such as Facebook live stream conversations with friends and other fans who are watching ESPN3.com events.
STATS & DATA
=> Rising content acquisition cost is the biggest concern for Asia Pacific pay-TV platforms, according to CASBAA, followed by cost of distribution and the regulatory environment. CASBAA says 71.4% of respondents listed content costs are their big concern for this year, and 72% said that 2011 would be better than last year. The biggest threats to the Asia-Pac pay-TV business in 2011, are regulatory issues and piracy. Other concerns include increasing prominence of telcos in the pay-TV space, content exclusivity demands by dominant players and IPTV. Queried about upcoming investments, the respondents' top answers were increased content/channels and expansion/acquisition in current markets.
=> By 2015 there will be more connected TV sets than people in the world, Intel has predicted at the Spanish Association of Interactive TV Companies (AEDETI). In 4 years, there will be some half million content hours available for interactivity and nearly 15,000 mil TV sets connected through the internet. Yet, Intel assured that TV will carry on being the centre of life in the homes but with a big difference than at present since it will not be TV as we all know it but much more informative.
EVENTS
=> The Indian Grand Prix is now confirmed to be held as the final event in the 2011 FIA calendar in Dec and will combine the FIA Annual General Meeting and the annual prize giving gala. FIA says that the Bahrain Grand Prix is now confirmed for Oct 30 and India will host its event in Dec, but does not specify a date. The Indian Grand Prix 2012 has been slotted for Oct 28 next year. The FIA has also announced the calendar for the 2012 season in which, subject to confirmation, the Bahrain Grand Prix returns to the opening spot, with a date of Mar 11, meaning that Bahrain is in line to host two F1 races in the space four months.
=> Baseball’s IBAF expressed delight that the World Baseball Classic national team competition organised by Major League Baseball, will introduce a 16-team qualifying round ahead of the 2013 tournament. The IBAF has no direct involvement in the running or format of the World Baseball Classic, is enthused at the MLB’s efforts to expand the sport's global appeal. 28 nations will compete in the 2013 WBC, of which 16 will play in the tournament proper. 12 countries have qualified for the WBC based on performances at the 2009 tournament, and that they will be joined by four group winners from the new qualifying round, which takes place in 2012. Canada, Taiwan, Panama and South Africa will compete in the play-off round after failing to win a match in the 2009 WBC, while Israel, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines will be among the first-time participants.
=> PowerPlay Golf driven by Saab: Ignition, the first event in a new short-format golf concept aimed at revolutionising the sport for broadcasters and attracting a younger generation of fans, culminated with a win for Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall and an enthusiastic reception from a field that included names such as Gary Player, Paula Creamer, Ian Poulter, John Daley, Ian Woosnam and Helen Alfredsson. Hailed as golf’s Twenty20, PowerPlay Golf is played over nine holes, with 2 flags on every green. Golfers score extra points by taking a limited number of ‘PowerPlays’ to the harder black flag, “creating exciting risk-and-reward decisions on each tee.” PowerPlay Golf, the company behind the format which has already been piloted in 30 countries over the past three years, has teamed up with IMG to televise the series.
Friday, 3rd June 2011
RIGHTS FEES
=> Spain’s Athletic Bilbao has signed a media rights deal with Prisa TV for 3 seasons starting with 2012/13 season. The deal will earn an average of €33 mil /season, making it the fifth highest-paid La Liga club after Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid and Valencia, just ahead of Sevilla (which signed a deal last week for €30 mil /season with Mediapro). Regional pubcaster, Telemadrid, acquired rights to Atlético de Madrid and Getafe in 2008 for €42 mil and €18 mil /season, respectively, from 2009-10 to 2013-14 but finally ceded rights to Mediapro. Mediapro and Prisa have been locked in a bitter dispute over club media rights, with dozens of lawsuits filed over the past 3 years.
=> The football match between Egypt and South Africa in Cairo this weekend may not be broadcast live. South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has revealed that Sport Five – owners of broadcast rights for the match – is demanding at least €500 000 (approx. R5-mil) from SABC for the qualifier. In October 2010, SABC also failed to broadcast Bafana’s match away to Sierra Leone, a match which was also held by Sport Five and both could not agree terms with. At the time, SAFA, whose contract with the SABC expired in March this year, expressed their dissatisfaction with the public broadcaster for failing to air the match. However, SAFA is aware of the SABC’s struggles with Sport Five regarding the Egypt match and are speaking to CAF to resolve the issue.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Motor racing’s Superleague Formula Nations Cup has signed broadcast deals that means it will be available in over 400 mil homes worldwide when it begins its fourth season in The Netherlands this weekend. Races will be streamed live on the series’ website, and via several online partnerships. Race coverage is produced by Endemol Sport. Live package comprises of two 40-minute races, separated by a 20-min gap, “in which the broadcasters will have full live access to the drama and emotion of the pit garages as crews and drivers prepare for the second race.” SF said that there would also be races in Belgium, Russia, Brazil, China, the Middle East and New Zealand, subject to contract and approval from the FIA.
=> China’s CCTV will cover this year’s Universiade in Shenzhen, in 6 languages: Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian. CCTV, exclusive rights holder to the games in China, will cover the opening and closing ceremonies live. City authorities have announced a 7-day holiday in Shenzhen during the games, in a bid to ensure that transport runs smoothly. The games are scheduled for Aug 12 to 23, 2011. Meanwhile, medals in 27 sports will be offered at the following summer Universiade, in Kazan, Russia, in 2013. Six new sports are included for the first time: badminton, chess, belt wrestling, rugby sevens, sambo and beach volleyball.
STATS & DATA
=> Wi-Fi Direct, provider of device-to-device connections without a traditional network, is forecast to be enabled on nearly 80 mil digital TVs by 2015, In-Stat predicts. The report, Wi-Fi Direct: It's All About the Software, says that mobile PCs will adopt Wi-Fi Direct quicker than any other application. Total shipments for Wi-Fi Direct-enabled devices will reach 173 million this year. Looking ahead, In-Stat predicts that every PC, consumer-electronics device and mobile phone that ships in 2014 with Wi-Fi silicon will be Wi-Fi Direct-enabled.
=> The latest Cisco Visual Networking Index is projecting global Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015 with online video the key driver. Indeed the Visual Networking Index (VNI) for (2010-15) also predicts that in five years, 1 million minutes of internet video will be transmitted per second. By 2015, there will be nearly 15 bil network connections via devices, more than two connections for each person on earth. The huge uptake of tablets, mobile phones, connected appliances and other smart machines is driving up the demand for connectivity. The VNI shows in 2010, PCs generated 97% of consumer Internet traffic but its share will fall to 87% by 2015. The survey pinpoints growing contribution to traffic from connected TV sets with Web-enabled TV connections expected to rise significantly by 2015, representing a tenth of global consumer Internet traffic and 18% online video traffic.
EVENTS
=> The International Tennis Federation and the ATP have agreed to award men’s singles ranking points the 2012 Olympic Games to be played at Wimbledon. It will be the fourth successive Olympic Games where men have received ranking points. As a result, ATP rankings of 11 June 2012 will be used to determine the 56 direct entries in the 64-player men’s singles draw, subject to a max of 4 players per country as well as other eligibility requirements. 6 of the remaining eight places will be selected by the ITF and two ‘tripartite commission invitations’ decided by IOC, national OCs and ITF. ATP rankings will also be used to determine the 24 direct entries in the 32-pair doubles draw. The remaining eight pairs will be selected by the ITF’s Olympic Committee.
BIZ & BITES
=> FIFA’s newly re-elected president says that the federation had been in contact with two main sponsors who voiced concerns over recent scandals, but insisted that they had not threatened to pull out. Sepp Blatter's did not reveal which companies Fifa had spoken with, saying: "Nobody has said they would withdraw, they were only a little bit concerned. I'm sure after the decisions taken and the direct dialogue, they will be happy to go on with us, not only for the World Cup but for the other competitions around the world."
=> Spain’s Athletic Bilbao has signed a media rights deal with Prisa TV for 3 seasons starting with 2012/13 season. The deal will earn an average of €33 mil /season, making it the fifth highest-paid La Liga club after Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid and Valencia, just ahead of Sevilla (which signed a deal last week for €30 mil /season with Mediapro). Regional pubcaster, Telemadrid, acquired rights to Atlético de Madrid and Getafe in 2008 for €42 mil and €18 mil /season, respectively, from 2009-10 to 2013-14 but finally ceded rights to Mediapro. Mediapro and Prisa have been locked in a bitter dispute over club media rights, with dozens of lawsuits filed over the past 3 years.
=> The football match between Egypt and South Africa in Cairo this weekend may not be broadcast live. South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has revealed that Sport Five – owners of broadcast rights for the match – is demanding at least €500 000 (approx. R5-mil) from SABC for the qualifier. In October 2010, SABC also failed to broadcast Bafana’s match away to Sierra Leone, a match which was also held by Sport Five and both could not agree terms with. At the time, SAFA, whose contract with the SABC expired in March this year, expressed their dissatisfaction with the public broadcaster for failing to air the match. However, SAFA is aware of the SABC’s struggles with Sport Five regarding the Egypt match and are speaking to CAF to resolve the issue.
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> Motor racing’s Superleague Formula Nations Cup has signed broadcast deals that means it will be available in over 400 mil homes worldwide when it begins its fourth season in The Netherlands this weekend. Races will be streamed live on the series’ website, and via several online partnerships. Race coverage is produced by Endemol Sport. Live package comprises of two 40-minute races, separated by a 20-min gap, “in which the broadcasters will have full live access to the drama and emotion of the pit garages as crews and drivers prepare for the second race.” SF said that there would also be races in Belgium, Russia, Brazil, China, the Middle East and New Zealand, subject to contract and approval from the FIA.
=> China’s CCTV will cover this year’s Universiade in Shenzhen, in 6 languages: Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian. CCTV, exclusive rights holder to the games in China, will cover the opening and closing ceremonies live. City authorities have announced a 7-day holiday in Shenzhen during the games, in a bid to ensure that transport runs smoothly. The games are scheduled for Aug 12 to 23, 2011. Meanwhile, medals in 27 sports will be offered at the following summer Universiade, in Kazan, Russia, in 2013. Six new sports are included for the first time: badminton, chess, belt wrestling, rugby sevens, sambo and beach volleyball.
STATS & DATA
=> Wi-Fi Direct, provider of device-to-device connections without a traditional network, is forecast to be enabled on nearly 80 mil digital TVs by 2015, In-Stat predicts. The report, Wi-Fi Direct: It's All About the Software, says that mobile PCs will adopt Wi-Fi Direct quicker than any other application. Total shipments for Wi-Fi Direct-enabled devices will reach 173 million this year. Looking ahead, In-Stat predicts that every PC, consumer-electronics device and mobile phone that ships in 2014 with Wi-Fi silicon will be Wi-Fi Direct-enabled.
=> The latest Cisco Visual Networking Index is projecting global Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015 with online video the key driver. Indeed the Visual Networking Index (VNI) for (2010-15) also predicts that in five years, 1 million minutes of internet video will be transmitted per second. By 2015, there will be nearly 15 bil network connections via devices, more than two connections for each person on earth. The huge uptake of tablets, mobile phones, connected appliances and other smart machines is driving up the demand for connectivity. The VNI shows in 2010, PCs generated 97% of consumer Internet traffic but its share will fall to 87% by 2015. The survey pinpoints growing contribution to traffic from connected TV sets with Web-enabled TV connections expected to rise significantly by 2015, representing a tenth of global consumer Internet traffic and 18% online video traffic.
EVENTS
=> The International Tennis Federation and the ATP have agreed to award men’s singles ranking points the 2012 Olympic Games to be played at Wimbledon. It will be the fourth successive Olympic Games where men have received ranking points. As a result, ATP rankings of 11 June 2012 will be used to determine the 56 direct entries in the 64-player men’s singles draw, subject to a max of 4 players per country as well as other eligibility requirements. 6 of the remaining eight places will be selected by the ITF and two ‘tripartite commission invitations’ decided by IOC, national OCs and ITF. ATP rankings will also be used to determine the 24 direct entries in the 32-pair doubles draw. The remaining eight pairs will be selected by the ITF’s Olympic Committee.
BIZ & BITES
=> FIFA’s newly re-elected president says that the federation had been in contact with two main sponsors who voiced concerns over recent scandals, but insisted that they had not threatened to pull out. Sepp Blatter's did not reveal which companies Fifa had spoken with, saying: "Nobody has said they would withdraw, they were only a little bit concerned. I'm sure after the decisions taken and the direct dialogue, they will be happy to go on with us, not only for the World Cup but for the other competitions around the world."
Thursday, 2nd June 2011
BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION
=> In a deal with Endemol Sport, FOX Soccer becomes the exclusive home of the Dublin Super Cup in the U.S., Canada and across the Caribbean, starting with the inaugural 2011 tournament through 2013. This new pre-season tournament debuts in July, with squads of Manchester City, Inter Milan, Celtic and a League of Ireland XI. The deal follows on Endemol Sport striking a 3-year partnership with Sky Sports for the Dublin Super Cup for the U.K. and Ireland. Further deals are to be announced in due course, to bring the tournament into more than 100 territories across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas.
=> Broadcast rights for the Southeast Asian Games 2011 are offered free to broadcasters in participating countries, as host Indonesia bids to gain exposure for the country to offset the loss of potential TV rights revenue. Laos had also offered the rights free of charge to participating countries for the last edition of the games in 2009. This year’s games, which are scheduled to be held in Jakarta and Palembang on November 11 to 25, will feature 542 events in 44 sports.
NEW MEDIA
=> The National Basketball Association (NBA) has formed a digital partnership with India’s Times Group in a measured effort to ramp up its fan connect. A dedicated NBA section on timesofindia.com will offer updates, latest news and scores. The announcement comes just ahead of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night with a marquee matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat, led by superstar Lebron James and for which Times Group journalists are being flown to the US to cover the action. The NBA section will offer daily video highlights, photo galleries and articles from NBA analysts which will reach over 12 million users per month.
BIZ & BITES
=> FIFA’s Newly re-elected president, Sepp Blatter, has proposed an overhaul of award process for the World Cup competition by deciding the venue through a poll of the 208 member associations, as opposed to the existing system of a vote by the 24 exco members. Blatter said the exco would provide a shortlist of candidates to host the World Cup to be voted on by the member associations. The move follows fierce criticism of the simultaneous bidding procedures for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments, which were awarded in December to Russia and Qatar respectively, which Blatter had already admitted was a mistake because it increased the chances of collusion.
=> In a deal with Endemol Sport, FOX Soccer becomes the exclusive home of the Dublin Super Cup in the U.S., Canada and across the Caribbean, starting with the inaugural 2011 tournament through 2013. This new pre-season tournament debuts in July, with squads of Manchester City, Inter Milan, Celtic and a League of Ireland XI. The deal follows on Endemol Sport striking a 3-year partnership with Sky Sports for the Dublin Super Cup for the U.K. and Ireland. Further deals are to be announced in due course, to bring the tournament into more than 100 territories across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas.
=> Broadcast rights for the Southeast Asian Games 2011 are offered free to broadcasters in participating countries, as host Indonesia bids to gain exposure for the country to offset the loss of potential TV rights revenue. Laos had also offered the rights free of charge to participating countries for the last edition of the games in 2009. This year’s games, which are scheduled to be held in Jakarta and Palembang on November 11 to 25, will feature 542 events in 44 sports.
NEW MEDIA
=> The National Basketball Association (NBA) has formed a digital partnership with India’s Times Group in a measured effort to ramp up its fan connect. A dedicated NBA section on timesofindia.com will offer updates, latest news and scores. The announcement comes just ahead of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night with a marquee matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat, led by superstar Lebron James and for which Times Group journalists are being flown to the US to cover the action. The NBA section will offer daily video highlights, photo galleries and articles from NBA analysts which will reach over 12 million users per month.
BIZ & BITES
=> FIFA’s Newly re-elected president, Sepp Blatter, has proposed an overhaul of award process for the World Cup competition by deciding the venue through a poll of the 208 member associations, as opposed to the existing system of a vote by the 24 exco members. Blatter said the exco would provide a shortlist of candidates to host the World Cup to be voted on by the member associations. The move follows fierce criticism of the simultaneous bidding procedures for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments, which were awarded in December to Russia and Qatar respectively, which Blatter had already admitted was a mistake because it increased the chances of collusion.