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."