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.