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.