Friday, 29th July 2011

RIGHTS FEES

=>  Pitch Int. has been retained by English Football League to distribute international rights to for 5 years beginning 2012/13. The league said that the “record five-year overseas broadcasting deal” had been concluded after a “highly competitive sales process.” Pitch sold rights in Middle East in the present 3-yr period, expiring at end 2011/12, with IMG handling rights in other regions outside the UK and Ireland. However, the Carling Cup (and the 3 lower divisions), has returned to having a single agency partner for the worldwide distribution of rights. Previous overseas rights deals were worth £24 mil ($39 mil) over 3 seasons covering 96 countries. The longer-term international deal will help compensate for a decline in the value of its UK media rights after the declined to extend live rights beyond the 2011/12. British Sky Broadcasting agreed to pay £195 mil for exclusive UK live rights to the Football League and Carling Cup for 2012/13 to 14/15 compared with the £264 mil the clubs share in the current 3-yr deal with BSkyB and the BBC.

=>  UK’s ITV, holders of rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, is to show the matches live via iPhones and iPads, allowing UK viewers to watch games on their way to work, due to time-difference. The Rugby World Cup is scheduled for September 9 to October 23. This was revealed as ITV revealed an 86% rise in half-year profits to £204 mil ($334 mil). The increase came even though ad revenues were down 6% in the second quarter. Revenues from Jan to Jun rose to £1.03 bil from £987 mil.


BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION

=>  Endemol Sport, organiser of the Dublin Super Cup, announced that the friendly tournament will be broadcast to over 160 territories worldwide through agreements for over 20 new broadcast deals. The inaugural tournament takes place in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium over the Irish Bank Holiday weekend and was launched as a result of a 10-year deal struck in 2010 between Endemol Sport and The Football Association of Ireland. The first tournament will feature England's Manchester City, Italy's Internazionale, Scotland's Celtic and a team representing the Airtricity League of Ireland. Endemol Sports previously signed 3-yr broadcast deals with Sky Sports in the UK, Fox Soccer in USA and SuperSport in Africa. Further deals have now been reached around the globe taking the total number of broadcasters to over 25.


EVENTS

=>  Nimbus Sport, marketing for the Indian Hockey Federation, announced plans to invest Rs 2.5 bil (US$56.5 mil) in the World Series Hockey, but which is yet to be officially sanctioned by the International Hockey Federation. The announcement comes after the confirmation of eight franchises agreeing to participate in the 5-wk event starting 15 Dec. The inaugural series will consist of 61 matches, with each teams playing 14 league matches. The tournament offers US$2 mil in prize money and will involve around 40 overseas players, with all of the players, captains and coaches distributed among the franchises via a draft system.

=>  FIFA is confident that Brazil will stage a successful World Cup in 2014 despite work still required on infrastructure. The federation has been critical of the pace of preparations, notably with regard to stadia and transport links. There were fears that Sao Paulo would be unable to provide a venue capable of hosting the opening match and other major fixtures at the World Cup, but Sao Paolo club Corinthians recently announced building a new R$820 mil ($528 mil) stadium which will serve this purpose. Meanwhile, the iconic Maracana Stadium is undergoing renovation to host the WC final, and the opening and closing ceremonies and soccer matches of the 2016 Olympics. The 2014 World Cup will take place from June 12 to July 13.


BIZ & BITES

=>  Revenues for cricket-related TV advertising in India exceeded INR 2,000 crore this year, with ad slots accounting for 20% of the total TV marketing budget in 2011. According to Financial Express, ad revenues of about INR 1,500 crore were generated by ICC Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournaments. The 5 top sports channels in 2010 cricket generated a total of INR 1,300 crore in ad revenue. With India’s tour of England, this year’s cricketing bonanza is set to continue on TV. ESPN Star Sports, rights holder for the England v India cricket series, has commitment worth INR 180-200 crore from over 40 brands. During the tour India and England will play four test matches, five one day internationals and one T20 game.

=>  FIFA has given Caribbean officials who attended a meeting in May at which bribes were allegedly offered by presidential candidate, Mohamed Bin Hammam, 48 hours to provide relevant and accurate information on the event. FIFA said that individuals who have information but fail to come forward “will be subject to the full range of sanctions.” On Saturday, Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, was banned for life from soccer after being found guilty on bribery charges. He is refusing to step down as AFC chief, although there have been calls for elections to appoint a replacement. China’s Zhang Jilong has been serving as acting AFC chief since Bin Hammam was suspended and AFC is set to discuss the leadership situation at a meeting on Friday.

=>  Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the European Club Association, upped the ante in a power struggle between the clubs and FIFA by calling for a “revolution” against the world body, suggesting that there could be a breakaway concerns are not addressed over corruption and fixture congestion. Rummenigge is exasperated at the scandals engulfing FIFA, saying: “It [football] is a nice game decided by people who are corrupt and I am ready for a revolution if that is the only way to come to a clean and serious football family.” The ECA represents over 200 European clubs and has raised concerns over the demands placed on international players, a theme taken on by Rummenigge, who pointed out that the EURO will expand to 24 teams in 2016, compared with 8 in 1980, and that the World Cup now involves 32 teams, up from 16 in the 1970s.

=>  Meanwhile, Sepp Blatter denies being too much influence in running of FIFA and the sport and pledges to oversee reforms over the next nine months to fight corruption. Blatter, head of FIFA since 1998, has been criticized by banned exco member, Mohd Bin Hammam and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of European Club Association, over his leadership, both claiming that he is resistant to change. Bin Hammam has accused Blatter of silencing people opposed to his way of running FIFA while Rummenigge questioned Blatter’s preparedness to clean up the sport. However, Blatter said that anti-corruption measures would be drawn up over the next months and the federation had been in contact with those working on anti-corruption systems with the United Nations.