Friday, 8th July 2011

RIGHTS FEES

=>  Signed earlier this week, the 12-year deal that the All England Lawn Tennis Club made with Disney-owned ESPN to become exclusive US television broadcaster of Wimbledon until 2023, is now said to be worth in excess of £150 million ($239 million). ESPN had ousted Comcast-owned, NBC , for the tournament to which the network had held rights to for the last 43 years but lost out in the latest tender. Its 4-yr deal, which expired after this year's tournament, was worth $12 mil /year.

=>  The International Olympic Committee has now raised $3.2 bil from sale of TV rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics with deals still to be concluded in some major markets. The final total is likely to exceed $4 bil. The IOC signed new TV rights deals in Korea (SBS), Germany (ARD and ZDF) and France (France Télévisions) this week, complementing the $4.38-bil deal with US network NBC. The renewals in Korea and USA both cover four games (2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020). Sale of rights for Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 has generated $3.9 bil and the IOC has already raised $2.6 bil for PyeongChang 2018 and yet-unnamed 2020. The IOC earned $2.6 bil from sale of TV rights and $866 mil from sponsorship in the 4-year cycle including Turin 2006 and Beijing 2008. IOC finances were now “solid” with reserves at $592 mil, up from $563 mil at end 2010 and $466 mil at end 2009.


BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION

=>  Tiger Gate Entertainment expanded reach into the Philippines with the launch of its channels KIX and Thrill on SkyCable Basic. The partnership with SkyCable is in line with the company's expansion plans across APAC. It is already available in Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

=>  According to a 2011 EMS Summer Survey, pan-European Eurosport’s combined 55% reach across TV, online and mobile out-stripped nearest rivals MTV by 12% and Discovery and CNN by 3 % and 4% more respectively. Sport remains the key audience driver across categories ahead of news, with premium rights as a key audience driver. Also showing impressive growth was the company’s online and mobile TV strategies. Eurosport.com has a monthly reach of 7.2 mil, an increase in online reach of 8.5% over 2010. Eurosport.com's iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry apps are used by 2.2 mil Europeans monthly, up 13% on a year on year basis. The iPad news and results app, the only tablet product to date, has been downloaded over 400,000 times.

=>  Meanwhile, Eurosport will double its coverage of snooker coverage after signing a new rights deal with World Snooker which runs until 2016. Brokered by IMG Media, the deal for World Snooker events, will entail Eurosport showing 19 tournaments each season, up from 10 under the present deal. Eurosport, which has broadcast snooker since 2003, acquired exclusive TV and digital rights to broadcast on its Eurosport and Eurosport 2 channels, as well as on the Eurosport Player web TV service and mobile application.

=>  A new internet sports channel is to launch in the UK in September with a specific focus on streaming British sports events that do not command airtime on free-to-air networks. GBsport TV is being launched by Input Media, Convers Sports Initiatives, Telegraph Media Group and Kameleon, a brand engagement firm. It will stream around 1,400 hours of live sports coverage a year, initially on computers and smartphones, with the core sports set to include athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, handball, hockey, rowing, sailing, swimming, taekwondo, tennis and winter sports.

=>  As part of a strategy to build sports offerings in the UK, ESPN is taking up live coverage of the Winmau World Masters dart tournament. The 2011 Winmau World Masters will add to ESPN’s growing line-up of UK and international sport including the Barclays Premier League, UEFA Europa League, NFL’s Monday Night Football, NBA, UFC, AFL and French Top 14 rugby. ESPN will provide live and exclusive coverage from all 3 days of the British Darts Organisation’s (BDO’s) flagship tournament from 2–4 September. ESPN’s live televised darts coverage will be led by leading UK sports anchor Ray Stubbs.


NEW MEDIA

=>  Reacting to Google+ multi-user video chat option, Facebook launched a similar product in partnership with Skype. Facebook said: "We're making video chat available in over 70 different languages, so friends can stay in touch all over the world." Facebook has revamped chat design to include a sidebar that lists people that users message most. making it easier to start chatting. Facebook boasts 750 mil users globally and is leveraging partnerships and seeking new ones to avert user defection to rival social network sites, mainly Google+. Earlier this year, Warner Bros studio announced plans to offer movie rentals on Facebook for US$3.


EVENTS

=>  Johnson & Johnson has signed up as the last major sponsor for FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. J&J will be one of 8 second-tier ‘World Cup Sponsors’ with exclusive rights in the healthcare category. The deal also covers FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil in 2013. J&J was previously a TOP sponsor of the IOC for Beijing 2008, to which it committed over $73 mil, but had declined to extend its partnership after the games. Other second-level sponsors for Brazil 2014 are Anheuser-Busch, Castrol, Continental, Mahindra Satyam, McDonald’s, Seara and Yingli Green Energy.

=>  The World Squash Federation has enlisted sport-business consultants, Vero Communications to push its Olympic credentials. Vero, which is celebrating its client PyeongChang being named host of the 2018 winter Olympics, has been appointed as WSF's bid management company and will be tasked with promoting the sport as it aims to become part of the Olympic programme for the first time at the 2020 games. Squash was one of 8 sports on the 2020 shortlist released by the IOC earlier this week, along with baseball, karate, roller sports, softball, sports climbing, wakeboard and wushu.

=>  The Indonesian government has aloloted a budget of Rp2.533 tri ($300 mil) for the hosting of this year’s SEA Games. Alfian Malarangeng, the minister for youth and sport, said that the organising committee has a shortfall of Rp1.6 tri but that this could be compressed to Rp1.1 tri. He denied that this would lead to fewer sports events, saying: “We will stick to the number of sports. The efficiency would only impact on the number of volunteers, secretariat staffs and promotion cost.” As many as 43 sports will be included in the SEA Games to be held in Jakarta and Palembang from Nov 11 to 25.