Monday, 4th July 2011

RIGHTS FEES

=>  [Excerpt] India’s BCCI are worth £1.5 bil, making them one of the richest sports organisations in the world. A bulk of BCCI's money is in the sale of TV rights for India's matches and the Indian Premier League, which they own. The current rights for broadcasting India internationals is worth £315m, with negotiations for a new deal due to open next year. In 2008, BCCI sold TV rights for IPL to Sony/AXN for £1.1bn for a 10-yr period. This year, the BCCI has earned £80m in a 5-yr deal with Nike as their official kit supplier and a tie-up for the sale of media rights.

=>  [Excerpt] After the NBA announced the Jul 1 lockout, it faces a scuttled season potentially watching billions of dollars washed away, with no one taking a bigger hit than its TV partners. ESPN/ABC Sports and TNT stand to lose $1.25 bil in ad sales if the labor dispute negates the entire 2011-12 NBA campaign. According to Kantar Media, ESPN/ABC and TNT took in $417.7 mil in ad sales in the 2010 NBA playoffs and finals; the going rate for a 30-sec spot in the Celtics-Lakers series: $402,000 a pop. ESPN/ABC pays $485 mil /year for rights to air NBA games while TNT forks over $445 mil, totaling $930 mil /season, both TV contracts expire in 2016.

=>  ESPN is close to a deal with Wimbledon that would end NBC's 43-yr association with the event. Sources say that the All England Club has decided to sell its right to ESPN and will be announced soon. NBC's current 4-yr deal averages out to $13 mil /year and ended with the conclusion of this year's tournament. NBC, Fox and ESPN had been competing for rights over the past months. NBC has a good relationship with the All England Club, but the network has drawn criticism over the past several years for showing many Wimbledon matches on delay. With the pending move to ESPN, all matches will be carried live on cable.


BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION

=>  Neo Sports has acquired broadcast rights for Copa America for the Indian market. The tournament in Argentina from 2-24 July features 7 of 2010 World Cup's last eight: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, and Japan. Top players include Kaka, Júlio César, Robinho, Messi, Teves, Rafa Marquez, Claudio Pizarro Roque Santa Cruz and Cavani. The channel deployed a multi-media campaign using TV, print, internet and social media platforms to promote the league. It has also planned a slew of special programming around the event to heighten & enhance the viewer experience.

=>  French horse racing channel Equidia launches 13 Sep 2011 with twin channels Equidia Life and Equidia Live. With a €32 mil-budget, both channels replace the current Equidia Live dedicated to live horse races, bets and forecasts. Equidia Life is a lifestyle channel about those who live their work with horses. Both will be available on all satellite TV, cable TV, cable and IPTV operators. Equidia Live has also been launched in Belgium in Jun and will broadcast into Switzerland as well. Enriched with catch-up TV service EquidiaWatch, VOD platform EquidiaVideo, website Equidia.fr and present on social networks, Equidia’s contents are now available 24/24 on all platforms and digital devices. Equidia will also be active on the licensing and merchandising market.


STATS & DATA

=>  Pay-TV revenues, particularly in IPTV, will boom in Asia-Pac for telcos over the next 5 years, says ABI Research. “Pay TV and Broadband Markets in China, India, Japan and Asia-Pacific” forecasts regional service revenues from DSL, fibre broadband and IPTV to rise from $52.5 bil in 2010 to $79.5 bil in 2016. Significant revenue growth will come from fibre broadband and IPTV, offset slightly by some declines in broadband DSL. The telco sector is set for revenue growth of 51% but cable would see revenues dipping slightly by 3% from $51 bil to $49.5 bil. At the heart of the boom is shifting regulation that will tilt the balance of power between telcos and cable companies, especially in China and India.


EVENTS

=>  The Race of Champions, the stadium-based motor racing event, will return to Duesseldorf for a 2nd successive year in Dec, despite having originally lost out to Frankfurt in bidding to stage the race this year. Duesseldorf's Esprit Arena will host the event on Dec 3 and 4. International Media Productions was forced to find a new venue because of a clash of dates at Frankfurt's Commerzbank Arena with Eintracht Frankfurt, the second-tier 2. Bundesliga soccer club that plays at the ground. The Race of Champions had previously been staged at Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' stadium (2009), London's Wembley Stadium (2007 and 2008) and Paris' Stade de France (2004 to 2006).