Thursday, 21st July 2011

RIGHTS FEES

=>  Australia’s National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership are set to discuss their next broadcasting contract, aiming to match the record A$650 mil ($698 mil) deal over five years that the Australian Football League recently agreed with Foxtel. Pay-TV Foxtel’s present deal with NRL is worth A$42 mil /year for five live games a week, and clubs could continue with a mix of pay-TV and free-to-air coverage in the new contract or abandon pay-TV, in a bid to increase overall value of the deal. Rights are presently shared by Nine (paying about A$40 mil /season) and Fox Sports in deals that expire at the end of next season.

=>  German pubcaster, WDR, finally agreed to back an amended boxing rights deal signed between ARD and German promoter, Sauerland Event. Early 2010, ARD signed a deal with Sauerland for 2013 to 2015 worth around €54 mil ($76.5 mil) but sparked controversy led by WDR, among regional pubcasters, that form part of the ARD network. WDR now backs a reduced 2-yr contract (2013 to 2014) between ARD and Sauerland, with the number of fights and the rights fee reduced, plus a one-sided contract extension option relinquished. WDR described the new deal as "an acceptable compromise." The influential WDR council had questioned the value of showing boxing and were said to be annoyed that they were only aware of the contract with Sauerland a year after it was signed.

=>  The French Trophée des Champions will be broadcast in 77 countries, an increase of 25 countries from the year. The match between Lille and Marseille takes place in the Tangier, Morocco and LFP is claiming record international distribution. The LFP says the 77 include USA, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Russia and Slovakia. The game will be broadcast across N. Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East. Coverage of Ligue 1 also increased for 2010/11, with Canal Plus Events signing a range of deals, including agreements in Indonesia (O Channel), Japan (J-Sports), Hong Kong (Now TV) and Burma (Skynet). Ligue 1 is now broadcast by 80 broadcasters in 180 countries across the world with commentary in 54 different languages. Canal Plus Events had raised €24 mil ($34 mil) in rights revenue for Ligue 1 for 2010/11.


BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION

=>  The Women’s Tennis Association is set to launch a tender for international media rights for its 22 top-tier Premier tournaments as well as the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships for four years beginning in 2013. The process will be managed by Evolution Media Capital, a part of sports agency CAA Sports. EMC will act as ‘independent advisor’ to the WTA through the process, the same way it advised ice hockey's NHL in its recent tender, resulting in the league bypassing ESPN International, its long-standing partner for international media rights, and awarding the contract to Advisers Media International and Medge Consulting.


STATS & DATA

=>  Research by Mobile Interactive Group revealed opportunities in social media and participation TV services. In a white paper on trends and opportunities in participation TV (P-TV), MIG believes it uncovered key technological and behavioral insights to the P-TV value chain. Mobile will become the main vehicle for interaction between viewer and broadcaster, with 40% of mobile users most likely to be multi-tasking using their phone while watching TV. Smartphone adoption will drive TV and mobile multi-tasking in UK and US, creating a more engaged audience, and significantly increasing programme interaction. Facebook will drive a shift in interactive audience behavior away from calls and text with these channels becoming peripheral in the long term. Interactive events via Facebook are expected to generate $51.7 mil (£32.04 mil) in the UK by 2012 and $2.9 bil globally by 2016.


BIZ & BITES

=>  Rupert Murdoch’s position at News Corporation could be at risk with rumours that Chase Carey, News Corp’s chief operating officer, being lined up to replace the octogenarian, following the phone-hacking scandal that hit its News International subsidiary. However, members of the News Corp board have denied discussing the succession. In front of a select committee of the UK parliament, Murdoch said that he is not resigning, with his family owning 39.8% of voting shares in the media empire. News Corp controls or has a stake in pay-TV sports broadcasters around the world, including Fox Sports in various countries, ESPN Star Sports in Asia, British Sky Broadcasting in the UK, Sky Deutschland in Germany and Sky Italia in Italy.