Thursday, 4th August 2011

RIGHTS FEES

=>  UK’s BSkyB has extended exclusive live rights for English rugby’s Super League by 5 years until 2016. England’s Rugby Football League now extends their relationship with BSkyB’s to 21 years. BSkyB will show 70 live games, including all play off matches and the Grand Final, each season. The 5-yr deal is worth over £90 mil ($146 mil), meaning the 14 Super League clubs are set to earn £1.25 mil /year, a 12% increase on the current domestic broadcasting deal, expiring end 2011 season and is worth £50 mil over 3 years, with clubs earning £1.1 mil /year.


BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION

=>  Spain’s Liga ACB basketball league will air in Japan for the first time next season after MP & Silva signed a rights deal with pay-TV, Sky A. Sky A becomes the 5th in Asia to secure coverage of the league, following regional Chinese networks Guangzhou TV and Jiangsu TV, Singapore’s StarHub and Solar TV in the Philippines. There is also coverage in the Middle East and North Africa via Al Jazeera and in sub-Saharan Africa through Setanta Sports. The 2011-12 Liga ACB season starts in October.

=>  IEC in Sports has signed a deal to exclusively distribute international TV rights for basketball's FIBA Stankovic Continental Cup, the annual men's national team competition played in China. CCTV 5, a channel of the Chinese national broadcaster, will produce the feed for the tournament, which will be aired globally. New Zealand’s Sky Network has already secured rights to show all Kiwi games in the Stankovic Continental Cup, as well as the bronze medal game and final. The Stankovic Continental Cup was launched in 2005 to boost basketball in China and named in honour of Serbian Borislav Stankovic, FIBA's secretary general emeritus, for his significant contribution to the sport.

=>  Dubai's Orbit Showtime Network will broadcast Rugby World Cup 2011 in high definition in the Middle East and North Africa. The event in New Zealand kicks off on OSN Sports 1 HD on 9 Sep through to the final on 23 Oct. OSN's team of presenters for the tournament will be anchored by Jim Rosenthal and joined by former players including Jeremy Guscott, Scott Gibbs, Joost van der Westhuizen and Jonathan Davis. OSN will exclusively broadcast the Tri-Nations and Rugby World Cup 2011 warm-up matches through to 27 August before the start of the Rugby World Cup.

=>  Traffic Sports has secured deals in Belgium and Israel to air Argentinian home matches in the South American WC2014 Qualifiers with Belgian telecom, Telenet and Israel’s Charlton group. Early in 2011, Traffic also inked deals with Norway’s TV2 and sub-Saharan, Supersport in Africa. Argentina plays their first WC2014 qualifier in Oct against Chile, vs Bolivia (Nov), Ecuador (Jun 2012), Paraguay (Sep 2012), Uruguay (Oct 2012), Venezuela (Mar 2013), Colombia (Jun 2013) and Peru (Oct 2013).

=>  Meanwhile, rights in Portugal to the Copa Sudamericana, have been sold by Traffic to Benfica TV, the channel of Portuguese club Benfica, and sports agency. Benfica is on a rights buying spree for sports content as it bids to break the monopoly held in Portugal by sports broadcaster Sport TV. It has already acquired rights to 180 live and delayed club and national team matches in Europe taking place from this summer until Dec. Benfica TV is a basic channel available to over 1 mil TV households across Portugal. Sport TV already holds rights in Portugal to the Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil, the national cup competition in Brazil.


NEW MEDIA

=>  World Snooker has signed a 5-yr deal with Perform under which all professional tournaments will be streamed live online. A new website - www.liveworldsnooker.tv - has been launched to show all ranking event qualifiers and Players Tour Championship events. Qualifying matches for the ongoing Shanghai Masters are already being streamed on the website. Streaming will not be available in territories where live broadcasts of the tournaments are already available. Fans can sign up to the site starting with a basic subscription of £2.99 ($4.90) per month or £29.99 per year.


STATS & DATA

=>  Maria Sharapova was the highest-paid female athlete again in 2010, although she faces a challenge to her position from Chinese player Li Na. For the 7th straight year, Sharapova topped Forbes annual list despite not winning a 'grand slam' tournament since 2008. Sharapova's earnings, mostly from off-court endorsements, were estimated at $25 mil , double her nearest rival, Denmark's current world number one, Caroline Wozniacki. Li came 8th, with earnings of $8 mil last year, but is expected to earn six times as much by 2013 following a raft of new endorsement deals this year. Since the start of 2011, Li, represented by IMG, has signed seven sponsorship deals worth over $42 mil over a 3-yr period. Non-tennis players in the top 10 were US racing driver Danica Patrick (3rd place - $12 mil), South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna (7th) and US golfer Paula Creamer (10th).


BIZ & BITES

=>  Real Madrid have agreed a partnership with Chinese Super League leaders Guangzhou Evergrande, intended to pave the way for player exchanges between the clubs and the opening of a player academy in China. Real Madrid are presently on a tour of China and are eager to promote their brand to China's population of 1.3 bil. Real Madrid and Evergrande signed a 'letter of intent' to co-operate on player exchanges, brand promotion and the opening of the largest soccer academy in Asia. The academy intends to enrol 3,000 students and be run by the Chinese club, with Real Madrid coaching staff to assist with the teaching programme.

=>  The English Premier League’s Richard Scudamore called on FIFA to open a dialogue to ease rising tensions within governance of the game, while arguing that a revolution, as threatened by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, is not the answer. Plans for more dates for international matches threaten to further clutter the fixture list and infuriate clubs and Scudamore wants FIFA to be "collegiate" in its approach to change. Scudamore also criticised UEFA for dictating terms to domestic soccer leagues when it comes to Champions and Europa Leagues by suddenly deciding to play the respective quarter-finals over 4 weeks instead of two which leaves clubs less weeks to squeeze in 380 matches.

=>  The Premier League has said cutting-edge 'immersive TV' could be in use within 5 years allowing fans anywhere to 'virtually' attend stadia and watch games live as if they were there. A year after its first 3D broadcast, the PL is looking at the latest technology that allows supporters to sit in front of their TV, pick a game to watch from the menu, choose where to sit in the stadium, start chatting with friends and then immerse themselves in the match. The PL is in talks with Sony and Electronic Arts which are, respectively, already developing super-wide panoramic views that would allow viewers to watch from different angles, and working on 3D holographic technology, initially for highlights packages, but which will eventually be used in real time coverage.