Wednesday, 3rd August 2011

RIGHTS FEES

=>  The deal that Neo Sports struck with Sportfive for TV rights to the 2012 European Championships is said to be worth around Rs1bil ($22.6 mil), covering India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. Neo’s deal includes 2013 European U-21 and Women’s Euro 2013 Championships. The acquisition of Euro 2012 rights is the latest deal agreed by Neo Sports away from its main sport of cricket. Events acquired have included 2011 Copa America, tennis' French Open and the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It is claimed that Neo Sports has earmarked Rs2.5 bil this year to acquire sports rights outside cricket.

=>  The Argentinian soccer federation abandoned a controversial plan to merge the top two leagues for the start of the 2012/13 season following hostile responses from stakeholders. The association accused the media, TV rights owners and politicians of leading a campaign against the merger. The merger plan was seen as an attempt by the AFA to avoid financial upheaval after River Plate, one of Argentina’s most popular clubs, was relegated to the second tier. The AFA planned to create a new company, with a TV rights budget of 1.2 bil pesos ($278 mil) /year, double the present 600 mil pesos, to launch AFA TV, a new pay-TV channel, to show matches. The 2011/12 season is set to kick off this weekend.

=>  Western USA’s college athletic conference, Pac-12, unveiled plans to create Pac-12 Networks that will air hundreds of events from the collegiate athletics programme. The agreement, beginning Aug 2012, will see Pac-12 team with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Comm. and Bright House Networks to launch a national service and 6 regional channels, including features of 35 football and 140 basketball games and 150 Olympic sports events. The deal complements a national broadcast and cable deal announced by Pac-12 in May with ESPN and Fox; the 12-year, US$3 bil deal saw the networks gain shared rights to college football and men’s basketball games, with ESPN also able to show some Olympic sports.


BROADCAST & RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION

=>  African broadcaster, Star Times, were granted FTA rights for UEFA Champions League and Europa League in sub-Saharan Africa, from 2012 to 2015. Star Times will distribute media rights to FTA broadcasters in the region, exc. South Africa. The deal also covers the Super Cup. At present pan-African Canal France International has exclusive FTA rights to show Champions League in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding both South Africa and Sudan, while regional Afnex has the Europa League in the region, exc. South Africa, Sudan and Nigeria. However, these deals expire at the end of the 2011-12 season.


EVENTS

=>  The Asian Tour welcomes The Thailand Golf Championship in Dec with Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarkeand Lee Westwood headlining the $ 1 mil showpiece. The event will be a full-field Asian Tour event and will take up a prestigious position as the Tour’s season-ending tournament, where the battle for the Order of Merit crown will culminate. The event will be broadcast live over 4 days on the Tour’s global TV platform reaching 200 countries and over 800 mil homes. The winner of this event will earn $158,500 and a spot in the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational 2012.

=>  Japanese manufacturer, Yamaha, will exit FIM Superbike World Championship at the end of this season, citing poor bike sales in Europe. Yamaha riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty, currently third and fourth in this year's championship standings, will now be forced to find new teams. When Yamaha won the world title in 2009 it was sponsored by Italian food giant, Sterilgarda Alimenti, but has been without a title sponsor for the last two seasons.


BIZ & BITES

=>  Octagon has been appointed by the China LPGA Tour, now in its third year, to aid commercial development. As CLPGA Tour’s partner, Octagon will bring in commercial partners and contribute to strategy development and planning. The CLPGA was launched by the Chinese Golf Association in 2009 with 8 tournaments and has expanded to18 events this season. The tour has been dominated by Thai players although CLPGA is keen to increase experience of Chinese players before golf returns to the Olympics in Rio 2016. Asia accounts for a large number of the world’s top women’s golfers, notably world number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan, who won her 2nd consecutive British Open, and China’s Shanshan Feng, ranked 47, who competes on US LPGA Tour.