Friday, 19th January 2007

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Premier League Doubles International Income

Read Richard Scudamore’s Interview by David Bond on the Daily Telegraph, 18th January 2007
More links: BBC Sports, EUFootball.biz

International media rights income for England’s FA (Football Association) Premier League for the next three-year cycle starting in 2007-08 will be twice as high as under the previous round of deals expiring at the end of this season. Richard Scudamore, the Premier League's chief executive, said that foreign sales revenue has reached £625 million for the period 2007-08 through 2009-10. The total covers 81 packages in 208 countries. The total value of the media and TV rights packages for the English Premier League for the three years from the start of the 2007-08 season is a staggering £2.7 billion.

“We have seen huge growth everywhere but the big jumps have been in Asia and the Middle East,” Scudamore told the Daily Telegraph. “In some territories the rights have sold for three or four times the current amount.” He attributed the increase in foreign revenue in part to the Barclays Premiership’s “open-door” policy on foreign participants. “We have a cosmopolitan approach to players and a cosmopolitan approach to ownership and that is paying off.”

Asia is by far the greatest contributor to the Premiership’s latest international rights, generating about $700 million. Europe is estimated to have brought in $275 million, the Middle East $120 million, Africa $95 million, the Americas $65 million and Oceania about $20 million.

Scudamore said the increase also shows that the League made the right decision in deciding to take over management of its own distribution instead of entrusting the task to an agency. The Premier League handles its own worldwide sales, under the direction of Phil Lines (head of media operations). The international production is currently handled by IMG Media’s TWI. That contract is due to go out to tender for the next cycle with the bidding details expected to be issued soon.

The Premiership’s foreign sales total is on top of nearly £1.7 billion for the domestic deals for live TV rights reached last May with Sky (£1.3 billion) and Setanta (£392 million). There is a lso a new deal for domestic highlights with BBC for the three years worth £171.6 million. The League has also made deals for Internet and mobile phone rights worth about £400 million.

"This deal (package of deals) really does take us on to another level.” He added that he did not expect to see such a big increase next time. “The clubs are obviously very grateful for the money but this is probably the last time we will be able to achieve such a massive one-off increase,” he said. Source: Sports Media, Sport Business, 18th January 2007

The English Premier League has negotiated a new overseas television deal which will now guarantee next season's champions being paid at least £50 million ($98 million). "It means that the team at the top who got £30 million last year will get around £50 million while even those at the bottom will receive about 30 million pounds," Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore told the Daily Telegraph on Thursday. Source: CNN, 18th January 2007

The new deals made mean that next season's Premiership team finishing bottom of the table will land a £26.8m windfall — which is only marginally less than the £30.4m Chelsea received for winning last season's title. Last season's relegated clubs received between £16m and £19m. Even those figures dwarfed the £10.9m Italy picked up for their World Cup triumph and the £4.1m which went to Barcelona for winning the Champions League. Source: This is London, 18th January 2007

France’s top-tier Ligue 1 has European soccer’s second most valuable domestic rights, having agreed a €1.8-billion deal for the three seasons ending with the 2007-08 season. The unexpectedly high value of the Ligue 1 rights, the result of a fierce auction battle between pay-television broadcasters TPS and Canal Plus, still brings in approximately €260 million less per season than the new Premiership rights deals.

Italy’s Serie A rights were worth an estimated €550 million per season for three-year ending 2006-07, plus €60 million per season for the international rights. Domestic rights is expected to rise to approximately €800 million per season in the three-year period starting in 2007-08, while the international rights are expected to be worth betweeen €70 million to €100 million.

Germany’s top-tier 1.Bundesliga has sold its domestic rights for the three years starting in 2006-07 for €420 million per season, plus €20 million per season for its international rights.

Spain’s top-tier Primera Liga, saw La Sexta pay €150 million a year to air 38 matches per season (one a week) for three years from 2006-07 to the end of the 2008-09 season. Spanish giants Real Madrid sold their television rights for a seven-year period ending 2012-13 to Mediapro in a deal worth €1.1 billion. Mediapro also has a television rights agreement with Barcelona, in a three-year deal worth €105 million a season, which can be extended by two years. Real Madrid’s new deal is worth over €157 million per season, significantly more than the Premiership champions, who will earn some €76 million in prize money and media revenues for winning the title. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007


WHAT’S THE BUZZ?

Everyone’s Watching Big Brother

'Celebrity Big Brother' has enjoyed another ratings boost from this week's racism and bullying furore, with 5.1m tuning in to watch, putting it close behind ITV1. The controversy gave the show a 21% share of viewing, nearly beating ITV's episode of 'Taggart', which achieved 5.3m and a 23% share. Having languished at 3.5m viewers on Monday night, the show had shot up to 4.5m on Tuesday night because of extensive media coverage of the bullying and racist comments directed at Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood star, by some of the others. Source: Brand Republic, 18th January 2007

Tension in and out of the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house grew yesterday as Jade and Shilpa fought and were nominated for eviction while demonstrations took place in India and senior British politicians had their say. In the house, a row over stock cubes turned nasty with Jade and Shilpa telling each other to shut up, before Jade flew off the handle, screaming: "You're not some princess here... you're a liar and a fake, you're a f***ing phoney." The polarisation in the house led to the housemates nominating Jade and Shilpa for eviction tomorrow night. Source: Brand Republic, 18th January 2007

UK’s 'Celebrity Big Brother' has caused uproar in the Indian subcontinent over treatment of Bollywood actress. Fans of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty protested the alleged mistreatment she has endured on the hit U.K. reality television show 'Celebrity Big Brother,' burning an effigy representing the program's producers on Wednesday. Source: Total Content & Media quoting Associated Press, 17th January 2007

A major sponsor has pulled the plug on their endorsement of Celebrity Big Brother, the low brow reality show that is at the centre of a storm over the treatment meted out to Bollywood starlet Shilpa Shetty by her fellow "housemates". Carphone Warehouse, the biggest mobile phone retailer in Europe, has pulled out its sponsorship of the current series saying that it did not want its name associated with claims of racist bullying. Source: Indian Television, 18th January 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* Malaysian car manufacturer Proton has agreed to be the title sponsor of the World Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur later this year. The company is a long-standing supporter of badminton and is the sponsor of the Malaysia Open currently taking place in the capital. The Proton-BWF World Championships will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from August 13 to 19. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007

* AVP announced an agreement to bring the fast-growing AVP Crocs Tour to Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas to be titled the AVP Cuervo Gold Crown Dallas Open. Dallas is the third new city announced for the 2007 AVP season (Charleston, SC was announced on Dec. 8, 2006 and Glendale, AZ announced on Jan. 3, 2007) and will make up one of 18 events nationwide. The tournament is scheduled to take place April 19-22, 2007 in Arlington, Texas, adjacent to Ameriquest Field. Source: E TV, 18th January 2007

* The Indian government has banned the Sony Pictures Television International channel AXN from local airwaves for a period of two months over supposedly lewd content. P. R. Dasmunsi, the Information and Broadcasting Minister objected to AXN’s broadcast of The World's Sexiest Advertisements, which he referred to as “indecent content" that was "against good taste or decency and is likely to adversely affect public morality." Source: Worldscreen, Indian Television, 18th January 2007

* Betfair, the UK-based bookmaker, has agreed a deal to offer live broadband coverage of the 2007 Australian Open, tennis’ first grand slam tournament of the year, currently taking place in Melbourne. Live coverage of games will be available worldwide except in Australia, and can be viewed free of charge by betfair's estimated 1 million customers. The Australian Open runs until January 28. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007

* Italy’s Chamber of Deputies (the lower parliamentary house) is likely to approve new proposed legislation for centralised sale of television rights by Serie A TIM (sponsor) football clubs this week. The bill will then go to the Senate, where a smooth passage is expected. However, the law would not take effect for three to four years, providing time to clear the decks of current deals. Source: Sports Media, 18th January 2007

* In France, Sportfive had to settle for a deal in which commercial broadcasters TF1 and M6 will share the rights of the Euro 2008, after a second round of bidding failed to produce an outright winner. It is understood that the two broadcasters have jointly agreed to pay the €100-million ($126-million) fee that Sportfive had targeted, and will have the rights to show simultaneous coverage of France's matches in the tournament. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007

* Coverage of the Euro 2008 in Germany could be split between free-to-air and pay-television, as public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF baulked at the reported €150-million asking price to show all 31 games. Both networks had stated that would not increase an initial bid said to be worth less than €100 million. They argued that the asking price, equivalent to €4.8 million per match, exceeds the €3.75 million per match they paid to show 48 out of the 64 matches of last summer’s World Cup, in a deal worth a total of €150 million. Source: Sportcal, 18th January 2007


MORE NEWS

Don King: New Venue

Don King's February 3rd show, which is to be televised on Showtime and that features an attractive doubleheader of Jesus Chavez-Julio Diaz (for the IBF lightweight crown) and Tomasz Adamek-Chad Dawson (for the WBC light heavyweight title), was to have taken place in Miami, Florida on Super Bowl weekend at the Miami Arena. But as checks started bouncing like basketballs from a private investor, this card found a new home in Florida.

According to Alan Hopper, director of public relations at DKP, the show has been moved to Kissimmee, Florida at the Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Heritage Park, which has a capacity of 9,000. Meanwhile, look out for litigation between King and one Allan Howell, who represented the arena and was responsible for bringing in the private investor whose $500,000 check bounced. Source: Max Boxing, 18th January 2007

The Philippines/Broadcaster: Reyes, Bustamante to boycott ESPN

THE decision of ESPN to choose Guinness over San Miguel after a four-year partnership in the Asian 9-Ball Tour may result in a backlash against the sports network. Aristeo “Putch” Puyat, the godfather of Philippine pool, indicated that his players Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante will boycott the ESPN Asian 9-Ball Tour, over what he considered ESPN’s shabby treatment of the Philippine’s flagship company.

ESPN, which is on its final year of coverage of the World Pool Championships under its contract with Matchroom Sport, was also remiss when it failed to send a top official of the network to the country for the WPC event. Puyat said he was responsible for taking ESPN to meet with San Miguel Corp. to discuss the Asian 9-Ball Tour, which San Miguel Beer subsequently sponsored beginning in 2003 with the opening leg at the Pool Haven in Singapore.

Reyes, recognized around the world as “The Magician,” was the biggest draw in the Asian 9-Ball Tour and won a total of seven tour stops, ending with the Jakarta leg last year in which he beat hometown favorite Ricky Yang and ensured a clean sweep by Filipino cue masters of the 2006 tour. The absence of Reyes and Bustamante, who are both San Miguel Beer endorsers, is expected to trigger an exodus of more Filipino players from the tour.

While ESPN’s audience share in the Philippines has been eaten into by Solar Sports, the network also came under criticism for its coverage of the last World Pool Championships in Manila. Respected Philippine sports TV directors said the coverage lacked imagination and the quality one would expect of the WPC and the scenic shots of attractions in Manila, were poorly done. Source: Manila Standard Today, 18th January 2007

Singapore/Broadcaster: StarHub Launches HDTV Platform

Singapore has become the first Southeast Asian nation to offer commercial HDTV services, with the launch of StarHub’s HD Plus today featuring Discovery HD and National Geographic Channel HD. The launch follows StarHub’s successful HDTV trial, including the 2006 FIFA World Cup and ended at the close of the year. During this trial, 1,000 StarHub Digital Cable could access 64 World Cup matches and titles from Discovery and National Geographic Channel.

Discovery HD is now available in 14 international markets including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Germany, Austria, Ireland, the U.K., Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. National Geographic Channel HD is also on offer in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Italy, Canada, France and the Netherlands. Source: Worldscreen, 18th January 2007

China/General: England The Popular Choice For Football Followers

The most popular national football team jersey in China is the England top, according to a new study by Warwick Business School. The study found that England is a favourite of the Chinese followed by Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany. The most commonly seen football shirt in China was the England national shirt (40.56% of respondents report seeing it ‘very often’) followed by Manchester United (30.42%) and Italy national team jersey (29.72%).

Those recorded as being ‘not seen often’ included Spain, Chelsea, Germany, France and Inter Milan. University of Warwick's Business School, carried out the research among football fans in China for the English Football Association (FA) during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The study shows much more interest among Chinese fans in international football (78.01%) than Chinese local football (31.24%).

English football fared best of all among Chinese football supporters. In major tournaments where China was not present, 96.3% of Chinese fans supported another international team. England was the most supported ‘second’ team with 26.35%, followed by Brazil (20.61%), Argentina (11.82%), Italy (10.81%) and Germany (10.81%).

When asked which team the Chinese watched most frequently, England fared even better with 27.2%, followed by Brazil (12.9%) and Italy (11.2%). Next came Manchester United (9.5%), which ranked above all remaining international teams. More than half (54.14%) of those surveyed own a football shirt. Again England came top (19.6%), with 13.9% owning a Manchester United shirt, 8.8% AC Milan and 8.23% Italy. Football Insider, EUFootball.biz, 18th January 2007

Asia/General: Federer wants more events in Asia

Roger Federer has said more major events should be played in Asia rather than the traditional tennis strongholds of Europe and the US. "I'm more for moving tournaments to Asia (rather) than Europe or the United States," he said to reporters at the Australian Open on Wednesday. "I think Asia is a very important market, I've always loved playing over there, I don't really care where it goes in Asia but I think it's really important to have big events there."

Etienne De Villiers, the chairman of the Association of Tennis Players (ATP), said last October that the showpiece Masters Cup event should move from its Shanghai venue to Europe when its contract expires after 2008. De Villiers said the tournament should be played where most tennis fans are based, and suggested London as his preferred venue.

But Federer said the game should do more to exploit the burgeoning popularity of the sport across Asia and would like to see major events switched there should the season-ending championships move. Shanghai hosted the Masters Cup three times from 2002 to 2006, and although each has been a huge success there has been criticism the event is staged such a distance away at the conclusion of the European and US seasons. Its contract runs out after the 2008 tournament.

De Villiers did say when he made his pronouncement that a Masters Series event would likely replace the Masters Cup when it was moved from Shanghai, and Federer backed the notion. "We have the Australian Open but that's all the way down here. We need something in Asia as well," said Federer, who has won the Masters Cup three times. “When this (Masters Cup) goes, it's good to maybe have a Masters Series over there." Source: Supersports, 18th January 2007

Asia/General: Athletes for 6th Asian Winter Games Hit Record High

The 6th Asian Winter Games, slated for Jan. 28 to Feb. 4 in Changchun, northeast China, has registered record numbers of athletes and participating teams, said the organizers in Changchun, China on Wednesday. A total of 816 athletes from 26 countries and regions of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have officially registered for the Games to make it the biggest ever Winter sports meet in the continent.

Nine more countries and regions will take part in the upcoming Games, compared to the last edition in Aomori, Japan. Hosts China will dispatch a 200-plus delegation to stand atop in terms of the number of athletes, followed by Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan who will play hosts to the next Games.

The Chinese athletes will participate in all the 47 events, including Olympic champion Wang Meng, Fu Tianyu and Li Ye for short track speedskating, Wang Fei for speedskating, twice world champions Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo, 2006 world champions Pang Qing/Tong Jian for figure skating, Han Xiaona, Li Nina for freestyle skiing, and Wang Chunli and Li Geliang for cross country skiing.

Japan will take part in all the events except women's freestyle skiing aerials, and South Korea will compete in all but the freestyle skiing. The Games will also feature athletes from Chinese Hong Kong, Chinese Macao, as well as Chinese Taipei. Pakistan will send only one athlete for the Games. Ice hockey is the most popular sport with 348 athletes, including a record of 11 men's teams, competing for the medals while ski racing is also a hot bonanza with the most delegations of 18 in the field. Source: People’s Daily Online, 18th January 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: RAI Retains National Team

Italian public broadcaster RAI is ready to approve a new deal with the domestic football federation (FIGC) for exclusive television rights to Italy’s national football team. The package for the current FIFA World Cup holder is worth €154 million over four years, plus a bonus of 5% if Italy qualifies for the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. The rights fee is up from about €25 million annually for rights under RAI’s four-year deal that expired in December. The reported new fee means RAI would pay about 27% more per season.

RAI has held the rights to Italy’s national football team ever since television began and almost lost its exclusive hold on them after the current contract expired last year. Luca Pancalli, the head of the FIGC as extraordinary commissioner, had indicated in autumn last year that rights may be shared between free-TV and pay-TV in future. RAI had suggested that it wanted to pay less for the rights, while keeping exclusivity. Source: Sports Media, 18th January 2007

Elsewhere/New Media: Mobile TV Revenues on the Rise

Annual revenues from mobile TV and mobile video on demand (VoD) are set to increase 800% between 2006 and 2010. New research by Understanding & Solutions reckons a bright future for mobile TV. “By 2010, mobile TV and mobile VoD will achieve combined revenues of around US$18bn worldwide,” said Alison Casey, business director of content and services at Understanding & Solutions, “and that’s excluding revenues from advertising, sponsorship and added interactive services.”

DVB-H (digital video broadcasting over handheld) is expected to be dominant Europe due to its robust error correction, power efficiencies and ability to hold up to 80 channels. Based on subscribers, the world’s most successful mobile TV implementation to date is TU Media/SK Telekom in South Korea, which has an estimated base exceeding three million at the end of 2006. This is followed by 3 Italia, which had half a million subscribers at the end of last year.

However, made-for-mobile content production costs are generally high; therefore a wide distribution platform is crucial in order to receive a return on investment. There is also evidence that consumers are still not used to using their handsets in this way.

“The market activity to date reaffirms our view that mobile TV will be a significant business in coming years – customer take-up in the major launch markets of South Korea and Italy have been remarkable, with consumers also showing willingness to pay incrementally for quality TV on mobile services.” Globally, Understanding & Solutions predicts mobile TV revenues to exceed mobile VoD by a ratio of almost four to one by 2010, pulling in around US$14.3bn and US$3.7bn respectively. Source: Silicone Republic, 18th January 2007