Monday, 15th January 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Don King Needs New Venue for February Card

A week after his sellout show at the Hard Rock Live Arena, Don King is scrambling to find a new venue for his Feb. 3 Super Bowl weekend world title tripleheader. King said Thursday at a pre-fight news conference that he was "embarrassed" to announce that Miami Arena was no longer the host site after a third-party investor group working with the arena backed out of the fight and bounced a $500,000 check to Don King Productions.

King said the Showtime-televised card is still on and that he was looking for another venue, preferably in South Florida. Several possible sites mentioned were the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, UM's BankUnited Center, Florida Atlantic University and Donald Trump's Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago that seats only 3,000 when configured for boxing.

Light heavyweight titlist Tomasz Adamek (31-0, 21 KOs) of Poland defends his belt for the third time against top contender Chad Dawson (23-0, 15 KOs) of New Haven, Conn., in the Showtime main event. In the televised opener, lightweight titlist Jesus Chavez (43-3, 30 KOs) of Austin, Tex., who hasn't fought since Sept. 2005 because of a serious arm injury, returns to face interim titlist Julio Diaz (33-3, 24 KOs) of Coachella, Calif., in a mandatory fight.

Also on the card, but not part of Showtime's telecast, junior middleweight titleholder Cory Spinks (35-3, 11 KOs) will face mandatory challenger Rodney Jones (37-3-1, 22 KOs). Source: Sun Sentinel, ABC Sports, Miami Herald, 12th January 2007

IMG Set to Acquire Octagon CSI

Octagon CSI, the former television arm of the Octagon agency that was the subject of a recent management buyout, will confirm later today that rival agency IMG Media has taken a majority stake in the company. The remaining shares will continue to be held by the five directors of Octagon CSI, led by chief executive Chris Guinness.

The move completes a surprise turnaround after Octagon last year searched in vain for a buyer to take Octagon CSI off its hands. One source close to both agencies today told Sportcal.com that Guinness, who formerly worked for IMG and arguably forms a ready-made replacement for Bill Sinrich, the former chief executive of IMG Media, formerly TWI, who left after a disagreement with Ted Forstmann, founder of IMG owner Forstmann Little, last year.

IMG is also thought to value Guinness’s relationship with top Octagon CSI clients, such as the Football Association, English soccer’s governing body, which is close to announcing an auction for its television rights for the four seasons beginning with 2008-09.

Nimbus Sport International, the ambitious India-based sports marketing and media company, was among those that looked at the possibility both of an acquisition and of backing the management buyout in the months before the buyout took place. It is understood that Nimbus held ‘initial discussions’ with Interpublic over Octagon CSI, but decided not to proceed with a deal.

Octagon CSI's other main clients include:
* Soccer: England's Football Association and Football League (including the Carling Cup); and the FAs of Australia, Denmark and Greece
* Cricket: Cricket Australia; New Zealand Cricket; Cricket South Africa; Zimbabwe Cricket.
Source: Sportcal, Sport Business, EUFootball.biz, 12th January 2007


INFO DIGEST

Info Box – Sport’s Top Earners in 2006

Beckham’s astronomical salary (the US$250 million, five-year deal for his move to Los Angeles Galaxy in the most lucrative deal in football history) will include sponsorship deals associated with the MLS but not all of his personal endorsements. Here is the list compiled by US magazine Forbes in July last year of the top earners in sport over the previous 12 months:

1. Tiger Woods (golf) £46,322,534
2. Michael Schumacher (motor racing) £29,861,531
3. Muhammad Ali (boxing) £28,315,783
4. Phil Mickelson (golf) £24,191,350
5. Michael Jordan (basketball) £16,470,999
6. Kobe Bryant (basketball) £15,955,024
7. Shaquille O'Neal (basketball) £15,955,023
8. Valentino Rossi (motorcycling) £15,955,023
9. Alex Rodriguez (baseball) £14,925,999
10. David Beckham (football) £13,896,154
Source: Football Insider quoting Forbes, 12th January 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* Star TV CEO Michelle Guthrie has quit the company and will be replaced by current president Paul Aiello. Aiello, who is Morgan Stanley alumni, comes to the top job from the corporate strand of the company and, according to a Star release, has News Corp chief, Rupert Murdoch’s, full blessing for the role. Gurthrie departed graciously with high praise for her colleagues at Star but gave no indication of what her next gig might entail. Source: Marketing Magazine, Worldscreen, Agencyfaqs, Indian Television, 12th January 2007

* Western Union has signed a three-year contract with ESPN Star Sports to sponsor two teams in India’s Premier Hockey League (PHL). Western Union is sponsoring Sher-e-Jalandhar and Chandigarh Dynamos for the 2007 season (which got underway last week). This is the third consecutive year that Western Union has supported the two Punjab-based teams. Source: Sports Media, 12th January 2007

* England’s Rugby Football League is seeking an agency to handle its broadcasting services, online and mobile opportunities. The agency will handle worldwide rights sales and negotiate new deals for the top-tier Engage Super League and the knockout competition the Challenge Cup, traditionally broadcast in the UK by BBC. The tender documents are being circulated to selected agencies, including the incumbent IMG Media. Source: Sportcal, 12th January 2007

* US heavyweight boxer Shannon Briggs will make the first defence of his WBO title when he takes on Russia’s Sultan Ibragimov on March 10. The fight will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York. Briggs won the title when he defeated Belarussia’s Sergei Liakhovich in Phoenix last November. Source: Sportcal, 12th January 2007


MORE NEWS

India/Broadcaster: TRAI Directs Nimbus to Adhere to Channel Pricing Norm

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has turned down Nimbus Sports’ plea to price its two sports channels – Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus – above the stipulated price under the CAS regime. The regulator has directed Nimbus to reduce the price bouquet of its two sports channels to the prevalent price of channels of the same genre. They have to adhere to the maximum price of Rs 5 per channel per subscriber per month in CAS areas.

Nimbus had written to the TRAI in September stating it had priced both its sports channels at Rs 49.50 per month per channel, and if the two sports channels were offered as a bouquet, the price would be Rs 58.50. This was objected to by the Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) which lodged a complaint with TRAI.

Nimbus replied in October that comparing the prices of Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus with other sports channels, simplicitor would not be the right yardstick and stated that the proposed price of the two sports channels after December 31, 2006 in CAS areas would remain unchanged till at least December 31, 2007.

TRAI, however, turned down Nimbus Sports’ contention stating that it was in contravention of clause 3B of the principal tariff order due to following reasons: Clause 3B of the principal tariff order provides inter alia for factors of language and genre to be taken into account for establishing similarity of rates of similar channel. The said channels (Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus) belong to the genre of sports channels and offered in English language.

Another factor was that the revenue potential of the channels could not be a relevant factor for determining the similarity between the channels when both the channels were of the same genre (that is sport channel) for the purposes of clause 3B of the principal tariff order; and whereas the ESPN and STAR Sports channels were channels similar to the said sports channels of Nimbus Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd on the basis of genre and language. Source: Exchange4Media, Indian Television, 12th January 2007

Singapore/New Media: Lift for Digital Media

Singapore's digital media industry is expected to contribute S$10 billion (US$6.5 billion) to the economy and create 10,000 new jobs by 2015, the government said as they outlined plans to develop the sector. The Media Development Authority (MDA) rolled out a scheme to support and encourage research and development in interactive digital media (IDM) services by the private sector and institutions of higher learning

Vivian Balakrishnan, Second Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts said animation, games, special effects and digital mobile broadcasting services were among some of the key research areas identified. The government is also seeking to build a network of local and international research organisations and develop the city state as a location to test new digital media technologies. The plans follow the government's allocation of S$500 million (US$324 million) in July last year towards developing the sector over five years. Source: Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union quoting the South China Morning Post, 12th January 2007

Singapore/Malaysia/General: Rival Bidders Looking to Bring Formula 1 to Singapore

Two groups are competing to stage a round of motor racing’s Formula 1 world championship in Singapore as early as 2008. The country is keen to join Bahrain, China, Japan and Malaysia on the list of Asian grand prix hosts. South Korea has also been promised a race from 2010. The Today newspaper says that talks between an unnamed businessman and F1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone were advanced but there was also interest from another party.

It is envisaged that the race would take place on the streets of Singapore and it is understood that Hermann Tilke, the German architect who designed the Formula 1 circuits in Manama in Bahrain, Shanghai in China, Sepang in Malaysia and Istanbul in Turkey has been working on the project. The cost of staging a race in Singapore has been put at upwards of $35 million but the country can expect a significant return from tourism.

Meanwhile, there are doubts over the future of the Malaysian race with Dato Mokhzani Tun Mahathir, the chairman of the Sepang circuit, admitting that there is no guarantee that it will extend its contract when the present deal ends in 2010. Mahathir said that the depreciation of the Malaysian currency meant that hosting the grand prix was becoming less economically viable.

Despite the uncertainty over the grand prix, Sepang officials are pressing ahead with an upgrade of facilities, which will include improved pits and hospitality facilities, hotels, an academy, a museum and a theme park. Source: Sportcal, 12th January 2007

South Korea/Broadcaster: Launch of Commercial IPTV Service

South Korea will introduce commercial Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services within this year, the nation's Information Minister Rho Jun Hyong has said. IPTV is one of the South Korean government's newly introduced growth engines. However, efforts have been hampered for the past few years as broadcasting and communications industries remain conflicted on how to regulate the new medium.

Currently, KT Corporation, the nation’s largest fixed-line operator, plans to launch the service this year. Hanarotelecom Incorporation, the second-largest, is now providing video-on-demand (VOD) Internet TV, a prototype version of IPTV. Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, 12th January 2007

India/Broadcaster: Prasar Bharati - No Action Yet Against ESPN-STAR

India’s Prasar Bharati, informed the Indian Supreme Court that it has yet to decide on taking any coercive action against ESPN-STAR for not sharing the India-South Africa cricket series live feed with national network, Doordarshan. The private channel held exclusive rights of the series, had moved to the court fearing government reprisal under downlinking guidelines as it had refused to share terrestrial signals with DDI.

ESPN-Star argued the downlinking guidelines allow the government to take coercive action like cancelling the downlinking licence of a channel if it failed to share the live feed of an important national sports event with DDI. However, the Solicitor-General termed the private channel’s apprehensions as premature and informed the court that no action has been even thought of by the authorities. The authorities would issue show-cause notice to ESPN-Star before such action is taken. Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union, 8th January 2007

Mid-East/New Media: JumpTV enters into partnership with LINKdotNET

JumpTV, a broadcaster of ethnic television over the internet, has signed a partnership agreement with LINKdotNET to market all of JumpTV's channels on a subscription basis across each of the company's 10 web portals, including MSN Arabia. MSN Arabia reportedly has more than 8,000,000 unique visitors per month, of which a significant number reside in North America and Europe.

Owned by Orascom Telecom Holding, LINKdotNET owns and operates 10 portals including MSN Arabia, Masrawy.com and ArabFinance. The agreement provides LINKdotNET users with access to JumpTV's channels with a focus on 45 Arab channels including Aljazeera, Aljazeera English, MBC 1, Al Arabiya, Dubai TV, Mehwar Channel and 2M. Content will be presented through LINKdotNET's portals as part of a broadband content offering slated to launch in the first quarter of 2007. Source: Digital Media Asia, 12th January 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Details Revealed for French Rugby Union TV Tender

The television rights for the Top 14, France’s top-tier rugby union clubs competition, will be sold in seven different packages. The deals will cover the four seasons starting in 2007-08, and the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, organiser of the Top 14, hopes for a rights auction that will top the €19 million ($24.5 million) a season paid by Canal Plus, the pay-television network, under the present deal. The tender for the rights was launched this week.The present agreement expires in June and the broadcaster, which recently merged with its rival TPS, is said to be interested in bidding once more, as is public-service broadcaster France Télévisions, and the telecoms firms Orange and France Telecom. Bidders will need to apply for the seven packages individually.

The first package, expected to be the most sought-after, will comprise exclusive coverage of two or three matches per round (with kick-offs to be moved for television), as well as the semi-finals and the final of Top 14, with the latter to be shared with a free-to-air channel. The package also includes broadband rights and a highlights programme of each round.The second package is for the final only, and thus reserved for free-to-air channels. The third covers the live pay-per-view rights for all games, except for those included in the first package. The fourth is a mobile clips package, while the fifth is for the rights to the second-tier D2. The sixth package is for a weekly 26-minute magazine programme, covering Top 14 and D2, while the final one covers the shared rights to this year’s Top 14 final on June 9, with Canal Plus also airing the match. Source: Sportcal, 12th January 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

Sports Still the Battering Ram of Pay-TV?

When Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) announced in November 2006 that it had submitted a bid for broadcast rights to the English Premier League (EPL) matches from August 2007 to May 2010, it was assumed optimism was high in the SingTel camp. SingTel’s intention to offer Pay TV services delivering High Definition content was interpreted as a show of the telco’s confidence in its bid for the popular EPL soccer - and that property’s potential for their new pay-TV service.

So the announcement a fortnight later, that rival StarHub’s bid for the exclusive broadcast, mobile and broadband rights had been successful, it must have been more than disappointing for SingTel. SingTel was unwilling to comment on the implications for SingTel’s proposed pay-TV service after having lost out on the ‘battering ram’ EPL rights.

Also tight-lipped on the topic was EPL incumber ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), for whom English soccer has been a schedule staple for seven seasons. Back in 2000, three-season EPL rights were won by a consortium that saw the rights shared by Sportfive, NewsCorp (Asia and Oceania) and Octagon (North America and the Middle East.) ESS scooped the rights in most markets bar Hong Kong, where they went to I-Cable. The 2007-9 seasons’ loss in many key markets could impact ESS’s subscriber numbers in Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand – not to mention panregional advertising revenues.

ESS prefers to put a positive spin on the network’s retention of the rights in ‘key Asian markets’; Malaysia, Indonesia, India and South Korea probably more ‘key’ than some of the others. With the combined spend for those markets, including IndoChina, estimated at US$205 million, back in 2004 the entire pan-regional rights cost ESS around $160 million – including China and India. In fact, the combined cost of rights for the Asian region have more than doubled in three years, estimated at over $723 million for 2007-10 (including Australia/New Zealand) compared to $337 million for 2004-2007.

The expected impact on EES’ Singapore production HQ is still unclear, for while feeds will beam to the markets retained, much of the ‘original support programming’ listed by ESS is produced with key pan-regional sponsors Nokia and Tiger Beer in mind. Industry sources say ESS’s carriage in both Thailand and China may now be in jeopardy, but the network is thought to be locked in until 2010 on StarHub in Singapore.

In the Hong Kong SAR, while PCCW’s estimated $200 million successful bid for 2007-10 is double the $102 million paid by I-Cable three years ago, it is expected (PCCW’s) NOW Broadband Television’s 600,000 subscribers will overtake ICable’s 770,000 in 2007. While shares in NOW’s parent company PCCW wobbled slightly at the announcement amidst fears the telco had overpaid for the EPL rights, I-Cable’s dropped by almost 3.7%. Source: Television Asia News Feature, 15th January 2007