Monday, 8th January 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Russian Badminton Set for Change as Federation Loses Case

Control of badminton in Russia is set to pass to a new association after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal by the Russian Badminton Federation against a decision to oust it as a member of the sport’s world governing body. The RBF had taken its case to the Lausanne-based court after the Badminton World Federation, formerly known as the International Badminton Federation, said it would no longer recognise the national association, which has been stripped of powers in its home country.

The new governing body is likely to be the National Badminton Federation of Russia, a body headed by Shakrai Sergey Mikhailovich, which is said to have the support of the BWF. The BWF had earlier sought to have the NBFR recognised as the representative association for badminton in Russia but was thwarted by the CAS which ruled last February that the decision was incorrect and that the international body should reinstate the RBF as its officially-authorised affiliated member.

The decision of the CAS was today welcomed by Datuk Punch Gunalan, the deputy president of the BWF, who said: ‘This now paves the way for the admission of a Russian member which fulfils the membership requirements of the BWF, and this member shall possess the necessary approvals and the recognition of relevant Russian authorities to control the sport in that territory.’

He expects that power will pass to a new body within the next two months and that for the meantime, Russian players wishing to compete in BWF events will require approval from Rossport. Agerbak said: ‘From our point of view, we still need to get an organisation to take over [in Russia]. We are confident that will happen and will help as much as we can.’ Source: Sportcal, Bernama Malaysia, New Straits Times, 8th January 2006

Indian Private Broadcasters May be Forced to Share Sports Feeds with DD

The Indian government is proposing legislation that would require commercial broadcasters to share sports coverage of key events with pubcaster Doordarshan. The proposal in the cricket-mad nation comes just two months before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup in March. This year’s event will be broadcast in India on SET MAX and Doordarshan.

Under the proposed legislation, private broadcasters would have to share coverage of any events “of national interest,” including cricket finals, tennis grand slams and any matches in which India is a participant. The legislation is expected to make it before the Cabinet by the end of the month, Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told local reporters. Source: Worldscreen, 5th January 2007


INFO DIGEST

Info Box – TV Statistics
* 12 million digital cable set top boxes to ship in China by 2010
* 20 million LCD TVs made by Chinese companies to sell in 2010
* 27% of sports fans watch significantly more TV after getting HDTV
* 9.2 million Taiwanese LCD TVs to ship in 2006
* LCD TV prices will fall 30% or more in 2007
* Subscriber growth for satellite TV down 29%
* Top cable TV markets: China - 106 million, USA - 69 million, India - 46 million
* TV production up 5.7% in 2006
Source: Info IQ, 22nd December 2006


SPORTS SHORTS

* World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has signed a new mobile content agreement with British network operator Orange. WWE has also concluded new deals for mobile content in Portugal (Heylife) and Germany (Tele 5). Source: Sports Media, 5th January 2006

* The DTM calendar for 2007 has been leaked by the German media and it appears as if there will be eleven rounds this season, one more than in 2006, with Mugello joining the schedule. According to reports by auto motor und sport.de the new schedule will be extremely similar to 2006, with the exception of the extra event in Italy and the fact the French round will move from Le Mans to Magny Cours. Source: Crash.net, 5th January 2007

* Hanaro telecom has achieved 200,000 subscriber sign-ups for its hanaTV service, a Korean TV-Portal service that enables subscribers to watch any content they want on TV at their convenience. With the target to acquire 1 million hanaTV subscribers this year, Hanaro has secured contracts with 150 domestic and foreign content providers including Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, BBC Worldwide and 20th Century Fox. Source: Advanced Television, 8th January 2007

* ESPN has agreed to a new eight-year TV rights agreement with Little League Baseball to broadcast the Little League World Series baseball and softball events until 2014. The US and World Championship games will be broadcast on sister network ABC. Under the deal ESPN will televise at least 49 games in all division of Little League Baseball and Softball each year. Beginning in 2007, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will televise all 32 games of the Aug. 17-26 Little League Baseball World Series. Source: Sport Business, 5th January 2007

* The German Skiing Federation (DSV) has agreed to a four-year contract with MSC-international for the marketing rights to all FIS skiing World Cup events held in Germany. The deal is worth around €3 million ($3.93 million)-a-year to the DSV and includes the distribution of sponsorship rights for German World Cup events. The high-profile Four Hills ski-jumping event, held annually in Germany and Austria, is not included as the marketing rights are held by IMG, the international sports agency. Source: Sportcal, 5th January 2007


MORE NEWS

Vietnam/Rights: VTC Refuses Football Rights to Vietnam Television

Vietnam Television Technology Corporation (VTC) turned down Thursday a request by Vietnam Television (VTV) for broadcast rights for next week’s AFF Cup football tournament in Thailand. VTC did not explain why it snubbed VTV, saying merely it was for “many subjective and objective reasons”.

Though both are run by government ministries, they have for long confronted each other and been tangled in disagreements, especially over sports events like the 2006 football World Cup. VTC has sold the rights for next week’s event to some 20 provincial TV stations.

Last month it signed an exclusive deal with the AFC-sanctioned World Sports Group for the tournament to be co-hosted by Thailand and Singapore from January 12 to February 4. The World Sports Group is a sports marketing and management agency operating primarily in Asia. Source: Thanh Nien News, 5th January 2007

Hong Kong/Broadcaster: i-Cable Considers 40pc Tariff Cut To Halt Viewer Switch

I-Cable Communications, the operator of Cable TV, plans to cut its basic monthly tariff 40 per cent in a move to retain subscribers after losing its right to broadcast English Premier League matches to PCCW's Now TV, sources said. The cut comes as Now TV starts to raise its minimum monthly tariff 33 per cent this month with further increases later this year to capitalise on the football matches.

Cable TV's exclusive right to broadcast the English Premier League will end in May when all matches this season are completed. The televised matches are Cable TV's most popular programming. According to a source, Cable TV is offering a HK$10 discount each month for subscribers of the HK$239 package starting from now until the end of May. The company will then offer a new tariff of HK$139 for a package without the sports channels.

Meanwhile, Now TV has increased its minimum monthly package rate for five channels to HK$184 from the HK$138 it charged last year. The company will waive a HK$118 broadband line monthly rental fee for subscribers paying more than the minimum tariff. It is extending its HK$388 package offer for all of its more than 80 channels until the end of this month.

New subscribers to this full package will enjoy full live coverage of the 388 English Premier League matches without additional charges. Now TV is expected to raise the full package tariff later this year, according to company sources. The company will carry all English Premier League matches and air some of them through ESPN and Star Sports. Some content will be broadcast on dedicated football channels. Source: Asia Media quoting South China Morning Post, 4th January 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Anti-Trust Probe for Sogecable, Mediapro Pact

Spain's SDC anti-trust authority is reviewing the deal between broadcaster Sogecable SA and agency and production company Mediapro combining their Primera Liga and Spanish Cup TV rights. The deal combining their rights into a holding company Audiovisual Sport, came after Mediapro announced in June that it had secured all TV rights to Barcelona’s league matches from 2006 to 2013 for over €1 billion.

It then followed up with a €1.1 billion deal with the Real Madrid for the seven years until the 2012-13 season. Audiovisual Sport holds contracts until 2008. Under the agreement, Sogecable has control of Audiovisual in which it holds a 75 per cent stake. Spanish newspapers report the SDC has referred the case to a competition tribunal over concerns that Sogecable has effective control of Spanish football television rights as the majority shareholder of Audiovisual. Source: Sports Media, Advanced Television, Sportcal, 5th January 2007

Elsewhere/New Media: Mobile digital TV from Samsung

Samsung has developed a way to broadcast digital television signals to car screens and to devices such as DVDs, game and music players, with the aim of creating a standard for portable digital television. The company said it is not yet developing commercial products based on the technology, but plans to demonstrate it for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

Samsung said its portable TV technology, known as Advanced Vestigial Sideband, could potentially work on cellphones, but it is focusing initially on car TVs and dedicated media players. Samsung hopes the technology will become a standard in the first half of 2007. It began its efforts to standardize the technology in December 2005 and has been working with the Advanced Television Systems Committee in the United States. Source: Advanced Television, 8th January 2007

Meanwhile, Samsung, which is also a provider of thin-film transistor, liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels has created, what it claims to be, the first LCD panel that can produce independent images on each side of a mobile LCD display. The new double-sided LCD can show two entirely different pictures or sets of visual data simultaneously either side of the same screen. Conventional double-sided LCDs can only show a reverse image of the same video data. Source: Digital Media Asia, 4th January 2006

Elsewhere/General: PGA Tour tries different strokes for TV gains

The 2007 PGA Tour tees off Thursday with its new TV rights package which plans to drum up interest year-round. The PGA is introducing the FedEx Cup, where players compete in a season long points competition that runs 37 weeks, from the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii that begins Thursday to the Tour Championship in Atlanta that concludes September 16.

Like NASCAR's Nextel Cup competition, the format is designed to hold fan interest -- and keep TV ratings strong -- in a build-up to the crowning of a champion. The structure of the FedEx Cup ensures that top players will compete in the concluding events, three of which will air in September on NBC. The Tour's most recent change regarding the Championship Series -- with cutdowns in the Boston tournament from 120 players to 70 and then in the Chicago event that slices the field to 30 players for the Tour title field in Atlanta -- increases the drama and pressure.

The Golf Channel, in its biggest year ever, will televise the first three PGA events of the season and six or seven end-of-the-season tournaments now known as the Fall Series. As for broadcasts, CBS and NBC promise further technical innovations for this season. They were busy scouting golf courses for the best angles, since they are increasing the number of tournaments and televising ones they haven't in years past or ever. Source: Hollywood Reporter, Zee News, 4th January 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

Online Advertising Shows Dramatic Growth

Online advertising will grow 28.2% globally next year, which will be seven times faster than offline advertising which is projected to grow 3.9%. However, traditional media still controls the lion’s share of the industry, with newspapers, magazines, television, radio, cinema and outdoor accounting for over 90% of advertising spending currently.

Leading media specialist ZenithOptimedia said in its 2006 year end global advertising expenditure forecasts just released that the rise of the internet in advertising had been dramatic. It has taken online advertising only 11 years to overtake two long-established media: cinema, which it overtook in 1997, and outdoor, which it overtook this year, and by 2009 it will be larger than radio.

“This is because although internet penetration is peaking at about 70% in the most mature markets, it is still only 17% worldwide” said Mr. Gerald Miranda, chief executive officer of ZenithOptimedia Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur today.

The internet already attracts more than 10% of advertising spending in three markets (Norway, Sweden and the UK) and by 2009 is expected it to do so in 10 markets (Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and USA). It has its highest share in the UK where it will attract 13.5% of advertising expenditure this year and 21.5% in 2009.

It predicts the world advertising market will grow 5.4% to US$446 billion in 2007, 5.8% to US$471 billion in 2008 and 5.3% to US$495 billion in 2009, staying ahead of the 5.1% rate it had grown at for the last 10 years. Asia Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East are driving the above-trend growth and North America, Western Europe and Latin America are behind the world average.

The outlook for Malaysia remained positive with full year GDP forecast at 5.8% for 2006 and 6% for 2007, supported by resilient private consumption, sustained export growth and continued recovery on the global semiconductor front. The top five categories in advertising spending were telecommunications, retail, toiletries, automotive and finance. Source: Adoi Malaysia, 8th January 2006