Tuesday, 9th January 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Copa America Draw Put Back

The Copa America organising committee have postponed the draw of the competition following a facility inspection delay. The draw, initially scheduled for February 8, will now take place on February 14 after the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) was forced to delay the final inspection of the nine Venezuelan cities and their stadia.

Inspections were due to be held on January 27, but were delayed due to different commitments by the committee, which is also involved in the Under-20 South American Championship. Organisers also said that games involving host Venezuela will be staged in San Cristobal, Merida and Barinas, while defending champion Brazil will play matches in Caracas, Maracaibo and Barquisimeto. The Argentinians will play in Puerto la Cruz, Maturin and Puerto Ordaz. The other sides competing in the Copa will be Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and United States.

The organising committee has also announced that no alcohol will be allowed inside stadia and their surroundings. The tournament's security chief, Raul Baduel, declared that this measure has been taken to prevent violence in the stadia and the surrounding areas and stated that fans under the influence of alcohol will be ejected. The world's oldest national team tournament has been played since 1916 and this year's edition will be held for the first time in Venezuela, from June 26 to July 15. Source: Football Insider, 8th January 2006

Italian Watchdog Pushes For Collective TV Rights

Italy's antitrust authority, urged the Italian football authorities to work towards a return of the collective selling of TV rights for Serie A. "The system of sales of television rights and the distribution of money accentuates the economic disparity between the big and small clubs," said a statement issued by the antitrust authority after an investigation into the business dealings in Italian football.

"The return of collective television rights would ensure a much tighter championship. There needs to be more cooperation from the clubs and more dialogue between the FIGC (Italian football federation) and Lega-Calcio (The Italian football league)." Italian clubs have been able to negotiate their own individual deals since 1999.

Last season 14 Serie A clubs threatened to boycott matches against Juventus (who have since been relegated to Serie B for match-fixing) AC Milan and Inter Milan after a proposed reform to the existing law governing TV rights was blocked by the then Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, owner of AC Milan.

The antitrust authority also said it would also like to see the end of the January transfer window, arguing it too gives an unfair advantage to the bigger clubs that are in a better financial position than the smaller teams to strengthen their squads. Source: Sport Business, Rapid TV, Sportcal, EUFootball.biz, 9th January 2007


INFO DIGEST

Info Box – The Acronyms Defined
* IPTV - Internet Protocol Television
* DTH - Direct To Home
* HDTV - High Definition Television
* NTSC – National Television System Committee (television format)
* PAL – Phase Alternation Line (television format)
Source: Acronym Finder


SPORTS SHORTS

* Fuji TV was the top-rating network in Japan in all three time categories in 2006, its third consecutive victory. According to Video Research, Fuji scored 14.2% in "golden time" (7 pm to 10 pm), 14.5% in "prime time" (7 pm to 11 pm) and 9.3% for whole day. Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) came second for the first time since 1988, with 12.8% in golden time and 12.7% in prime time. Nippon TV, which was ratings leader from 1994 to 2003, was second in the whole day category with 8.5%. Fuji was No.1 for 12 years, from 1982 to 1993. Source: Television Asia, 8th January 2007

* In the USA, Fox pays about US$712 million annually for rights to National Football Conference, CBS pays about $622 million a season for American Football Conference games, NBC pays about $650 million a year in the first season of its new Sunday Night Football and ESPN (which has taken over Monday Night Football (MNF) from ABC (both owned by Disney), pays about $1.1 billion per season. Source: Sports Media, 8th January 2007

* Brazil will take on Portugal in an international friendly at Barclays Premiership club Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on February 6. The fixture was announced by the Brazilian Football Confederation on Thursday but no venue was confirmed at the time. It will be a second visit to the Emirates Stadium for Brazil, who played Argentina in a friendly there in August. Source: Sportcal, 8th January 2007

* The International World Games Associations today launched the bidding process for the 2013 World Games with a record 19 cities from 13 countries expressing interest hosting the event. Potential bidders are: Antwerp (Belgium), Barcelona, Sevilla (Spain), Birmingham, Edinburgh, Rotherham, Sheffield (UK), Budapest (Hungary), Chuncheon (South Korea), Denver, St Paul (USA), Doha (Qatar), Dublin (Ireland), Moscow (Russia), Perth, Sydney (Australia), Singapore, Siauliai (Lithuania) and Kiev (Ukraine). The next games will be in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2009. Source: Sportcal, 8th January 2007


MORE NEWS

India/Rights: Supreme Court Tells ESPN to Call On It

The Supreme Court told ESPN-STAR Sports that it could approach it in case the latter finds itself being coerced by the Central government for not sharing its exclusive feed of the just concluded India-South Africa cricket series with Prasar Bharati. The court disposed of the application holding that with the statement of the government, nothing survives in the application.

ESPN-Star Sports had last week stated that it had filed a writ petition in the Delhi High court seeking to quash the downlinking guidelines, issued in November 2005, compelling the television channels to share the telecast of all matches, even if they were played outside India. This petition was subsequently shifted to the apex court.

The petitioner had said that though it had exclusive rights for the telecast of the matches, it apprehended that the government would penalise the channel by invoking the provisions under the downlinking guidelines. Prasar Bharati had requested it to share the Star-ESPN feed with Doordarshan's terrestrial channel and proposed sharing of revenue in the ratio of 75:25.

ESPN-Star Sports had said it would be willing to share the dirty feed (the signal along with advertisements and logo) provided Prasar Bharati paid Rs 35 million for one-day internationals as compensation for loss of subscription revenue. It was apparent that Prasar Bharati only wanted to make money and was not really interested whether the public were able to watch cricket matches or not, the petitioner had argued. Source: Indian Television, 9th January 2007

Malaysia/Broadcaster: Measat - Astro Extend Deal

MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd has signed an interim Transponder Lease Agreement with Astro (MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd) for initial Ku-Band transponder capacity on the recently launched MEASAT-3 satellite.

Astro will lease an initial 5 Ku-band transponders in the Malaysian Ku-Band beam from the start of commercial operations of the satellite, expected 1 February 2007. The interim agreement was signed pending finalization and Astro’s shareholder approval of the long-term TLA for MEASAT-3 satellite capacity which lays out Astro's broader requirements for capacity over the 15 year satellite life.

The MEASAT-3 satellite provides C-band coverage to over 100 countries, representing more than 70% of the world's population; and the most powerful Ku-band Direct-to-Home (DTH) coverage for more than 160 million TV households in Malaysia, Indonesia and South Asia. Source: Television Asia, 8th January 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Limited Television Coverage of Handball World Championships

German viewers look set to be deprived of handball’s men’s world championships in Germany after Sportfive, the international sports marketing agency, failed to strike a deal for games not involving the host nation. Public service broadcasters ARD and ZDF signed a deal in October for Germany’s matches plus the final but, with just 11 days until the tournament starts, the remaining rights have not been claimed.

DSF, the privately-owned sports network, fell short with a bid of around €200,000 (US$260,000) for the rights and rejected Sportfive’s offer to negotiate further, arguing that there was not enough time to prepare for the event. Sportfive, which agreed a €33 million deal for all of handball’s world championships between 2006 and 2009, now looks set to offer the remaining games online on a pay basis, available via the official tournament website and the International Handball Federation website. Source: Sportcal, 8th January 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

South American Launch to Fame

Two years ago Lionel Messi used the South American Under-20 Championship as his springboard to glory. The same tournament also threw up the Chilean sensation Matias Fernandez, who has just made his debut for Villareal, and Wigan's Luis Antonio Valencia. The 2003 version revealed Liverpool's Mark Gonzalez, Messrs Tevez and Mascherano, Daniel Alves, Daniel Carvalho and Dudo Cearense of Brazil, PSV's Peruvian striker Jefferson Farfan and many more.

Held every two years, the South American Under-20 Championship is the mother lode - the greatest collection of young footballing talent on the planet. The current version has just kicked off in Paraguay - and it looks like being the most challenging ever.

For a start there's the venue. January is high summer in Paraguay - it is hot enough to build up a sweat sitting in the shade sipping a fruit juice. Then there is the workload. If they make it into the second round, the teams that started on Sunday face nine games in 22 days. Colombia, who kick off on Wednesday, have the punishing prospect of nine games in 19 days.

Then there is the prize. At stake, as ever, are four places in the World Youth Cup, which will be staged in Canada this July. This time, though, there is an added attraction - or burden. Last month it was announced that this tournament will also serve as the qualifiers for the 2008 Olympics. This was a bolt from the blue.

Normally South America stages an under-23 tournament to decide its Olympic teams and one had been planned for Ecuador next year. But, for reasons that have not been made clear, this was hurriedly scrapped. Instead, events in Paraguay this month will determine which two teams will represent the continent in Beijing next year.

This was a late imposition which has piled extra pressure on the youngsters currently in action in Paraguay. It means there will be no respite and there is plenty to play for until the final ball is kicked on 28 January. This is especially true for Brazil, where the Olympic gold medal is an obsession. It is the only title Brazil have never won and they are desperate to add it to their collection.

In their coverage of the current tournament, the focus of the Brazilian media is overwhelmingly on the place at stake in the Olympics and not the World Youth Cup. In football terms, the latter is a far more credible tournament, but Brazil have already won it four times. The Brazilian youngsters certainly felt the pressure in their first game against Chile on Sunday as they went a goal down at the end of a truly horrific first half.

Some moments of individual brilliance - two wonderful goals from Leandro Lima and a pair of chillingly efficient finishes from Alexandre Pato - gave them a 4-2 win. But with Argentina, Colombia and hosts Paraguay sure to be strong, the Olympic place cannot be taken for granted. Older Paraguayans have a saying: In summer, if you see something moving after lunch then it's either a dog or a Brazilian.

The joke comes from the fact that Brazil, with its Portuguese heritage, does not share in the more Hispanic habit of the siesta. This year those dogs might have more company. There will be no time for afternoon naps for South American players dreaming of glory, or European scouts filling their notebooks. Tom Vickery comments on BBC Sports, 8th January 2007

Club World Cup Could Help Football Popularity

FIFA's World Club Cup, held in Japan from Dec. 10 to 17, could soon become a world football showcase, highlighting some elements not available in other tournaments. There were a variety of styles and philosophies. There was a surprise winner, Internacional of Porto Alegre in Brazil, led by teenaged Alexandre Pato.

And, for the third tournament in a row, there was genuine competition between most of the teams on display. Only Oceania's representative, the part-time minnows of Auckland City, looked out of their element. FIFA's tournament featured a balance of superstars and new talent, all competing for a world title – held annually.

The World Club Cup can give FIFA some force in club football. FIFA had been pushed to the background by UEFA, which has built up the Champions League to the point that its total revenues from that competition alone are around GBP 600 million each season. FIFA's annual income is almost solely dependent on the traditional, every-four-years World Cup. Even in a non-World Cup year such as 2003, FIFA generated 59.2 percent of its revenues from broadcast and advertisement rights for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The World Club Cup can diversify FIFA's revenue source and allow it to bite into UEFA's hold on club football. It offers a chance to spread its brand to India and China, which have one-third of the world's total population. Both are becoming stronger economically, are in the process of building large middle classes, and their sporting cultures are still highly susceptible to global trends, especially that of China. In China alone, state broadcaster CCTV estimated that the 2006 World Cup was to have around 10 billion viewers cumulatively. Both countries, though, are minor football nations, each with only one World Cup qualification – India in 1950 and China in 2002.

The economic and political barriers for hosting a World Cup would not be the same for the World Club Cup, which is smaller in size. In terms of the popularity of football in India and China, allowing the nations to host the World Club Cup would increase media and public interest.It also would help make football a truly global game, with the large populations of China and India taking notice. Without popularity in world's two biggest nations by population and perhaps culture, football cannot truly purport to belong to the entire world. It's FIFA's big chance to make it a global game and a profitable one. And by tapping the right markets with the right tool, it's all possible. Commentary on EUFootball.biz, 9th January 2007