Friday, 13th April 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Got Game!

Soccer has been around in China since 200 B.C., cutting its teeth as a professional game there in the early 20th century in port cities like Shanghai and Tianjin. It was forbidden, like most pastimes, during the Cultural Revolution. China nevertheless qualified for the 2002 World Cup thanks to a thin field. Now, its national team ranks 75th in the world behind Asian peers like Japan and Korea, after bottoming at 103rd last year, according to FIFA world rankings

Growing audiences for matches featuring Chinese players are translating into boosted broadcast values in China. The Premiership's latest rights deal with Guangdong Provincial Television's WinTV covers three years for $50 million, 40% more than the bid put in by incumbent carrier ESPN STAR Sports. Prices to stream European soccer over broadband Internet connections are also rising rapidly.

NOW Broadband TV, owned by Hong Kong telecommunications firm PCCW, earlier this year paid $200 million in a three-year exclusive rights agreement to broadcast EPL -- and Europe's 2008 championship tournament--in Asia, an increase of 122% over the previous deal.

For English Premier League clubs, rising international rights fees will fuel 70% growth in broadcast revenue starting next season. Chelsea, after winning the Premiership in 2006, received $56 million from domestic and overseas deals. The team that takes first place in 2008 can expect $93 million, says Deloitte & Touche's sports businesses group.

One reason many Chinese soccer fans favor European teams over the locals is that they love to bet on sports -- and Chinese teams have a history of fixed games. China's first division Super League was racked by scandal last year amid match-rigging and referee payoff scandals. Marcus Luer, head of sports marketing firm Total Sports Asia, calls China's love of gambling "both the life and death of the Chinese Super League."

China's soccer gambling market reached $33 billion in 2006, tripling in two years and surpassing the UK's $30 billion industry, according to estimates from U.K.-headquartered Global Betting & Gaming Consultants. Still, that is only $25 per person in China, compared with $488 in the U.K. Peter Kenyon, chief executive of Premiership club Chelsea, takes issue with outlawing soccer wagers. "There has to be a way of legalizing gambling in China," adding that the British government reaps a windfall taxing gambling revenue in the U.K. Potential gains are enormous. Source: Forbes, Postdated 23rd April 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* In American cable ratings for broadcast television during the week ending April 8, World Wrestling Entertainment’s WWE Raw on USA Network ranked second and third of the week. The Monday 22:00 episode pulled 5.8 million viewers and the Monday 21:00 episode averaged 5.8 million. Those audiences were bigger than for WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown on broadcast television last week. That show on CW averaged 4.33 million viewers, ranking number 85 of all primetime programmes. Source: Sports Media, 12th April 2007

* ESPN has reached an agreement with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) to show the 2007 FIVB World League and the World League finals. USA Volleyball Federation and the FIVB signed the deal with ESPN. The FIVB World League is a men’s volleyball competition in which the world’s best teams are divided into four pools and play for six straight weekends. Source: Sports Media, 12th April 2007

* Officials behind New Delhi’s bid to stage the 2014 Asian Games yesterday claimed that they were confident of winning, on the basis that the games had not been held in India for 32 years. New Delhi is bidding against Incheon in South Korea to host the games. Earlier this week, Incheon claimed to have been promised more than half of the votes of the 45 OCA member states ahead of next Tuesday’s vote to decide the host of the games. The vote will be taken during the OCA’s general assembly in Kuwait City, which begins on Saturday. Source: Sportcal, 12th April 2007

* India’s Reliance Communications will add south Indian operator Sun Networks to its R World mobile TV service. The channel will be a simulcast of Sun’s main Tamil-language Sun TV. R World offers movie clips, TV news, music, cricket and sports fashion, glamour and animation. The tie-up with Sun represents the first broadcast channel to join the platform. Further channels from the company’s 20-channel stable are likely to join R World later. Around 60% of Reliance’s 30 million subscribers are R World-enabled. Source: Rapid TV News, Indian Television, 12th April 2007

* Research and Markets has released a report that says, from a lean base of 0.27 million WiMAX and Pre-WiMAX subscribers in 2006, total WiMAX subscribers in 16 Asia Pacific countries are expected to reach 31.43 million by 2012. Another 7.63 million users are expected to adopt the WiMAX-backhauled Wi-Fi network by 2012. Countries covered are Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Source: Digital Media Asia, 13th April 2007

* As part of commitments to the World Trade Organization, China may issue more than one license for high-speed mobile services. Those commitments mean China cannot favor one technology over another. It would have to be "technologically neutral" and issue more than one license for 3G services. China picked the domestically developed TD-SCDMA as its standards in January 2006. The granting of licenses has been constantly delayed, although China is committed to have 3G available in time for the Olympics. Source: China Economic Review, 13th April 2007

* Gillette will sponsor Fast Cars & Superstars, a 7-episode series on ABC that partners Gillette's Young Guns--six death-defying NASCAR drivers--with celebrities from music, sports and TV. The six half-hour episodes and hour-long finale will be co-hosted by ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne and former Cleveland Cavaliers center and current ESPN Nascar analyst Brad Daugherty. The show's concept is simple: Stock-car drivers will teach celebs like William Shatner, Jewel and Serena Williams about taking hard corners at high speeds, while keeping 3,000-plus pounds worth of metal, pumping pistons and engines from spinning out of control. Source: Media Post, 12th April 2007


MORE NEWS

Thailand/Broadcaster: More IPTV for Thais

Thailand will get a third IPTV service later this year with provincial telco TT&T planning to launch a trial next month, ahead of commercial services before 2008. Thirteen channels will be tested to around 1,000 trial subscribers. TT&T launched an online TV service last June, www.maxnettv.net with content from major Thai channels and video-on-demand from provincial cable TV providers but is now extending that to the TV.

Thailand already has two IPTV operators – state-owned TOT and telco True Corp. TOT’s service is a joint venture with mobile telco AIS, called ADC. The companies forecast last year that Thailand’s IPTV market would be worth Baht2 billion (US$62 million) by 2008, although that figures on the optimistic side. Neither company has released subscription figures for their IPTV services. Source: Rapid TV News, 12th April 2007

India Sub-Con/Business: Taj Television in Executive Restructuring

Five months after Subhash Chandra's Zee Group acquired a 50 per stake in Taj Television (owners of Ten Sports), the Dubai-headquartered channel has reorganised its executive structure. Ten Sports India MD Sharmishta Rizhwani has resigned as of today, as too the company's production head, Steve Norris. A replacement for Rizhwani is yet to be identified and Taj Television vice-president programming and events Peter Hutton now heads production.

Meanwhile, Taj Television head of engineering Steve Halis has been given overall responsibility of operations as well. These developments were confirmed to Indiantelevision.com by Taj Television CEO Chris McDonald this evening. It was in November 2006 that Zee Telefilms (now Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd) acquired a 50 per stake in Ten Sports in an all-cash deal for $57.15 million.

Zee now holds a have controlling interest in Taj TV as in the seven-member board, it has four representatives while Abdurrahman Bukhatir (Taj TV promoter) has three. Zee has the option to hike its stake in Taj TV after 2009. The price of the balance 50 per cent will be decided at that stage by the two companies and an independent valuer. Source: Indian Television, 12th April 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: French Broadcaster in Deal to Acquire Premier League Rights

French pay-television operator, Canal Plus, announced the acquisition of the rights to show English Premier League for the next three seasons. The league was shown by TPS under the previous contract, the rival satellite broadcaster that was acquired by Canal Plus in a merger last year. The merger reduced the competition for sports rights in the country resulting in Canal Plus having to pay 35% less than the fee paid when the rights were last auctioned.

TPS is believed to have paid €10.5 million ($14.1 million) for the rights under the previous deal. The reports have raised fears that the value of the rights of the LFP, the French soccer league, could also be badly hit when they are auctioned this autumn. Canal Plus is presently paying €600 million a season in a three-year deal that ends after the 2007-08 season, having been pushed hard to acquire the rights by competition from TPS. Source: Sportcal, Rapid TV News, Total Content + Media, Reuters, 12th April 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: Three Pay-TV Bidders Expected for Bundesliga Rights

The German soccer league has said it expects to receive offers from at least three bidders for the pay-television rights for the country's top-tier Bundesliga from the 2009-10 season when the invitation to tender is issued later this year. Premiere and Arena, the pay-television broadcasters, have already signaled their intent to bid individually for the next rights contract and there ‘would be another bidder, independent of Premiere and Arena.’

Unity Media, the cable consortium that owns Arena, beat off competition from incumbent Premiere for exclusive live rights to the Bundesliga for three years from this season onwards in a €240-million ($323.7-million) per year deal. The DFL plans to bring the date of the rights tender forward to the end of 2007 in order to avoid a clash with the tender for Germany’s home international matches and the DFB Pokal, the national knockout cup competition.

German public-service broadcaster, ARD, is paying €100 million a year for its Bundesliga highlights rights under the present contract. DFL is said to be worried that the broadcaster, which has a joint €390-million deal ending in 2009 with fellow public-service network ZDF for the international team and DFB Pokal rights, might not be able to afford to renew the two high-profile soccer properties at the same time. Source: Sportcal, 12th April 2007

Elsewhere/Business: Second Major Acquisition in Two Days for IMG

IMG today announced a second major acquisition in two days: the UK-based events organiser Quintus, which organises high-profile tennis events and the London Triathlon. The news follows yesterday’s announcement that IMG had acquired the UK-based speedway motor cycling promoter BSI Speedway. Quintus was co-founded in 1991 by chief executive Peter Worth, who had worked at IMG for 11 years during the 1970s and 1980s.

One industry source today described IMG’s recent acquisitions as ‘a good move,’ pointing out that Quintus had made a successful business out of taking ownership of rights and events such as the London Triathlon, which ‘churn out the money year after year.’ He contrasted this with the former business model, in which agencies often signed short-term representation deals, describing it as the ‘changing face of the business.’

The London Triathlon claims to be the world’s largest, with over 10,000 entrants, including elite-level and amateur races. Quintus took over management of the event when it acquired SBI Group in 2005, which also gave it a sponsorship activation and consultancy capability. Both Quintus and SBI will transfer to IMG’s west London offices later this year, while continuing to trade under their own names.

Quintus also owns the BlackRock Tennis Masters event at London’s Albert Hall, which has featured former champions like John McEnroe and Pat Cash, and is the official hospitality agent for Rugby World Cup in France. Quintus holds a licence for 3D signs that are painted on the pitch at the Cricket World Cup, which appear to be standing upright when viewed through a television camera. Source: Sportcal, 12th April 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

YouTube/Google Send Mixed Messages in Asia

It's not easy being a U.S Internet company in Asia. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have all faced criticism for agreeing to censorship in China. The latest episode features Google Inc.'s YouTube video service, now blocked in Thailand after refusing to censor disrespectful images of the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

"I will order YouTube to be opened up again when these offensive items are removed," Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, government minister for information and communication technology said yesterday. YouTube's claims that it refuses to assist in implementing censorship fell flat in Bangkok. "This talk about freedom of disseminating information to me is very hypocritical because for a powerful country like China, Google has agreed to self-censor."

When it launched Google.cn in China last year, Google agreed to block access to terms and sites not pleasing to the Communist Party. This action put the company that famously pledges to "do no evil," in a seriously awkward position. In the end it agreed to censor, conveniently arguing that it would not help spread freedom of information if Google were booted from the mainland. Nor would it help the bottom line to be absent from the world's largest country.Microsoft has also come under fire for filtering keywords like "democracy" on its China-based portal. Then there's Yahoo, which provided information to Chinese authorities that helped land journalist Shi Tao in jail.

In a lesser known episode, as described by Wired magazine in March, Yahoo provided evidence that helped secure a 10-year sentence for another Chinese man, Wang Xiaoning, who wrote and emailed about politics. In Thailand, deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was widely criticized for eroding media freedoms, and reports that the new government shut down a popular political chat room raise questions about the current climate. But this time, even defenders of free expression have criticized YouTube.

The Nation newspaper, usually a leading critic of media censorship, articulated the view of many Thais in an editorial published yesterday. "We are amazed by the whole episode," the editors write."First, they let somebody insult our King. Then they lecture Thailand on how to embrace the Internet without any reservations." The perception of a double standard only fuels indignation: Google will cooperate with Beijing, but it is much more willing to defend its principles in a smaller market like Thailand.

It's unclear how long this row will last. Perhaps YouTube will be up and running again once Thai authorities feel they have made their point. But there is an important warning in all this for U.S. Internet companies that strike a bargain with the Chinese censors. Maybe those companies can justify compromising their principles once in a while. But don't expect that other countries won't demand the same treatment. Source: The Wall Street Journal commentary featured on Total Content + Media, 12th April 2007