Tuesday, 24th April 2007

HEADLINES OF THE DAY

Ousted Thai Prime Minister Plots Next Soccer Takeover Bid

Deposed prime minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, is hoping to buy Manchester City having failed with a bid for Liverpool in 2004. Shinawatra is preparing a £92.2-million ($184.4-million) bid in conjunction with partners from China and the Middle East, claims www.hi-thaksin.net, the website launched by associates of the former prime minister. Thaksin’s lawyer said that he was aware of the story but had yet to speak to his client about it.

Manchester City said in February that they were in ‘preliminary discussions’ with possible investors which could lead to an offer being made for the club. Thaksin, who is valued in the region of £560 million, registered his interest in acquiring a stake in Liverpool in March 2004 but then withdrew his bid in June of the same year. He has also been credited with interest in other English clubs. Source: Football Insider, Sportcal, 23rd April 2007

Related Excerpts: Thaksin in Man City Takeover Bid

Source: Telegraph UK, 24th April 2007:
City yesterday remained tight-lipped about the link to Thaksin but the Thai is believed to have made initial contact with the club, although he has yet to provide any concrete proposals for club chairman John Wardle and his fellow directors to consider. Wardle, together with David Makin owns almost 30% of the club, has made no secret of his willingness to sell his share-holding in an effort to attract fresh investment to the City of Manchester Stadium, and negotiations with an unnamed American consortium are believed to have been going on for some months.

Source: The Times Online, 24th April 2007:
The pro-Thaksin website set up by his supporters claimed that Mohamed Al Fayed, the billionaire owner of Fulham, was involved in talks on behalf of Thaksin, who, it also claimed, had partners lined up in China and the Middle East, where he is at present on holiday. A spokesman for Thaksin suggested that the 57-year-old would hold a press conference to discuss the reports on his return to London, where he is in exile.

Source: The Star Malaysia, 24th April 2007:
Local media reported that Thaksin had already bought Manchester City, currently languishing at the bottom of the premiership, for six billion baht (US$184mil) with the help of investors in China and the Middle East. The same papers said that Fulham owner Mohammad Al Fayed, a friend of Thaksin, had also helped with the purchase.


DID YOU KNOW…?

Global Positioning System technology made its broadcast debut at the LPGA events starting with the recent SBS Open in Hawaii. The system was integrated on the Golf Channel and ESPN2, and starts a multi-year partnership between SkyGolf and the LPGA. SkyGolf leverages the convergence of GPS, Internet, mobile handsets and proprietary content, and the SkyCaddie GPS system provides TV audiences with real-time data.

The SkyCaddie GPS rangefinder serves as the official rangefinder for LPGA events, and analysts and reporters have access to the system. Using SkyGolf’s IntelliGreen technology, viewers have access to a range of data such as driving distances and positioning, distances needed to clear or lay up in front of fairway hazards, and exact distances to the front of the green and the back of the green from any angle. Source: Sports Media, 23rd April 2007


WHAT’S THE BUZZ?

Strengthen That Wall for 85” Plasmas

Hitachi is about to launch an 85” Plasma, and while not cheap it is a sign that prices are falling. Not so long ago it would have cost a King’s ransom to fund a Plasma at much over 70”, and such monsters would be limited to exhibitions and trade shows as well as the lobbies of some media operations. These huge models have in the past been hand-fabricated to special order, and special prices to match.

Hitachi is now mass-producing models up to and including 85”, with Hitachi saying the market for ultra-large Plasmas will double to 20m units a year over the next 4 years. Hitachi has a 20% market share in the Plasma sector. It doesn’t deny that LCD displays will remain dominant in the TV market, but there’s a niche for well-heeled fans to buy models up to 100” across provided target prices can be kept down to under $10,000, it thinks.

Panasonic still supplies the top-sized Plasma, at a mind-blowing 103” across. But if the two can compete vigorously, and volume production brings prices down, then few doubt there’s a buyer’s market where size really does matter. And $10,000 is only £5,000, and it is not so long ago that 42” Plasmas cost that sort of sum! Source: Rapid TV News, 23rd April 2007


INFO BOX

Google Beats Microsoft, Coke in Brand Stakes
Source: Ken Radio, 23rd April 2007, Also on Guardian Unlimited, ZDNet Asia

Google has beaten Microsoft to being named most powerful global brand of 2007. It's the second year in a row that a tech brand has beaten household names such as Coca-Cola, Marlboro and Toyota. Google ranked first with a brand value of more than $66bn, nearly double its value in the 2006 ranking from Millward Brown Optimor. Microsoft came in third at $55bn. Other tech companies in the top 10 are China Mobile in fifth and IBM in ninth.

Other tech companies featuring in the top 100 list include Nokia (12th), HP (15th) and Apple (16th). Out of the complete top 100 listings, finance is the most dominant vertical with one in four coming from that sector. Technology is second, with one in five brands, and retail is the third most popular sector. One of the key drivers to improve a company's brand is innovation and that's where technology brands tend to score very well.

The 10 most powerful global brands of 2007 plus brand value:
1. Google - $66.4bn
2. General Electric - $61.9bn
3. Microsoft - $55bn
4. Coca-Cola - $44.1bn
5. China Mobile - $41.2bn
6. Marlboro - $39.2bn
7. Wal-Mart - $36.9bn
8. Citi - $33.7bn
9. IBM - $33.6bn
10. Toyota - $33.4bn


SPORTS SHORTS

* India’s Tata Sky has dropped 13 channels from the Zee bouquet. Zee had insisted on Tata Sky taking all 32 channels although they wanted only 19. A ruling by TDSAT has adjudicated that Tata Sky is not obliged to carry all 32 channels on their service. The discontinued channels include Zee Sports. TDSAT held in its order of March 31, 2007, that a DTH operator forced to take all channels and pay for them, would naturally pass the cost on to consumers. Source: Exchange4Media, 24th April 2007

* Malaysia has retained the right to host F1 races until 2015. "We have secured a 5-year extension from 2011 to 2015," Mokhzani Mahathir, chairman of the Sepang International Circuit is reported to have said. The move comes despite concerns about its course. Mokhzani said there were plans for an upgrade that would include building an "automotive-related theme park with bike and go-kart tracks." Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, 23rd April 2007

* China hopes that 3G permits will help balance a market skewed in favor of mobile operators. Ministry of Information Industry vice chairman Xi Guohua, said that licensing decisions were not linked to ongoing trials of the home-developed TD-SCDMA network. The market favors mobile operators although expansion into rural markets is denting profits for fixed-line firms. The launch of 3G licenses and the chance of the rollout happening this year look increasingly distant. However, executives close to the four major telcos still expect licenses in 2007. Source: China Economic Review, 23rd April 2007

* NFL will keep games on their own NFL Network, despite rumours that they were considering putting the rights out to tender. The league was to re-tender its eight-game, Thursday-Saturday package, presently broadcast on the NFL Network, as it had been unable to agree carriage deals with major cable operators Time Warner and Cablevision. But it has been confirmed that the games will continue on the NFL network for the duration of the present deal, which expires in five years. NFL Network pays $400 million a year for the package. Source: Sport Business, 23rd April 2007

* Premier League chief, Richard Scudamore, believes next season's bumper television deal should lead to a reduction in ticket prices. A number of Premiership clubs have already announced freezes or reductions for the 2007-08 season, when a new three-year media rights deal worth more than £2.7 billion kicks in. “The clubs have choices with that extra income but the League is not going prescribe what choices they make but a lot of the clubs are considering the attendance-marketing issues,” Scudamore told BBC Sport’s Football Focus. Source: Football Insider, 23rd April 2007

* PolarisSports and YDreams have launched a mobile game featuring Cristiano Ronaldo on Celljump’s new plug-in device for mobile phones, the Media Content Provider, which transfers the game and other content directly onto wireless devices such as mobile phones, smart phones and wireless PDAs, without having to go online. Entitled Cristiano Ronaldo’s Underworld Football, sees Ronaldo and his team given superpowers to take on a team of monsters in a game of football. Source: Sports Media, 23rd April 2007


MORE NEWS

Japan/Broadcaster: Tokyo TV Squabble

A fierce boardroom battle is raging at Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), Japan’s third-largest broadcaster. Rakuten, which operates online shopping services, bought 15.46% of TBS about 18 months ago and made no secret of its intention to acquire TBS. It has since acquired further shares and now holds 19.86% and says it wants more.

However, as part of the original purchase its TBS shares were bought with strings attached including placing half the shares into a trust while it continued general discussions with TBS. Those talks have apparently gone “nowhere”, and while Rakuten says its intentions are not hostile it also wants to boost its stake and work with TBS to maximise longer-term benefits to both companies. Rakuten would also like to be seen as TBS’ ‘equity-valued affiliate’, and thus eligible to see the broadcaster’s proportional earnings incorporated into Rakuten’s numbers.

Part of this strategy is also to see a couple of Rakuten placed as non-execs on the TBS Board, including Rakuten’s president Hiroshi Mikitani. The move by the retailer has caused ructions, including TBS threatening to implement a ‘poison pill’ defensive strategy. There’s a TBS shareholders scheduled for June where these elements will be aired. Source: Rapid TV News, Asia Pacific Broadcast Union Official, 23rd April 2007

India/Broadcaster: Zee TV Cautious on HDTV

Essel Group’s CEO Mahesh Bhandani says India’s consumers are buying flat-panel TV sets as enthusiastically as anywhere else. However, this is not likely to lead to any near-term launch of HDTV, he says. Essel Group owns the Zee TV, India’s largest pay-TV operation. “Sooner or later we will see HDTV enter this market, but the sort of time frame it will take, while on all of our minds, is far from clear just yet.”

Bhandani was speaking ahead of Saturday’s results for Zee Entertainment Enterprises, which reported a 33% jump in consolidated net profit. Chairman Subhash Chandra said: "the operating margins have improved to 25 per cent in Q4 FY 07 and this has been achieved despite the disruptions in the quarter, because of the cricket world cup and intense competitive activity.” Chandra said Zee TV had registered 1.9m subs, and was on target to hit 3m next year. Source: Rapid TV News, 23rd April 2007

Asia/New Media: China, India to Lead Mobile Growth by 2011

Global Insight has announced the findings of its inaugural report produced by its new Telecoms Intermodal Forecasting Service. The report concluded that China and India will remain the world's growth engine for wireless services, accounting for 60% of the 1.2 billion predicted new mobile subscribers over the next five years. The report compares 20 leading developed and emerging markets between 2006 and 2011, and predicts that over the next 5 years, market penetration of wireless services will grow from 34.8% - 69.1% in China; and from 13.4% - 31% in India.

China will also outpace the other 19 markets in broadband growth, accounting for more than one-third of the 350 million-plus new subscriptions over the next five years. By 2011, China would have revenues of more than $19 billion and four times the subscribers currently, and will surpass Japan as the world's second-largest broadband market. However, the US will continue to maintain its position as the world's largest mobile and broadband market by revenues over the forecast period.

More than $50 billion will be lost worldwide over the period due to fixed-line subscriber declines and the migration of voice traffic to mobile and Voice over Internet Protocol networks. A 4.5% decline is predicted in traditional fixed-line accesses as growth in China and India fail to offset the erosion of traditional accesses in markets like Japan, South Korea, and Europe; the latter has already seen extensive migration of accesses from fixed lines to mobile. Source: Indian Television, 23rd April 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: UFC Seeking to Pin Down HBO Deal

HBO said it has not yet inked a deal to distribute content from the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed-martial-arts franchise, despite published reports to the contrary. UFC president Dana White was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying the organization finalized a deal with HBO to televise UFC events beginning this summer.

HBO spokesman Ray Stallone would only say that the network has “nothing to announce” regarding a UFC deal. He did confirm that the two companies have been in discussions regarding a carriage deal. A HBO deal would be a major coup for UFC, which exploded onto the television marketplace over the past two years through its pay-per-view offerings and its original Spike TV series, Ultimate Fighter.

HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said recently that the pay service -- which is known for its pro-boxing franchise -- said UFC has a great fan base and is “here to stay.” He added that the success of mixed martial arts has not come at the expense of boxing. Source: Multi Channel News, 20th April 2007

Elsewhere/New Media: MediaZone Aces Wimbledon Deal

Online broadcaster MediaZone has renewed a deal with the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club to deliver the 2007 Wimbledon Championships on Wimbledon.org. Last year MediaZone and the AELTC collaborated to deliver the Wimbledon Live broadband video service to offer a range of content including live and video-on-demand coverage of more than 300 matches from up to nine courts concurrently.

Three free Radio Wimbledon channels of live commentary and 10 hours of classic archive footage were also offered, and the service in total attracted more than 2.2 million unique visitors worldwide. Wimbledon.org is designed, built and managed by IBM. The site is also home to the Wimbledon Live service, created in conjunction with MediaZone. Live online coverage of the 2007 Wimbledon Championships begins June 25. Source: Sports Media, 23rd April 2007

Elsewhere/General: Controversy over Draw for Women's World Cup

The draw for the Women’s World Cup in China this year sparked controversy when North Korea were extracted from the draw and assigned a place in Group B along with Nigeria, USA and Sweden, apparently in a politically-motivated decision to avoid an early clash with host country China. Fifa insisted that the decision was made by the organising committee. Worawi Makudi, Women’s World Cup chairman, said that the decision was made ‘after careful analysis and study.’ The move means that North Korea cannot play China before the semi-finals.

The other three groups are as follows: Group A – Germany, Japan, England, Argentina; Group C – Norway, Ghana, Australia, Canada; Group D – China, New Zealand, Brazil, Denmark. The tournament is scheduled for September 10 to 30, 2007, and will be played in five Chinese cities: Wuhan, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin. Source: Sportcal, 23rd April 2007