Monday, 7th May 2007

SPORTS SHORTS

* Pan-European sports channel, Eurosport, has agreed a deal with Astro to offer its 24-hour subscription to more than 1.9 million viewers in Malaysia. Malaysia joins Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Philippines in the Eurosport Asia Pacific viewer universe. "Malaysians are enthusiastic viewers and active sports participants. Eurosport provides more than 300 days of LIVE professional sporting events per year," said Arjan Hoekstra, Managing Director of Eurosport Asia-Pacific. Source: Sport Business, 4th May 2007

* Ten Sports has signed a new multi year deal with the BBC to bring English horse racing to the channel. The agreement begins with the 199th running of the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday and the 1,000 Guineas a day later. It also includes the high spots of the English racing year such as Royal Ascot, the Derby, the King George VI and the Oaks. The broadcaster has also extended its agreement for the best racing from Dubai including the Dubai World Cup as it commits to showing the best horse races in the world. Source: Indian Television, 5th May 2007

* TV9, the fourth station under Media Prima, aims to rake in RM45 million in revenue by 2008 through advertising, says chief operating officer, Bukhari Che Muda. Revenue in the first eight months (April to December 2006) was RM20 million, he said at the station’s first anniversary celebrations. He said the station will launch new programmes by September. “We will launch highly-rated drama series like Bong and Cinta Medik,” he said. TV9 has over 7.8 per cent market share, making it one of the fastest-growing stations in Malaysia. Source: Business Times Malaysia, 3rd May 2007

* Research by Deloitte’s Sports Business Group reveal that promotion to Premiership is now worth £60m. Last season, promotion was worth £40m, but new broadcasting deals, worth £2.7bn over the next three seasons, have driven figures to new heights. A senior consultant in the Sports Business Group said promoted clubs will receive about £30m in the Premiership. Relegated clubs at the end of the first season will get a "parachute" payment of £11m for the next two seasons. In addition to the £50m from the Premier League, the clubs can also expect increased revenues through ticket sales and improved sponsorship income, amounting to an extra £5m to £10m in the first season. Source: Guardian Unlimited, EUFootball.biz, 3rd May 2007

* Irish pay-TV station Setanta has confirmed that Angus Scott will front its Premiership football coverage next season, with expert analysis coming from Steve McManaman. Setanta Sports, which paid £392 million exclusive rights to screen 46 games for three years, will share coverage of the league with Sky Sports, which will show 92 games next season. Setanta teamed up with ITV for a £425m deal to share TV rights for the FA Cup and England’s home internationals for four years, beating incumbents The BBC and Sky. Source: Sports Journalists UK, Sport Industry, 4th May 2007

* The WBC light middleweight fight between Floyd Mayweather and Oscar de la Hoya is set to become the highest grossing fight in boxing history and could be worth over $100 million. The pay-per-view bout will be seen in 176 countries and could surpass the record 1.99 million pay-per-view sales (and $99 million) set by Tyson-Evander Holyfield II in 1997. It has already set a record for the biggest live gate at £9.6 million. De la Hoya, 34, is reportedly being paid £15 million and Mayweather, 30, £6 million. Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, 4th May 2007

* Microsoft and Yahoo! have resumed discussions about a possible merger, as both look to take on Google’s dominance online, says the Wall Street Journal. Talks have picked up steam following Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion—Microsoft is said to have also wanted to buy the digital marketing company. For Microsoft, a Yahoo! tie-up would boost its ability to attract advertisers to its online businesses while Yahoo! could benefit from Microsoft’s technical expertise, particularly for its new online ad system, dubbed Project Panorama. Source: Worldscreen, Total Content + Media, Advanced Television, 4th May 2007


MORE NEWS

Elsewhere/General: IMG Sued Over 'Stolen' Battle of the Surfaces Idea

IMG is being sued by a tennis teaching professional who claims that they stole his idea to stage a tennis match between two top players on a court divided into two different surfaces on either side of the net. The 'Battle of the Surfaces' exhibition match, played on Wednesday in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, pitted Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal on a half-grass, half-clay court.

Renata Marcinkowska, a former WTA Tour player, claims in her lawsuit that she received a patent for the idea of a court with two differing surfaces in 2004 and subsequently approached IMG with the idea. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Columbia, claims: ‘IMG did not express interest in the patent at the time.’ A subsequent meeting between Marcinkowska and IMG in which she proposed a match between Federer and Nadal on a ‘hybrid court’ also aroused no interest with IMG, the lawsuit alleges, and the agency did not respond when she learned of the match and tried to prevent it.

IMG told Fox Sports that it had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment. The lawsuit claims patent infringement, civil conspiracy and unfair business practices and requests a jury trial. It does not specify the damages sought. Source: Sportcal, 4th May 2007

Taiwan/New Media: Foreign Holdings Threaten Taiwan’s Broadband Industry

Shih Chun-chi, former chairman of Taiwan’s Cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) warned that foreign investment in three local broadband telecommunications firms via private placement funds may threaten the development of the local broadband telecom industry in Taiwan. Shih spoke at a seminar on "private placement funds" hosted by the Taiwan Thinktank, in his capacity as researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences and Philosophy.

Shih said since 2006, $3.9 billion in private placement funds have been invested to acquire stakes in Taiwan's three major broadband telecoms; namely Taiwan Broadband Communications, China Network Systems, and Eastern Broadband Telecommunications. This accounts for some 70% of total foreign investments in Taiwan via private placement funds. Through these acquisitions, foreign investors have come to own over 75% of cable TV stations.

Shih pointed out an important aspect associated with investing in the three broadband telecom firms via private placement funds, in that such funds haven't taken advantage of their right to control the operations of the telecom firms, and instead have allowed the original management teams to stay on following the acquisition deals.

He urged government investigators to probe the case to see if the private placement funds have remitted investment funds into Taiwan, and then remitted them abroad. But the former FSC chief also noted that since private placement funds are not required to unveil relevant information about the source of the funds, it is quite difficult to find out such information. Source: Telecom Asia, 7th May 2007