Tuesday, 8th May 2007

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

AFC Slam Manchester United

AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam has launched a stinging attack on Manchester United, calling them “disrespectful” and demanding that they cancel their Asian tour. The pre-season tour in July clashes with the Asian Cup Finals, prompting Hamman to suggest the new Premier League champions put something back into Asian football instead of grabbing its money.

“Cancel your tour – this is the message on behalf of the whole Asian football family, all our players, our coaches,” he said on the sidelines of the Asian Football Confederation Congress in Kuala Lumpur. “It is disrespectful. We expect Manchester United to look for something more than money. Asia is giving them so much money during the on-season. One month every four years and they cannot spare it to not play in Asia?”

Hammam fears the presence of Manchester United will divert attention away from the July 7-29 Asian Cup – the region’s flagship competition being co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Last month, United announced their warm up for the 2007-2008 season with a tour that takes them to Japan, South Korea, Macau and Malaysia.

They plan to kick off against J-League champions Urawa Red Diamonds on July 17 in Saitama before travelling to Seoul for a showdown with FC Seoul on July 20. Alex Ferguson’s team is then due to head to Macau for a match against Shenzhen on July 23, before ending the tour in Kuala Lumpur on July 27 against a Malaysian XI.

Hamman said that the Asian Cup dates were set by FIFA and each association hosting matches had signed guarantees not to promote or hold any other football games throughout July and for three days after the Cup concludes. He suggested that the FA of Malaysia (FAM) could face disciplinary action but reserved his harshest criticism for United, who were handed the league title on Sunday when Chelsea could only manage a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

“We are trying to encourage spectators to watch Asian football but it looks like the people at Manchester want to fight this idea and corner this market. We can prevent them legally in Malaysia but I don’t want them to play in South Korea, Japan or China either.” Hammam had been in touch with the Football Association as early as last September about the tour and initially received assurances that it would not clash. Hammam added that he had the support of FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Source: The Star Malaysia, Antara News Agency Indonesia, The Peninsula Qatar, Bloomberg, Int. Herald Tribune, Reuters UK, 8th May 2007

Related Excerpts: Manchester United’s Asian Tour

Source: The Guardian UK, BBC News, 8th May 2007
"We agreed to stage the Asian Cup in July so that it did not clash with any European leagues and they would not have to release any Asian players," said AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam. “These big teams are welcome to come to Asia …- they can bring much that we need and I welcome them before the Asian Cup and after, but not during our biggest tournament.” "Whenever Manchester United play, broadcasters and sponsors are going to pay for that. We cannot compete with that. To come to Asia at this time is not fair play at all."

The AFC and Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) signed an Organising Association Agreement in November, under which Malaysia were to guarantee the Asian Cup would not battle for publicity with other football events. The terms of the agreement were from 10 days before the Asian Cup to three days afterwards. Bin Hammam said it was out of the question that Malaysia would be stripped of their co-hosts status and would not speculate what punishment could be meted out to the FAM if United's tour goes ahead.

FAM president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said last month that Malaysia's Asian Cup responsibilities ended on July 25, when they host one of the semi-finals. United's match is two days later and so there is no conflict. "There won't be a clash and furthermore, the Manchester United tour is part of Visit Malaysia Year and Malaysia's 50th year of independence," Shah told local media.

Source: Al Jazeera English, 7th May 2007
Meanwhile, bin Hammam hailed Australia's contribution to Asian football since moving from the Oceania Confederation in January 2006, saying it had proved beneficial for both sides. Australia's change of confederation has given them a fairer qualifying route into the World Cup and has also allowed them to compete in the Asian Cup. “They have brought a lot to Asia - image and reputation for our competitions. They have brought more sponsors and television revenues. They have also brought a high level of football," bin Hammam said of Australia.

However Kuwait has led calls in parts of the Arab world for Australia to be thrown out of the AFC, saying it was a big mistake to admit them in the first place, with bin Hammam saying those suggestions were mistaken themsleves. "Maybe one voice has been raised against Australia but not all Arab countries. At the AFC Congress, when we voted for Australia to be part of Asia the 45 nations voted yes," he said. "Australia are now enjoying a high standard of competition and it is a win-win situation."


SPORTS SHORTS

* Abu Dhabi-based operator Etisalat has ramped up 100,000 mobile TV users in 8 weeks. Subscribers to Etisalat’s ‘Star’ 3G service can pick up 14 Arabic and English TV channels, and over 100,000 users have signed up in less than 2 months. Channels on offer include Abu Dhabi Sports, Dubai Sports, Abu Dhabi TV, Al Arabiya TV, BBC World, CNBC Arabiya, Emirates, MBC, Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera International and Sama Dubai, plus a pair of special sports channels covering cricket for the sports-mad United Arab Emirates. Source: Rapid TV News, 7th May 2007

* The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) announced that Singaporean media companies clinched $128 million worth of co-production and distribution deals at MIPTV, doubling the US$54 million secured at MIPCOM 2006. Animation companies based in Singapore had the lion’s share of the deals struck. Source: Worldscreen, 7th May 2007

* Mobile service company Mig33 is offering a simple way to text, IM and make cheap voice calls. With 4 million subscribers in eighteen months, mostly in South East Asia, many use it as their only way to access the Web. Significantly, this is not a technology company and uses standard technology, followed with clean execution. Customers can use Mig33 to text and IM for free and share information in chat rooms. Mig33 gets paid when customers buy a pre-paid card to use for voice services. Voice calls are made over VoIP and Mig33 takes a cut for the service. Source: Ken Radio, 7th May 2007

* Neo Sports will supply Raj Television Network Ltd. feeds in Tamil and Telugu for the India-Bangladesh cricket series, kicking off on 10 May. The telecast will be on Raj TV and Vissa TV. The series comprises 3 one-dayers and 2 Test matches. The feed will carry Neo Sports’ logo bug and terms are still being worked out. Meanwhile, live coverage on Neo Sports will include pre, mid and post match shows targeting the youth viewer, called Extra Cover. Neo Sports has also signed well known TV anchors Archana Vijaya and Neha Sareen. Source: Indian Television, 8th May 2007

* Kim Clijsters is done with tennis at 23. The former U.S. Open champion, once ranked No. 1, initially planned to quit after the season. Now, with injuries having exacted too much and her thoughts turning to family and a "new life," her retirement is immediate. Still ranked No. 4, Clijsters said she was wary of the injuries that have led to fatigue, lack of motivation and a decline in play. Clijsters was Belgium's first tennis player to reach No. 1, holding the spot for 19 weeks in 2003. Source: Associated Press on Sports Illustrated, 6th May 2007


MORE NEWS

Don King: Duva Places Winning Bid For Maskaev-Peter

Dino Duva defeated purse bids from Don King and Dennis Rappaport to clinch the rights for the Oleg Maskaev vs. Samuel Peter showdown. Dino, Don and Dennis personally made the trip to the World Boxing Council’s downtown offices in Mexico City, to see WBC President Jose Sulaiman open the envelopes at high noon.

Dino, who was chewing on a telegraph pole sized cigar, came first with a bid of $3.2 million. King, who was holding a smaller unlit cigar closely followed with $3.1 million. Dennis Rappaport who didn’t have a cigar was third with $2.5 million. And Russian Promoter Yuri Federov of Sports Laboratory, who was not present, was fourth with sent bid of $2.25 million. The purse split will be 55 percent to 45 percent. Fight date location have to be named by May 27th.

Dino who won the bid for his fighter said: “It’ll be a tremendous, competitive, and significant fight which will shape the future of the heavyweight division. Hopefully Sam Peter wins the Championship, and brings the glory back to the heavyweight division. As for Sam, I’ve been preaching for the last two or three years that Sam Peter will be the best heavyweight in the world and I think he has become the best heavyweight in the world. But now he’s got to prove it.” Source: Boxing Scene, 7th May 2007

Global/Business: $77bn Frenzied Friday!

May 4 might well go down in history. There were more media-related merger and acquisition activity announced on that day than in a normal year. Top of the list, in monetary value, are the talks between Microsoft and Yahoo! where the former is seeking a $55bn acquisition of the search engine. Second, is the $16bn bid from Thomson Financial for Reuters. Third set of names are the bunch of private equity funds looking to pick up music publishers EMI, for $6bn.

Behind the numbers, Wall Street and City analysts think some sort of relationship between Microsoft and Yahoo! is more likely than a full merger. Reuters shares soared by a third last week on market rumours, raising their price to an impressive £8bn ($16bn), while EMI received three separate expressions of interest from private equity operations. Source: Rapid TV News, 7th May 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

TV's Staggering Sum is Now Small Change
John Henderson comments on The Guardian Observer, 6th May 2007

In May 1992, Rick Parry, the chief executive of the fledgling Premier League, could not contain his excitement as he referred to 'this staggering sum' in the announcement of the league's first TV deal. He would have struggled to find the right words had he known how much more staggering they would become.

That original deal was worth £304m over five years and the Premiership's 22 founding clubs could start making the sort of investments that would transform the English game's upper tier. The upward spiral since meant the Premiership champions' return from TV money alone has risen from barely £2m to a predicted £50m next season. Sky, the upstart satellite company who, like the Premier League, were looking to make their way, took a huge punt by paying the major share of the 1992 deal - £190m for exclusive live coverage of 60 Premiership matches a season.

The price was driven up to its supposedly staggering level because ITV's main man, Greg Dyke, who had secured the previous deal, badly wanted to hold on to live football. One of those who helped to thwart him 15 years ago was Alan Sugar, whose company Amstrad were principal suppliers of satellite dishes to the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky.

During a break in negotiations, and with ITV threatening to frustrate Sky, Sugar was allegedly heard shouting down the phone that they had 'to blow 'em out the water'. Later he claimed the call was to a female acquaintance, which made Dyke wonder aloud about the company kept by the then chairman of Tottenham. It was Dyke who first ratcheted up the ante. He paid £44m of ITV's money for 18 live Football League matches a season from 1988-92. This worked out at more than half a million a match, more than double the old amount, while Sky's winning offer in 1992 put a price on each match of £633,300.

That first Sky deal was bulldozed through by the station's tougher-than-tungsten boss, Sam Chisholm, who so frightened one of his lieutenants that he psyched himself up for meetings with Chisholm by listening to The Ride of the Valkyries. Chisholm's determination to secure the Premiership brought the rewards he suspected it would: raising Sky's profile, driving dish sales and eventually producing profits through subscriptions that put to flight any speculation that Sky might not survive.

With Sky determined to hold on to the TV rights, the Premiership clubs (reduced to 20 in 1995) stood to reap even greater benefits from the next sale. Sky were sufficiently well stashed to bid £670m for the four seasons 1997-2001, which put a price of £2.8m on each of the 60 matches a season. Manchester United did best in terms of TV money from the first year of the Premiership, banking £2.4m from the 1992-93 season. By the final season of the second contract in 2001, the champions' TV windfall was £20.42m.

Parry's 'staggering sum' was put further in the shade as the price per match soared past the £5m mark. This figure has slipped back because the European Commission insisted on more live transmissions and an end to Sky's exclusive live coverage, although they will still have by far the greater number of matches when they share output from next season with the Irish pay-TV firm Setanta. With overseas rights factored in, the total the Premiership will receive from 2007-10 is £2.7bn - and the top clubs will become even more staggeringly well-off.