Monday, 12th November 2007

HEADLINE NEWS

ESPN Star Sports, IMG and M-League in FA TV Deals in Asia

ESPN Star Sports, the pan-Asian sports broadcaster, IMG, the international sports and entertainment agency, and M-League, a Malaysian sports agency with backing from a Thai broadcaster, have acquired international rights to broadcast and/or distribute England’s home soccer matches and the FA Cup in Asia, the Football Association has announced. The lion’s share of the rights, covering the seasons 2008-09 to 2011-12, was retained by ESPN Star Sports, the broadcaster jointly owned by News Corporation and Walt Disney. ESPN Star Sport holds the rights under the present four-year contract, expiring at the end of this season.

However, ESPN Star Sports lost the rights in India to IMG, which thus gained a foothold in distributing FA rights for the first time in its own name (CSI Sports, the agency taken over by IMG at the start of this year, was previously a partner of the FA). IMG also acquired the rights for distribution in Japan, taking over from Japanese advertising agency Hakuhodo, which distributed the rights under the present deal. It is understood that IMG's sales operation in the territories will be led by Michael Mellor, head of IMG Media, Asia Pacific.

ESPN Star Sports also lost the rights in Thailand, where the M-League agency is thought to have already struck a deal for the broadcaster UBC to acquire at least some of the rights. Jonathan Hill, the FA’s group commercial director, said: ‘We are delighted that we have renewed our relationship with ESPN Star Sports in what was an intensely competitive market and we look forward to continuing to grow our brands in Asia with ESS's significant marketing support and leverage.

Stuart Turner, the FA’s head of broadcast, added: ‘We are pleased to be continuing our relationship with IMG who have a very strong presence in Japan and the sub-continent and we are thrilled to have a new agency partner in M-League who are committed to maximising exposure of the property in the key market of Thailand.

ESPN Star Sports said that, under the new deal, it will, for the first time, have exclusive rights to show matches on digital media platforms, including www.espnstar.com, www.espnstar.com.cn, www.espnstar.com.tw, mobileESPN and the soon-to-be-launched STAR Sports Mobile.

The FA has already announced that it has agreed enhanced deals with existing agency and broadcasting partners in order to increase income from the sale of international media rights by more than £100 million ($208 million) over four years.

Sportfive, the international sports agency which currently distributes the rights to England home matches and the FA Cup knockout competition in Europe, is among the companies to have agreed new contracts.

The FA said that it has secured more than £145 million ($300 million) from deals covering the period from 2008 to 2012. This is a 275-per-cent increase on the £38.5 million generated last time round. Having already secured £425 million from a domestic tie-up with UK free-to-air broadcaster ITV and pay-television operator Setanta, a 42-per-cent increase on the present deal with rivals the BBC and BSkyB, the FA claims it is more financially secure than ever before. Source: Sportcal, Sport Business, Worldscreen, 9th Nov 2007


SPORTS SHORTS

* Glasgow will host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, winning the vote by a 47 to 24 ahead of Nigerian city Abuja. The 71 Commonwealth member countries voted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after the two cities their final bid presentations. President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Michael Fennell made the announcement. Glasgow had been the clear favourite to host the games since the withdrawal of Halifax in Canada in March, saying it could no longer provide funding for a bid. The Scottish city was highly praised by the technical evaluation report from the Commonwealth Games Federation, while Abuja was found wanting in certain key areas including transport, accommodation and financial matters. Abuja relied on the emotional pull to stage the Games in in Africa for the first time ever – but it was simply not enough. Source: Sports Business, Sportcal, 9th Nov 2007

* Badminton Association of Malaysia and IEC in Sports have signed a long-term agreement to maximize the international broadcast of the $200,000 Malaysian Open Super Series Badminton event. The event, next scheduled for January 14-20, 2008, is already confirmed to be telecast across Asia. For the first time, broadcast into Russia, Denmark, France, United Kingdom and USA is also confirmed. Highlights will also be included on ‘Road to Beijing’ and ‘World of Badminton’ two of the IEC produced television magazine shows. Malaysian Open will also be streamed live on www.WoB.tv and available in all markets where live television broadcast is not scheduled. Source: Sport Business, 12th Oct 2007

* MP & Silva and Dentsu have concluded deals with 24 Asian broadcasters and telecom operators for the media rights of Italy’s Serie A. The agreements covers 16 territories – spanning across the majority of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bhutan, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Companies that have signed major deals with MP & Silva and Dentsu include Japanese pay-TV operator, SKY PerfecTV!, China terrestrial network, CCTV, Korea-based MBC ESPN, Chinese pay-TV, Eurosoccer TV, and Indonesian free-to-air broadcaster, TRANS TV. Source: Sport Business, 12th October 2007

* Nimbus is reportedly questioning the right of the Board of Control for Cricket in India [BBCI] to sell the broadcast inventory to its new Twenty20 competition on the open market. According to India’s ‘The Economic Times’, Nimbus is claiming that the launch of the new BCCI-sanctioned Indian Premier League competition will detract from the value of its comprehensive broadcast rights contract with the BCCI. In 2005, Nimbus acquired the rights to all international matches played on home grounds plus domestic competitions for $612 million for five years to 2010. Nimbus has reportedly asked BCCI to refund the entire domestic component of the deal or award the IPL rights to Nimbus. Source: Sport Business, 8th Oct 2007

* ESPN Star Sports is on the acquisition trail in India, according to Manu Sawhney, its managing director. Sawhney told the India Times: ‘We are evaluating synergistic buys across various platforms including TV, internet, digital, broadband and mobile platforms. The existing dynamic environment in the country has thrown up various possibilities and business models.’ Sawhney denied that cricket is the sole sport that interests Indian fans, saying that ESPN Star sports is also focusing on soccer, field hockey, tennis, motor sports and even carom, an Indian table game. Source: Sportcal, 9th Oct 2007

* Star TV has two new local partners for the Thai version of Channel [V], following the channel’s previous partner divesting its share. Thai pay-TV operator TrueVisions (formerly UBC) will take 26% and multimedia group GMM Media 25% of the music and youth entertainment channel. Attaphon Na Bangxang, Chief Program and Content Officer, TrueVisions, said: "We have been distributing Channel [V] Thailand for more than a decade, watching it blossom into a top-rated music channel on our platform. We see tremendous growth potential for the brand and are excited about playing a part in its future development." Source: Rapid TV News, Worldscreen, 12th Nov 2007

* A number of the world’s leading news organisations did not cover the first day of the first cricket Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Brisbane on Thursday after a row kicked off between a coalition of media agencies and Cricket Australia (CA). The coalition claims it is unhappy that CA is insisting that agencies should pay for the right to licence photographs of its events. The media grouping also says that limits imposed by CA on distribution of news and images to online publishers are unfair. CA insists it is acting to protect its commercial value in a “changing media landscape”. Source: Sports Media, 9th Nov 2007

* Japan is to consider a bid to host soccer’s 2018 World Cup after Fifa, the world governing body, decided to scrap its continental rotation policy. Saburo Kawabuchi, chief executive of the Japan Football Association, told Kyodo, the Japanese news agency, that, ‘it is difficult to say whether Japan could bid for the 2018 World Cup but it is worth letting the world know that it is something we are going to look into.’ The JFA is to set up a committee to look into the possibility of bidding. Source: Sportcal, 9th Nov 2007

* Golf’s European Tour is preparing to announce staging the richest-ever tournament in Dubai, with a prize of $20 million at stake over four rounds, according to the Guardian. The new tournament is set to form part of Dubai’s drive to become a premier sports destinations. The prize fund comprises $10 million for the tournament itself, with the other $10 million to be divided as bonus money among the highest-ranked players of the 2009 season. The tournament is backed by the government of Dubai. The increasing number of tournaments that form part of the European Tour in the Middle East and Asia has led to a debate about a name change, possibly to the ‘World Tour.’ Source: Sportcal, 9th Nov 2007

* German public broadcaster, ARD, has paid a reported €5 million ($7.05 million) for the rights to soccer’s 2008 European Championship qualifier between Ireland and Germany. The deal is one of the largest ever for a single match for the the Football Association of Ireland, according to Irish newspaper the Sunday Business Post. The rights to Ireland’s home games are owned by the FAI and distributed by Kentaro, the Switzerland-based sports rights agency. Ireland’s match against Germany on Saturday at Croke Park, Dublin, will also net the FAI around €1 million from pitch-side advertising. Source: Sportcal, 8th Oct 2007

* The BBC has renewed its deal to broadcast rugby union‘s Six Nations championships up to and including 2013. The early renewal came with two more tournaments still to run (2008 and 2009) and is reportedly worth £160 million over the four-year term. “We're used to television audiences edging down because of the sheer volume of competition from the rest of the media,’” said Roger Mosey, director of BBC Sport. “But the Six Nations has bucked the trend. We've set new records in both of the two most recent years, and there's been a picture of growth since the whole of the tournament came back to the BBC.” Mosey said that a total of just under 30m saw some of the 2007 tournament, and the peak audience - 8m for Ireland v England - is still higher than any figure achieved up to the quarter-final stage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Source: Sport Business, 11th Oct 2007

* The BBC has renewed its deal to broadcast golf’s US Masters ‘major’ tournament for a further three years. The deal marks a return to a three-year contract for the BBC, after the previous one was restricted to one year only amid reports that British Sky Broadcasting was bidding to snatch rights from the public-service broadcaster. The BBC said that the agreement provides ‘television, radio and online rights.’ The rights have been held by the BBC since 1986 and head of sport Roger Mosey said today that 10.2 million viewers tuned in to the broadcaster's television coverage this year. The deal follows its agreement to pay £160 million ($325 million) to show rugby union’s Six Nations Championship for a further four years, beginning in 2010. Source: Sportcal, 12th Oct 2007

* ESPN is to air the first two rounds of golf’s US Masters, one of the sport’s four ‘majors,’ in 2008, replacing rival cable channel the USA Network, as organisers seek to boost audience figures. The same scheduling restrictions will still be imposed on the first two rounds in 2008, with ESPN only allowed to broadcast three hours per day. The length of the ESPN deal was not revealed by Augusta National Golf Club, the rights-holder, although contracts have been restricted to one year in length in the past. CBS, the US national network and incumbent rights holder for the weekend’s rounds, is reported to be lining up a $3-million bid to retain the weekend rights in 2008. Source: Sportcal, 11th Oct 2007

* The DFL, the German Football League, is set to more than double its revenue from international broadcast rights when it begins marketing the rights itself. The DFL is to take the rights in-house from the 2009-10 season onwards, and is set to generate €42.5 million ($62.4 million) a season, compared to €18.2 million at present, reports Kicker, the German soccer magazine. Media revenue for the top-tier Bundesliga during 2007-08 amounts to €446.7 million, 4.1 per cent of which came from international revenue. The overall media figure is set to rise to €453.8 million in 2008-09, while the average annual figure for 2009 to 2012 will be €538.9 million and €613.9 million from 2012 to 2015. Source: Sportcal, 9th Nov 2007

* The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has signed a US$6 million sponsorship deal with pay-TV network GTV, a move that gives the Council a major financial shot-in-the-arm. The four-year deal represents easily the largest single sports sponsorship agreement in the region and sees GTV secure exclusive broadcast rights to all CECAFA tournaments, including its showpiece Senior Challenge Cup and club championship. GTV will also pay for the travel, accommodation and prize money of participating teams in tournaments and help promote the game in the region. Source: Sports Media, 9th Nov 2007

* TF1 France will make a profit on its €50 million outlay on the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The broadcaster has brought in €47 million in advertising revenues after the q-finals and with the French team playing England in the semi-finals. TF1 paid €80 million for the rights for the 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cups, €40 million for each event. Production costs for the 2007 World Cup are reported to have cost around €10 million. TF1 has shared coverage of the 2007 tournament with cable and satellite channel Eurosport covering 28 of the 48 matches. TF1 beat the highest ever viewing figure for a rugby match with the quarter-final between France and New Zealand. The match brought in an audience of 16.6 million. If France make the final, TF1 will sell 30 second advertising slots at €175,000. If France fail to beat England in the semi-final, the slots will still sell at €83,000. Source: Sport Business, 9th Oct 2007

* The UCPF, the Union des clubs professionnels de football, has asked the French league to suspend its TV rights tender. It has asked league president, Frédéric Thiriez, to delay launching the tender until the French authorities have made a definitive decision on the duration of any new contract. The LFP had hoped to be allowed to sell its rights from the 2008-09 season for a period of five years, rather than the current restriction of three years, in an attempt to entice telecoms operators to bid for rights. The French competition regulator denied the league’s bid, but the issue is now being assessed by the sports minister. The UCPF said that it is important that the authorities take into account the changed TV landscape in France, since the merger of the country’s two pay-TV operators, and allow the league to sell the rights for an extended period of four or five years. Source: Sport Business, 9th Oct 2007

* The recently-launched www.livegoals.com sports website, has kicked-off a new GameCentre service, which will feature up-to-the minute information on football matches around Europe. The service will feature live commentary, individual player statistics, line-ups and data from all the major European football leagues. In a statement, the site said it would seek to expand its service over time. Source: Sports Media, 9th Nov 2007

* A groundbreaking initiative in US squash is to be launched with the creation of the Players Cup Squash Circuit, which will group together five world-class professional tournaments from 2008. The circuit is sanctioned by the Professional Squash Association and will culminate with the first-ever Players Cup Playoff event. The circuit will run from January to March, culminating in the final event in Boston on March 4-7. Six competitors will qualify for the Players Cup based on their cumulative prize money earned in the five preceding series events, while two players can earn a place through local qualifying events. Source: Sportcal, 8th Oct 2007


MORE NEWS

Hong Kong/Broadcaster: i-Cable Opens Stores

Hong Kong triple-play provider i-Cable has outlined a new sales strategy – going straight to the consumer with the planned opening of retail outlets. In an attempt to give itself a boost in the fiercely competitive Hong Kong market, i-Cable has opened what it says is just the first in a chain of prime high street retail stores. Market leader i-Cable has in recent years been under siege from PCCW’s Now TV IPTV service, with both operators neck-and-neck. i-Cable has 830,000 pay-TV subscribers with Now TV’s “installed base” at 818,000, although only 560,000 of those are currently paying for content.

I-Cable plans an initial 10 stores, with the first already open and another two due in the next two months. The move will “not only inject new vigour into the sales operation, but also bring i-Cable closer to its customers and enhance i-Cable’s presence in the community,” according to parent Hong Kong Cable Television’s executive director, Benjamin Tong. The stores will act as showrooms, allowing prospective customers to sample offerings as well as purchasing electronic products including mobile phones, laptops and TVs to receive the services.

Tong added: "This re-alignment is the result of months of careful deliberation. The stores will significantly expand our sales coverage area and enable prospective subscribers to sample our services." Source: Rapid TV News, 15th Oct 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: BSkyB Set to Face Competition for Football League Rights

Setanta, the international sports broadcaster, is expected to offer serious competition to rival pay-television operator BSkyB is the bidding for rights to English soccer’s second-tier Football League beyond the 2008-09 season. The tender for the next three-year period has now gone out and the league stands to benefit financially from the demand for the three live packages, according to the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

In June 2005, BSkyB saw off a challenge from Setanta and extended its contract with the Football League by three years at a cost of £110 million ($224 million). The current agreement includes regular matches in the Coca Cola Championship, the Carling Cup and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Setanta has since snapped up the rights to 46 live matches per season in England’s top-tier Premier League to add to its comprehensive coverage of the Scottish Premier League and may up the stakes in a bid to add the Football League to its expanding sports portfolio.

BSkyB retains the rights to 92 live Premier League matches per season and has been the main broadcasting partner of the Football League since 2002 when it stepped in to fill the breach left by the collapse of ITV Digital, which previously held the live rights. Source: Sportcal, 12th Oct 2007

Global/Rights: IRB Plans to Launch Tender while Iron Is Hot

The International Rugby Board, rugby union’s world governing body, is reported to be considering striking while the iron is hot and issuing a tender for the media rights for the Rugby World Cups of 2011 and 2015, as the present edition of the tournament, deemed by most observers a success, draws to a close in France. Present media rights deals covered this tournament and the previous one, held in Australia in 2003.

In the UK, commercial broadcaster ITV paid £40 million ($81 million) for the 2003 and 2007 editions, but the BBC, flushed with its success this week in retaining the rights for the annual Six Nations Championship for four years from 2009, could also launch a World Cup bid. However, it is reported that both the BBC and ITV would seek assurances from the IRB that the 2015 tournament will be held in either Europe or South Africa, time zones that would ensure good television ratings for their coverage. Source: Sportcal, 12th Oct 2007

Elsewhere/General: Nine Eyes Olympic Revival

David Gyngell’s return to Australia’s Nine Network as CEO seems to be having an immediate effect. The ailing network has shown signs of revival, winning key Olympic broadcast rights to the 2012 games. Rival Seven Network has broadcast all but two summer Olympics and is covering next year’s event in Beijing, so the deal represents a major coup for Nine.

Significantly, the network joined with Foxtel to agree a deal encompassing not just free-to-air, but also pay-TV, mobile and internet rights. The rights, which reportedly cost over US$100 million, cover not just London 2012 but also the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Foxtel is planning six dedicated channels including high-definition coverage and will also offer mobile and internet broadcasts via its Foxtel Mobile and Foxtel Broadband offerings. Nine will broadcast three channels – its regular analogue channel plus two digital channels.

Nine and Foxtel are no longer so closely linked after Foxtel parent PBL sold down its stake in PBL Media, which owns the Nine Network, to just 25%, with the remainder held by CVC. PBL also owns 25% of Foxtel. But that seems to have been no barrier to the companies striking a joint deal for the rights. Source: Rapid TV News, 15th Oct 2007

Elsewhere/General: U.S. Dominates Global Pay-HDTV Market

A new SNL Kagan study on high-definition television revealed that the U.S. leads the global pay-HDTV market with 6 million homes accessing those services via cable, satellite or IPTV subscriptions by the end of this year. However, with the inclusion of free HDTV, the study found that Japan has the largest HDTV base overall, with 9.2 million households by the end of this year. SNL Kagan predicts that the U.S. will take the top slot by year-end 2008 with 6 million additional homes adopting HD. Although the U.S. and Japan are market leaders by volume, Canada and France lead the world in HDTV penetration of pay-TV households.

The study, entitled Global High Definition Television Trends, examines multichannel markets in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. SNL Kagan estimates that the top ten HDTV markets will generate aggregate HDTV video service revenues in excess of $1 billion in 2007, $11 billion by 2014 and $12 billion by 2016. "As competition between cable, satellite and IPTV intensifies, HD programming becomes increasingly important," said SNL Kagan senior analyst Ben Reneker. "At this point, operators are looking for any possible means to get an edge on the competition. In addition to providing a new revenue stream, a strong HDTV lineup offers a powerful bragging right." Source: Worldscreen, 9th Nov 2007