Wednesday, 28th November 2007

SPORTS SHORTS

* Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed bin Hammam believes the continent has a chance to win the hosting rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but only if the region unites behind a solitary bid. Asia has hosted the World Cup on one occasion previously, when Japan and South Korea shared the rights in 2002, but Australia, Japan and China have all been linked with possible moves to hold the event after FIFA announced the end of its hosting rotation policy. Source: Football Insider, 27th Nov 2007

* Oliver Kahn is on a quest to look for new goalkeeper talent all over Asia – especially in China. He started his quest in Shanghai, last Friday. Oliver Kahn is used his new Chinese website, www.kingkahn.cn, to invite aspiring goalkeepers all over China to send in a short video of their skills. Winners of this video competition together with selected players from Tongji University and the Ping-Liang Lu Di Si Xiaoxue, were selected to get some insider tips from Kahn, during the practice session, last Friday. 162,000 visitors saw the Oliver Kahn webcast and there were TV specials on Oliver Kahn nationwide. CCTV followed every step of his visit. Shanghai Media Group (SMG) also did a 20-minute special feature on him. On Saturday, SOHU did a 1 ½ hour live web-casting. Source: Mass Distribution News Wire, 26th Nov 2007

* Singapore and the Philippines today entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster greater ties between their respective media industries. The agreement covers areas of media policy and information exchange, training and human resource development, co-production and mutual exchanges. It was signed ahead of the Asia TV Forum and fosters greater collaboration among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Earlier, the region witnessed the launch of the ASEAN Media Portal, an online platform that showcases and facilitates the exchange of cultural information and media content among member states. Singapore has also sealed media co-operation MOUs with three other ASEAN countries: Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand. Source: Worldscreen, 27th Nov 2007

* French football’s Ligue de football professionnel (LFP) will launch its long-awaited domestic TV rights tender on Friday according to French media reports. The league’s present deal is worth €600 million a year with pay-broadcaster Canal Plus. The new deal will run from 2008-09 to 2011-12. The league can finally launch the tender after receiving permission to sell its rights for a four-year term from the French competition authority last week. According to French media reports, the league will offer 12 packages. Last time around the league sold its rights in just four packages. Source: Sport Business, 27th Nov 2007

* Setanta is close to a clean sweep of rights away qualifying games of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the 2010 soccer World Cup, in deals with the sports agencies Sportfive and Kentaro, who were acting on behalf of the soccer associations of the home teams. Setanta also acquired rights for all of England’s away games except their game against Ukraine. Other teams in England’s group are Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra. Setanta earlier agreed a joint, four-year deal with ITV worth £425 million ($874 million) to show the England soccer team’s home international matches and the FA Cup, beginning in 2008-09. Setanta’s share of the rights fee is believed to be £150 million. Source: Sportcal, 27th Nov 2007

* A Celtic Cup involving Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland has moved a step closer to reality after all four national associations agreed “in principle” to a biennial tournament starting in 2009. The agreement commits the countries to arranging three tournaments, played on a league basis. Home and away games will be rotated from one tournament to the next, with each team playing three matches per tournament. Commercial arrangements and fixture dates are now being finalised. Earlier on Monday, Nationwide Building Society threw its weight behind such a tournament by offering an annual prize fund of £500,000 for an annual Home Nations Cup. Source: Football Insider, 27th Nov 2007

* The PGA Grand Slam of Golf, the event contested by the winners of the season’s four major tournaments, will take place on the island of Bermuda for the second successive year in 2008. The 36-hole stroke-play competition will again be held at The Mid Ocean Club in Tucker’s Town on October 14 to 15. The event was held in Hawaii from 1991 to 2006. This year’s tournament was won by US Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina who beat British Open winner Padraig Harrington of Ireland in a play-off. Source: Sportcal 27th Nov 2007

* Centrebet has launched what it says is the first mobile phone wagering product in Australia, allowing customers to place bets via their mobile phone. The company expects half of its clients will be regular users of its new mobile phone wagering service within two years, and hopes it will lead to increased betting turnover for Centrebet and a broadening of its customer base. The product, developed in collaboration with mobile technology specialist Mfuse, offers free software that lets a customer use their mobile phone to check the latest live sports and racing odds and place bets. Source: Sports Media, 27th Nov 2007


MORE NEWS

India/Rights: BCCI Sets Base Price for Indian Premier League Rights

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has set a reserve price of $59 million per year for the domestic media rights to the Indian Premier League, a new Twenty20 competition due to start in April. Asian media giants ESPN Star Sports, Nimbus Communications and Sony Entertainment Television are competing for the property and can bid for a five or ten-year period, according to BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi.

The broadcasters made presentations to the board on November 20 and tender documents will be issued in the next few days. Bids must be received by December 20 and, using the base price, the board can expect to earn at least $295 million over five years. By comparison, Nimbus paid $612 million for the rights to India’s home international matches for four years up to 2010.

The IPL will involve eight franchise teams, comprising top domestic and foreign players, competing in a total of 56 matches for $3 million in prize money. Two English soccer clubs are said to be among the bidders seeking to own a team, the price for which starts at $50 million.

Indian media company Zee Telefilms has been excluded from competing for the media rights after its parent company, Essel Group, launched its own Twenty20 competition under the banner of the Indian Cricket League.

The six-team tournament commences on Friday and also involves a mix of home-based and overseas players. However, it has undermined by the BCCI, which has refused to sanction the event and threatened to ban Indian players who turn out for the matches at Panchkula, near Chandigarh. The league’s biggest signing is former West Indian captain Brian Lara who has this week called for the competition to be recognised. It has emerged today that foreign stars who take part in the ICL could also be recruited by IPL teams, but no such provision is being made for Indian players. The ICL's Twenty20 competition runs until December 16. Source: Sportcal, Indian Television, 27th Nov 2007

South Korea/Broadcaster: KT Closer to IPTV

Korea Telecom (KT) could have a “full” IPTV service up and running in the first half of 2008. South Korea is now one step closer to “full” IPTV – linear channels, not just video-on-demand after a special committee of the National Assembly last week approved a bill allowing operators to offer real time channels over telecoms lines. The bill is expected to pass through a full sitting of Parliament before the end of 2007.

There are two on-demand services already on offer over telecoms lines from South Korean telcos – KT’s Mega TV and Hanaro Telecom’s Hana TV. Combined, the two have around 1 million subscribers already. Seong Jang-hyun, a manager with KT Media, told a Korean newspaper that a full IPTV service would be possible in the first half of next year. .

However, there will be limits on an IPTV operator’s growth, partly to help protect the cable TV sector. Each telecoms firm will be limited to providing IPTV to a third of information technology customers in each of the country’s 77 service zones. Korea’s cable association vigorously opposes the move to allow telecoms operators onto their turf. Source: Rapid TV News, 27th Nov 2007

Elsewhere/Rights: TV Record Puts Down a Marker with European Championships Deal

TV Record, the Brazilian commercial broadcaster, has today demonstrated its commitment to top-level soccer by agreeing a deal to televise next year’s European Championship in its home market. The network has secured the free-to-air rights to all 31 matches to be played in Austria and Switzerland and will also transmit the draw for the finals, highlights and magazine programmes.

A similar deal has been reached with Meridiano, a commercial broadcaster in Venezuela, where the popularity of international soccer has been boosted by the staging of this year’s Copa America. The negotiations were conducted by Sportfive, the international sports agency which is distributing the rights to Euro 2008 on behalf of Uefa, European soccer’s governing body.

Record is becoming increasingly competitive in the market for major sports rights and is said to have offered to pay R$500 million ($273 million) a year to replace TV Globo, the powerful Brazilian media group, as the broadcaster of the country’s top league from next year. The offer compares with the R$300 million a year that Globo pays under the present deal. Record has already agreed a deal worth around $60 million to televise the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2012 summer games in London. Source: Sportcal, 27th Nov 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS, INTERVIEWS & OPINIONS

Sports Broadcast Ad Market to Grow to Rs7 billion This Year
Ashwin Pinto & Sibabrata Das Interviews Rukin Kizilbash for Indian Television, 26th Nov 2007

It has been a busy and somewhat testing time for Ten Sports. Last year Zee took a 50% stake in its parent Taj Television while this year the channel has had to make do without any India cricket showcase. As a result, it has had to push other properties. Additionally, a plethora of cricket rights that it holds come up for bidding in the coming months. Interview excerpts:

How has not having India cricket this year impacted Ten Sports?
It has impacted us quite a bit. It is a fact of life that things are not as smooth without India cricket. For each India series you make in the region of Rs 700 million to Rs 1 billion. Last year, Ten Sports had one series. The year before, there were two. However our reach and GRPs have not been impacted. This is in part due to WWE (wrestling). Our reach is at 30%. Next year should be better though as we will have India's tour of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.

But wouldn't it be a crucial phase for Ten Sports as two prime properties - Pakistan and Sri Lanka boards - come up for bids next year?
It will be a crucial 12 months for us as the rights for Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies come up for renewal. But we expect to renew our contracts.

Will the acquisition price for these rights shoot up with Sony back in the race and the others showing hunger to pocket more cricket properties?
I don't think that the acquisition price will shoot up drastically. India, after all, visits them just once in four years. So when you buy board rights, you basically buy one India tour. It is not like the ICC events where India always participates.

Why is it that you recently bought the South Africa rights for just one year?
We got the rights for South Africa and Zimbabwe for one year. We will hopefully get these rights for five years once the current period gets over. India visits South Africa in 2010.

Is cricket saturated in terms of ad rates?
No! We believe that the spot rate can keep going up. To give you a parallel, in the US a 30-second spot for the Super Bowl sells for $2.5 million. For us it sounds unbelievable but in the US clients like Budweiser and Microsoft are willing to spend $25 million on one match. They create campaigns just for that event. An India series costs $4 million to sponsor. So there is room to grow. We sold the India Pakistan series last year for Rs 350,000 for a 10-second spot. I believe that ESPN Star Sports sold the final of the T20 World Cup for Rs 750,000 per 10 seconds. The next India versus Pakistan series could see spots sold for Rs 500,000 per 10 seconds - or even more. Advertisers realise that India cricket is the only way to reach the entire country at one shot. Even the highest rated soap does not reach the entire country. Its primary audience is the Hindi belt.

Which is why the sports broadcasting market is going to see ad revenue growth this year?
We expect the sports broadcast ad market to be in the region of approximately Rs 7 billion this year, up from Rs 4.5 billion a year ago.

In terms of rates, how do India cricket series stack up against each other?
India versus Pakistan would be number one, followed by the series against Australia. A series against South Africa would be third. Clients need India cricket to create a big bang. Also a lot of the ad rates depend on when a series is held. Is it coinciding with the summer season or Diwali?

To what extent did T20 rejuvenate cricket?
It turned the sport upside down. It is certainly worth a lot more from an advertisers perspective than a 50 over ODI. The ratings for the T20 World Cup were double what you got for the India Australia ODI series. There is a lot more viewer retention as it lasts for just three hours. The instant cricket that T20 offers fits in with today's lifestyle.

Have ratings gone up for other sports?
Not substantially. There has been some growth though for tennis, soccer. Moto GP has also shown a decent jump. We have gone from maybe 0.2 to 0.4.

And what about ad rates?
We are seeing a surge in football. When we telecast the World Cup in 2002, we got an ad revenue of $2.5 million. We believe ESPN Star Sports got around $8.5 million this World Cup. The ad revenue you get from a non-India series like Australia versus South Africa is probably about the same as what you make for a season of Uefa Champions League.

How do you view the opportunities for broadcasters to grow other sports in India?
The opportunities are there for other sports to grow. Soccer, hockey, tennis are doing quite well, which we are trying to develop. Having said that, Indian cricket drives the sports broadcasting space. The challenge is to take the other sports on par with India cricket. We have to figure out how to deliver more TRPs and revenues from these sports. India will evolve from being a one sports nation but it will take time - and a lot of marketing effort from sports broadcasters to push these properties.

Can you offer an example of a non cricket sports event that has grown through nurturing?
A good example of nurturing is the soccer World Cup. The response it got last year surpassed all expectations. When EPL first started airing in India not many people were familiar with it. It has developed over the years due to sustained coverage. We will be doing the same with our properties including motorsports.

What marketing innovations are being done by Ten Sports to push these events?
We are doing an On Tour innovation. This is a six-month on-air promotion and the sponsors are Tata Sky, Idea and McDonalds. We take four contest winners each month for a different event. We started off in September with WWE in Paris. In October we took them to Kuala Lumpur for the MotoGP. This month is the Uefa Champions League and next month is Sri Lanka Cricket. In January, we will be featuring South Africa cricket. In February, there will be horse racing in Dubai. And we are marketing them in different ways. I would rather say that the Olympics as an event was bigger in the 1970s and 1980s compared to now. For next year I have heard that ESPN is looking to air it, besides DD. If that happens then the event will get a bigger marketing push that usual. Still the fact that Indian participation in the Olympics as well as performance is limited means that interest will accordingly be limited.

What are the rights you have recently bagged?
We have bought the soccer rights to the Dutch and French leagues. We believe that if we nurture them they can over the next three years reach the status of EPL. In terms of upcoming rights, the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam rights are currently being bid for. Wimbledon rights come up next year.

There is a trend of sports broadcasters doing long-term deals with a few clients. Is Ten Sports examining this route?
No! We prefer to do yearly deals as we know exactly what is on our calendar. Also if you do a long-term deal, you do not know what the ad rates will be the next year and the year after that. You could be under-selling. Another issue is that if I say lock in Pepsi for three years, then I exclude Coca-Cola and who knows? Maybe next year Coca Cola ups their marketing budget and launches three new products. I miss out on that action. With long-term deals you run the risk of ticking off companies by blocking them completely off the channel. These companies will then be more than happy to hop on to a rival channel.

How do you see the ICL and IPL faring?
ICL will rock. At the moment there is some uncertainty as it is a new format. But once it starts, it will catch on in a big way. You have established names, good production values, good stadium facilities. There will be Bollywood glamour. So it will be a fun experience for the family. While it is early for me to say anything about IPL, I don't think that they will get in each other's way. One initiative is from the governing body while the other is from a private player trying to boost the game's popularity and reach. They can co-exist.

After acquiring stake, why did Zee decide to sell ads through Ten Sports for its own sports channel?
We already have a dedicated ad sales team in place. We are selling ICL for them. We are selling it on air while they are selling it on-ground. Sometimes we package some of Zee Sports' properties along with our channel. At other times like for Indian soccer, it is done separately. It also depends on the client. If say someone like an LG is spending Rs 10 million, he may want to split it between the two channels. So we work out a package. We have products that Zee Sports does not have and vice versa. So it helps us sell better. It is a joint effort in terms of sales.

Are you looking at organising a sports event at a grassroots level?
Yes! We are working with Zee. We have identified three sports and we are deciding how to go about things. We might create an event from scratch or we might associate with an existing one and take it to another level. Zee is working with soccer. ESPN is working with hockey. We too are looking at a sport.

In terms of other sports, do you see soccer or hockey becoming a number two sport?
It is difficult to say which will come out on top. Hockey has picked up with our recent win and the whole Chak De spirit. Unfortunately, we are not playing in the Champions Trophy. Hockey has had its ups and downs. In terms of soccer, the Champions League is taking off. Both sports will depend on how India fares at them. But currently, soccer is bigger than hockey.

How is Ten Sports gearing up for new media? And is marketing on the mobile going to go beyond just SMS?
We are planning to do this next year. We are talking with Idea and Reliance in terms of how to take this forward. We are looking for a bigger platform.

You did a film innovation last year where you aired sports films. Are you planning more of the same?
Absolutely! We are planning to have the next batch soon. It is a question of getting sports movies. We are currently showing a series Simply the Best. Each episode looks at a great sports person like Sir Donald Bradman, Jesse Owens. Mohammed Ali, Sachin Tendulkar.

Is a one-sport channel like a Golf channel economically viable with new distribution platforms like direct-to-home emerging?
I think that a couple of years down the line it will be. When DTH reaches 5 million homes, you will see niche channels dedicated to topics like cooking, golf, travel and action adventure coming up.