Friday, 6th June 2008

INFO BOX

94% Indians passionate about music: MTV Study
MTV Study published on Indian Television, 5th Jun 2008

Music Matters, the forum for the music industry in Asia, released the third annual MTV study results gauging the music listenership patterns across 12 nations. These lists include, Hongkong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Australia, Vietnam. The last two are new additions this year. The passion for music has increased from 67 per cent in 2007 to 85 per cent this year and this majorly comprise music lovers aged 15-19 occupying as much as 60 per cent. India occupies a prime position with 94%, followed by Malaysia with 83% and the last being China with 77%. Among Indians, 82% like local music and Himesh Reshamiya topped the list followed by Lata Mangeshkar, Abhijeet Sawant, Kishore Kumar and Sonu Niigaam.


SPORTS SHORTS

* International safety service provider Dekra has extended its partnership with the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) by a further two years. The deal ensures the two organisations, which first began their collaboration in 2002, will continue working together through 2009. Dekra will not only be represented on the number panels of every DTM racer, but is also actively involved in the scrutineering of the DTM cars. On site, the Dekra experts check if the cars meet regulations. Clemens Klinke, chairman of the executive board of Dekra Automotive GmbH, said: “DTM stands for innovation, safety and speed - and that’s exactly what Dekra is standing for too.” Sports Media, 5th Jun 2008

* Leading sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports on Thursday said it will take legal action against TataSky alleging the direct-to-home service provider of indulging in arm twisting tactics and eroding brand equity of its channels by 'unilaterally and arbitrarily' discontinuing them. "After the expiry of our agreement in March, we are still providing them signals as we are involved in another litigation with them. Taking advantage of the situation, they are doing whatever they want with our signals under the direction of TDSAT," Mr R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India said. The Hindu Business Line, 5th June 2008

* The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry has accepted the final recommendations by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), with some modifications. The telecom regulator had recommended a draft policy that permits a satellite radio service provider to hold the permission of satellite radio channels. Among its various recommendations submitted by Trai, the ministry has also accepted the government's proposal in the draft policy on restrictions on news and advertisements in satellite radio service. Satellite radio service refers to distribution of single or multi channel radio programmes by using a satellite system which provides encrypted digital radio signals direct to the subscribers' receiver sets. Indiantelevision.com, 5th June 2008

* The Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) has signed a deal with the Kentaro Group for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2010 qualification period and beyond. Kentaro will market numerous FFU qualifying games and friendlies. The news comes ahead of Ukrain’s preparations to co-host UEFA Euro 2012 with neighbour Poland. From September, Andriy Shevchenko and company will have some intriguing World Cup qualifiers, the most attractive coming last, with Ukraine hosting England in October 2009 in the penultimate round of qualifying matches in Group 6. Kentaro will market the television and marketing rights for this game exclusively, as part of an agreement with the TCF agency. Ukraine will also face Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra and in addition, further joint projects are planned with the FFU in the run-up to Euro 2012. Sports Media, 5th Jun 2008

* Infront Sports and Media has increased its involvement in European handball by becoming a marketing partner for the qualification matches for the men’s and women’s European Handball Championships from 2010 to 2015. Infront has handled the television distribution and marketing of the main competition since 1993 and the new deal ties in with an overhaul of the qualification system for the tournaments. Infront will handle the second and third party distribution of international media rights to the qualifiers, spanning television, radio and internet. Infront will distribute those rights exclusively, respecting any agreements that still exist on a national federation level. The deal is intended in particular to assist ‘developing’ handball nations that do not have domestic broadcasting partners. Sportcal.com, 5th June 2008

* The Red Bull Air Race World Series has launched a highlights channel on YouTube. The branded channel allows fans worldwide to watch high resolution film clips featuring previews from commentators Nick Fellows and former Red Bull Air Race pilot Frank Versteegh as well as race action, interviews and news from the World Series. “YouTube have built a name as a ‘first search’ destination resource for moving images for millions of Internet users,” said Kim Bernhard, Red Bull Air Race’s head of TV and new media distribution. “It is our aim with this channel to engage more users and extend our reputation as a provider of high quality moving images.” The channel features reports on races of past and present World Series, behind-the-scene videos, interviews with pilots and race analyses. Sports Media, 5th Jun 2008

* Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired control of the Dutch entertainment company 2waytraffic for $223 million. The acquisition gives SPE new capabilities in the global “light entertainment” market, which includes games, variety and reality shows. Following the deal, Netherlands-based 2waytraffic will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange. 2waytraffic creates, produces, licenses and distributes light entertainment content across television, mobile and digital platforms. Indiantelevision.com, 5th June 2008

* World champion Kimi Raikkonen has admitted he is considering retiring from Formula One when his current contract with Ferrari expires at the end of 2009. With speculation rife that next season will be the Finn's last, he did little to suggest otherwise when asked about his plans ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. Raikkonen, 28, said that for him, the enjoyment he got from the sport had to outweigh the negatives he perceived in Formula One. Sky Sports, 5th June 2008


MORE NEWS

Elsewhere/Rights: Advertising Deal Could Help Belgian League Make Up for TV Rights Deficit

Ligue Pro, Belgian soccer's Professional Football League, is hoping that a €1-million- ($1.54 million-) a-year television advertising and sponsorship deal will help to bridge a financial shortfall after the sale of domestic television rights for the next three years failed to secure the minimum target price of €50 million per season. Earlier this week, the league finally approved a €45.7 million-a-year deal with incumbent rights holder Belgacom, the telecommunications firm, for the top-tier Jupiler League. This was below the set target of €50 million to €65 million but gave Ligue Pro the right to negotiate an advertising deal with a sponsor to support the television coverage.

Ludwig Sneyers, the Ligue Pro secretary general, told Sportcal.com that this deal was likely to include ‘break bumper’ advertisements before and after Belgacom’s coverage of games. He said that a company had offered €1 million per season, but that a deal had not yet been signed. Belgacom acquired all the broadcast rights from 2005-06 to 2007-08 for €36 million per season, before sub-licensing some rights to VRT, the Flemish-language public-service broadcaster, and RTBF, the French-language public-service broadcaster. VRT and RTBF have once more agreed a sublicensing deal with Belgacom for the next three seasons after paying a reported €8 million per season for highlights rights.

Although the value of the deal with Belgacom has increased by almost €10 million per season, Ligue Pro will have to make payments to the URBSFA, the Belgian Football Federation, and to clubs excluded from the top flight after it was agreed that the number of teams in the Jupiler League will be reduced from 18 to 16 in the 2009-10 season. The €45.7 million figure is the average that Belgacom will pay for the next three seasons. Ligue Pro could look to other revenue streams to try and make up for the domestic television rights shortfall, including the sale of international rights to an agency.

Regarding the international rights from the 2008-09 season onwards, Sneyers said: ‘We have some contacts which are willing to buy but we don’t have an agency at this moment.’ In the last contract period, from 2005-06 to 2007-08, Belgacom was responsible for selling highlights rights abroad and co-operating with the league if there was interest in other rights. Sneyers was keen to praise the job that Belgacom has done in televising the league over the last three seasons, claiming that the number of viewers has increased. Sportcal.com, 5th June 2008

Elsewhere/Rights: UK broadcasters sign UEFA Cup deals

UEFA concluded TV rights agreements with Channel Five, ITV 4 and Setanta Sports to broadcast live UEFA Cup matches in the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2012. Five will have the first pick of matches in each round as well as the final and a comprehensive highlights package. The deal guarantees the channel 15 live Uefa Cup games a year over the whole period for the competition in which four British teams are expected to be involved. ITV has second pick of seven games, five so-called third picks and three fourth picks throughout the tournament.

From 2009, ITV’s games will be predominantly shown on digital channel ITV4 – with kick-offs scheduled for 6.05pm or 8.05pm as part of the new competition format while Setanta Sports acquired the rights for 32 live games per season, including 17 from the Uefa Cup group stages, six from the rounds 32 and 16, two quarter finals and one semi-final. Based on the recent performance of British teams, it is anticipated that Setanta will exclusively show 18 games involving British teams. The matches will be shown on Setanta 1 and Setanta 2. Both ITV and Setanta also secured highlights rights. Each broadcaster will also exploit the rights across all broadcast platforms – on the internet as well as on mobile. It is the first time that TV rights for the tournament from the group stages have been sold collectively, rather than by the individual clubs involved. The deal was brokered by sports marketing agency, Team. Sportsbusiness.com, Worldscreen, 5th June 2008

Elsewhere/Rights: RTÉ and TV3 win Champions League Deal in Ireland

TV coverage of Champions League football in Ireland will be split between commercial broadcaster TV3 and public-service broadcaster RTÉ during the seasons 2009-10 to 2011-12. Each broadcaster acquired a package of live television, internet and mobile rights in a competitive bidding process which saw the rights fee more than double on the previous period. RTÉ is the incumbent rights-holder, and is believed to be paying around €2 million per season. Under the new deal, RTÉ has exclusive live rights to first-choice matches on a Wednesday night as part of an 18-match package which includes exclusive coverage of the Champions League final and the Uefa Super Cup, as well as Wednesday night highlights and a weekly magazine programme.

TV3 acquired exclusive live rights to first-choice matches on a Tuesday night as part of a 16-match package which includes the rights to show round three of the Champions League qualifying phase, delayed coverage of all other matches in the competition, Tuesday night highlights, and the weekly magazine programme. Sportsbusiness.com, 5th June 2008