Monday, 2nd June 2008

SPORT SHORTS

* Ramon Calderon, president of Spanish soccer giants Real Madrid, has confirmed that Sogecable, the Spanish television group, will retain the club’s television rights next season. In agreeing the deal, Sogecable has exercised its option to extend the current deal with the Spanish league champions to include the 2008-09 season, despite a bid from fierce rival Mediapro. The deal was extended as per the terms of an agreement signed between Sogecable and Real Madrid in July 1999, despite further conditions being introduced in November 2002. Sportcal.com, 30th May 2008

* The Bank of China is leveraging its sponsorship the Chinese Badminton team, launching a major branding campaign in the lead up to the Olympic Games. The campaign it's the first work from Euro RSCG and Havas Sports since the agencies grouped together to land the bank's Olympic work in March this year. Targeting white-collar consumers and corporations, the campaign will use TV, print and a major OOH push to promote the bank's "Never Stop the Pursuit of Excellence" theme. In addition to its sponsorship of the China National Badminton Team, the campaign represents the Bank of China's official partnership with BOCOG and the campaign will run for the duration of the Olympics. Marketing-Interactive.com, 2nd June 2008

* India’s DTH operator, TataSky, backed 20% by News Corp’s Star Group, has reacted to its competitor Dish TV’s free set-top box offer not by filing a petition against the move with the market regulator on Friday, May 30, with the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission. TataSky alleged that Dish TV’s adverts were deceptive as the set-tops are not free. Consumers must pay for a Dish TV subscription to qualify for the offer which TataSky argues includes costs for the set-top box. Dish TV’s marketing campaign for the offer was “intended directly to deal with its main competitor”, TataSky lawyers claimed. “As a competitor I could not compel or suggest our rival on any pricing issue. We have no objection in making free for nothing... But cannot allow them to use unfair and uncompetitive practices.” Dish TV has been given two weeks to reply to the petition. Rapid TV News, Televisionpoint.com, 1st June 2008

* A proposed match between Indian Premier League sides to be staged in England has been called off because of a lack of TV coverage. Manoj Badale, one of the backers of Twenty20 cricket in India, planned to bring Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders to the Oval on July 15 and 16. UK pay-broadcaster BSkyB, however, is covering NatWest Pro40 matches on both days and the England Cricket Board’s contract with the broadcaster prohibits companies from televising the charity event. Asian broadcaster, ESPN Star Sports, which through the ECB has the rights to show Pro40 cricket in India, was also unable to show the match. Sportbusiness.com, 30th May 2008

* Supersport South Africa has enjoyed its highest-ever viewing figures this year for its coverage of the Super 14, the yearly competition for provincial rugby union teams in the south hemisphere. The average number of viewers per game is 198,752, an increase of 25,903 on the 2007 figure of 172,669. However, the actual number is likely to be higher as the statistics only relate to the number of television sets tuned into a match. Natal Sharks, the Durban-based Super 14 team, generated Supersport’s highest audience of the tournament, attracting 768,990 viewers when they clinched a place in the semi-finals by defeating New Zealand's Chiefs from Waikato. The viewing figures, compiled by Sports Marketing Surveys do not take into account the Super 14 final, which will not involve a team from South Africa. Sportcal.com, 30th May 2008


MORE NEWS

Hong Kong/Broadcast: PCCW’s Restructure

PCCW announced on May 29 that it will consolidate its quad-play offering, including fixed line, broadband, internet, TV and mobile, under a new firm called HKT Group Holdings Ltd and seek investors for the acquisition of up to 45% of the new company. It is two years since the last attempt by Richard Li to sell off the company's assets was blocked by China Netcom. The latest move is believed to have been given a green light from China Netcom, which itself will undergo a restructuring.

Under changes announced by the MII, China Netcom will merge with GSM operator China Unicom, while chairman Zhang Chunjiang will become a vice president at China Mobile. Two years ago, Zhang strongly objected to the proposed sale to overseas investors, due to security concerns about core telecom and media assets falling into foreign hands. The twist this time is that on sale is a stake of less than 50%, not the 100% as in two years ago, and PCCW keeps the controlling stake.

This has won in-principle approval from Netcom, although at this stage details still need to be assessed, depending on the bidders’ background and offering price. Since 2006, PCCW has been developing its quad-play strategy, bundling of media content and interactive services. Quad-play is part of its successful strategy to reverse the decline in fixed-line access, maintain margins in its core fixed telecoms products and grow its broadband market share. Despite the official claim that the spin-off was for tax reduction benefits, it is widely speculated that the real intention behind is to facilitate the sale of fixed line assets, which has limited growth, and the possibility of a separate listing of HKT in the future. telecomasia.net, 2nd June 2008

Global/General: Time Warner Cable to Offer Internet to TV linkup

Time Warner Cable plans to offer subscribers an easier way to bring Internet video to their television screens as part of an overall home networking system. "Right now it's pretty hard to get Internet stuff on your TV. We're actually going to have equipment we make available to subscribers. It's actually going to be a new wireless cable modem that will allow you to network everything in your house." said Glenn Britt, CEO, Time Warner Cable.

Britt gave few specific details on how the service would work or when it would be available. Apple TV lets users take a movie downloaded to their personal computer and watch it on their television screen. TiVo Inc lets many of its subscribers select Web video from providers such as The Onion, the New York Times and CNET Networks. The video is downloaded from the Internet to a TiVo set-top box for viewing later.

But web-to-TV technology is still in its early days, due in part to the complexity of making web video look good on higher resolution TVs. Consumers may also be hesitant to navigate the thousands of web sites that offer unique video, and to buy more equipment in addition to paying monthly cable or satellite fees. Major cable operators have had success spreading such technologies among their large pool of subscribers, including the digital video recording technology that originally made TiVo famous. Televisionpoint.com, 30th May 2008

Elsewhere/Rights: Champions League Tender Sparks Interest from Germany's Top Broadcasters

Broadcast rights to the Uefa Champions League, European soccer’s top-tier clubs tournament, from 2009-10 onwards have stoked the interest of Germany’s leading broadcasters ahead of the bidding deadline next Tuesday. Premiere, the pay-television broadcaster and incumbent rights holder in Germany, has repeatedly signalled its intention to retain the Champions League rights, but faces significant competition from terrestrial channels for the free-to-air coverage.

Team Marketing, the agency that is marketing the centralised rights for the Champions League, launched the tender on May 9 and there has been interest from ARD and ZDF, the public-service broadcasters, plus commercial networks Sat.1, ProSieben and RTL. The tender covers three seasons and has been launched at the same time as the tender for the Uefa Cup, the secondary European clubs competition.

A spokeswoman for Sat.1, which bought sublicensed free-to-air rights from Premiere for around €13 million ($20.2 million) per season, said: 'We are always interested in rights that are relevant to the masses, which are also economically attractive cost-wise.’ Meanwhile, Dieter Gruschwitz, the head of sport at ZDF, has described the Champions League as ‘an interesting product that merits consideration.’

A spokesman for RTL was more coy, saying only: ‘There are a lot of interesting rights on the market at the moment, which we will take our time to look at.’ Team Marketing told Sportcal.com that it was unable to comment on different bidders and interested parties ‘given the sensitive stage of the sales process in Germany. The Champions League tender is more attractive to free-to-air broadcasters than previously as two matches per round will be available on free-to-air, as opposed to just one at present. The German market has developed since the award of all the rights to Premiere in August 2005, with competition in the free-to-air sector now more apparent.

Premiere paid around €70 million a season for free-to-air and pay-television rights in a three-year deal which runs until the end of the 2008-09 season, first sublicensing free-to air rights to DSF, the privately-owned sports broadcaster, and later to Sat.1. Sat.1 broadcast 13 matches on free-to-air television this season, although the absence of Bayern Munich, Germany’s leading club, did have a negative effect on ratings.

The number of matches available in the pay-television package has grown from 125 to 146 due to the inclusion of the third qualifying round of the Champions League and the Uefa Super Cup, the annual match between the winners of the Champions League and the Uefa Cup. Team has beaten the Bundesliga to the market, with the tender for German soccer's top-tier league having been delayed due to a cartel investigation into the collective sale of rights. Sportcal.com, 30th May 2008