Monday, 30th June 2008

HEADLINE NEWS

Spain are Champions of Europe, Immediately Look to WC2010

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres's first-half goal sealed what was eventually a comfortable win for the Spaniards, their first trophy since winning the Euros in 1964. But, despite the elation of the team and fans, Torres demanded that La Furia Roja maintain their focus ahead of the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

"It's a dream come true," he said afterwards. "It's [this team's] first title and we hope it will be the first of many. We've still got the World Cup to come, we have to be ambitious." The former Atletico Madrid striker's sentiments were echoed by Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who started the match after David Villa was ruled out through injury. "You can see how young we are," Fabregas told the BBC. "Hopefully in two years' time we will fight for the World Cup."

Spain outplayed a Germany side who were functional but uninspiring, and the match reflected both sides' performances throughout the tournament. "At last justice has been done because the team that played the best football won the tournament," Torres continued. This has been a great victory for the whole team and all of Spain."

Torres grabbed what proved to be the winner when, on 33 minutes, he exploited hesitancy from Germany left-back Philip Lahm to loft a superb Xavi through-ball over the advancing Jens Lehmann. "It was a great pass from Xavi and the defender was over-confident and shouldn't have left it for Lehmann, and things worked out perfectly," Torres said of the goal.

And Fabregas - who was mostly used as a substitute by boss Luis Aragones - believes that the manner of Spain's overall success has signalled a move away from the negative tactics that have been successful in continental football over the past few seasons. I t was a long time since we have seen a team of that quality trying to play beautiful football - I don't think we've seen many teams have success [playing that way]," he added. "Finally, football has the success it deserves." Eurosport, 29th Jun 2008


DID YOU KNOW…?

Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee athlete, has been awarded extra time in his bid to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in August. Pistorius, who runs with the aid of carbon fibre prosthetic 'blades,' said that he was confident he would appear in both the Olympics and the Paralympics, after Athletics South Africa, the sport’s governing body in South Africa, extended his deadline for qualifying until after his last IAAF Golden League race in Lucerne, Switzerland, on July 16.Lausanne’s Court of Arbitration for Sport last month ruled that Pistorius is eligible to run in able-bodied competitions under the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations. The IAAF had argued, unsuccessfully, that the blades give him an unfair advantage over able-bodied runners. The South African would need to run a time of 45 minutes and 55 seconds to qualify for the individual 400 metres, but his personal best is 38 seconds slower than that, and he admits that his most ‘realistic’ chance is to qualify for the relay team. Sportcal, 27th Jun 2008


DATA BOX

Half the Planet to be Mobile by 2010
Strategy Analytics Study results published on Rapid TV News, 27th Jun 2008

It is a staggering number, but a study from Strategy Analytics predicts that more than half the world’s population will have mobile phones by “early 2010”, barely 20 months from now. The study also forecasts that today’s (2008) 3.9bn subscribers will expand to 5.6bn by 2013.
Strategy Analytics, in the company’s latest Worldwide Cellular User Forecasts says that even discounting those folk who have multiple subscriptions, “more than half of the world’s population will be using mobile phones by early 2010, up from 40% at the start of this year.”

Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa (MEA) are responsible for the current surge in mobile subscriptions. Those areas will remain the engines for growth in the wireless market in the medium term, contributing to 80% of subscription growth through 2013, says the study.

“These two regions may be driving the subscription count, but they contribute much less to global revenues,” said Phil Kendall, Director Global Wireless Practice. “Asia-Pacific and MEA account for nearly 60% of worldwide subscriptions, but less than 40% of revenues. Their increasing significance will reduce average revenues per subscription by 15% over the next five years”.

3G networks will account for half of all mobile subscriptions by 2013. Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, Senior Analyst, Wireless Network Strategies, added: “3G technologies will reach critical mass in more regions in 2008, driving worldwide subscriber numbers close to 500 million by year-end. Next year, more than one third of all service revenues will be generated by 3G technologies, even though 3G accounts for only one in six subscribers.”


SPORTS SHORTS

* Host broadcaster Eurosport has outlined its coverage plans for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2008. All 32 matches of the tournament, which will take place in Marseille, France from July 17-27, will be live on Eurosport and Eurosport 2. The high definition TV production of the matches will also be available on Eurosport HD, the high definition simulcast of Eurosport. The coverage is supplemented by live interviews filmed by Eurosport's on-site team. Sports Media, 27th June 2008

* Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and Intel have announced a collaboration in developing broadband online TV in China. Intel will provide support to SMG including funding, technology research, and product development, to build a more secure, convenient online TV platform. Intel and SMG’s collaboration in developing broadband online TV in China is comprehensive, the parties state. Indiantelevision.com, 28th June 2008

* ESPN Star Sports will receive payment from Doordarshan, the Indian state broadcaster, which has acquired rights to broadcast eight matches, including the semi-finals and final, of soccer’s Euro 2008. ESPN Star Sports had agreed an exclusive deal for Euro 2008 rights, including the territory of India. However, pay-television rights-holders have come under strong pressure from the government in India in recent years to share the rights of major sports events with the state broadcaster. The final, between Spain and Germany, will be broadcast live by Doordarshan at 12.15am on June 30. Sportcal, 27th Jun 2008

* Media investment management network GroupM has acquired a 30% stake in three flagship media companies within Datviet VAC Group Holdings - DatvietVAC Media Corporation, Dong Tay Promotions (DTP) and TKL Corporation (TKL). Marketing Interactive, 23rd Jun 2008

* Indonesia's Bakrie group plans to buy a 10%-15% stake in PT Indosat, the country's second-largest mobile phone firm, in the open market, sources quoted by a Reuters report said. The plan comes as Qatar Telecom, which this month increased its stake in Indosat to 40.8%, confirmed that it would offer to buy the remaining shares in Indosat at 7,388 rupiah apiece, or a total of $2.6 billion, the Reuters report further said. Bakrie executives recently told investors that the firm planned to buy 10%-15% of Indosat in the open market and hoped to increase its stake, sources said. One of the sources close to the group said the plan was at an early stage, according to the Reuters report. Telecomasia.net, 30th June 2008

* The Korean Communications Commission (KCC) has banned business groups with assets worth more than ten trillion won (US$9.59bn) from holding and operating IPTV services in the country. The KCC's five decision-making members met to finalise an ordinance governing the provision of IPTV in the country, and the ordinance is expected to take effect next month, following administrative processes and approval from the Cabinet. Under the ban, the country's top 23 business groups will not be able to operate or own shares in IPTV services. Korea has a well developed IPTV market, with local operator KT reporting 567,000 subscribers at the end of the first quarter of this year and Hanaro Telecom passing 900,000 at the end of the period. IPTV-News.com, 27th June 2008

* Dubai Sports Channel has signed a TV sponsorship deal with Meydan, the company behind a rapidly expanding sport and business complex in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the deal, Meydan will be a key sponsor of events and programmes broadcast on Dubai Sports Channels' 1 and 2. Hitting a value of US$2.17 million, the deal will see the commercials and logo of Meydan presented on Dubai Sports Channel. Sports Media, 27th June 2008

* Digicable Network (India) has acquired a 51% stake in Kolkata-based CableComm as part of its strategy to expand in the eastern region of India. As part of the deal, Digicable will use CableComm to expand in other neighbouring parts. The multi-system operator (MSO) has already entered into Jharkhand. CableComm offers its cable TV services to Kolkata, Greater Kolkata and adjoining districts including Howrah, Hoogly, 24 Parganas (South), 24 Parganas(North). Nadia, Beharampore, Birbhum, Purulia, Medinipur East, Medinipur West, Burdwan and Bakura. Indiantelevision.com, 28th June 2008

* NBC is making more than 2,200 hours of live competition from Beijing available online, giving Olympic junkies more action than they could ever devour in a day. The network will dive into the deep end: live blogging, 3,000 hours of highlights on demand, daily recaps and analysis and even fantasy league gaming. That's in addition to the 1,400 hours of coverage planned on six television networks, more than the combined total of every previous Summer Olympics. Telecomasia.net, 30th June 2008

* A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has received influential backing of Brazilian President, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, for the series to hold its first race in South America. In a meeting with A1GP ambassador and the Brazilian team's seat holder, Emerson Fittipaldi, the Brazilian President pledged his support for A1 Team Brazil's quest to secure a home race. Sport Business, 27th Jun 2008


MORE NEWS

Sri Lanka/Rights: India Tour Bails out Lankan Board

India's upcoming Test and one-day tour of Sri Lanka has helped the cash-starved local cricket board wipe out its debts, an official said on Sunday. "We paid off our 600 million rupee (six-million dollar) bank overdraft after getting an advance payment from television rights sold for the Indian tour," Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) media manager Shane Fernando told AFP. Fernando declined to reveal details, but local media reported that the Dubai-based Ten Sports, which holds the television rights for the tour, paid 50 percent of the 15.2 million dollar agreed for the tour. India will play three Tests and five one-day internationals during the six-week visit, with the first Test starting on July 23.

India, with its vast cricket-crazy television audiences, is the commercial superpower of the sport contributing almost 70 percent of the game's worldwide revenues. "India's biggest passion is cricket. It's an advertiser's dream market," said Jude de Valliere of the Colombo-based Right Angle Sports Marketing. Sri Lankan cricket was not been short of sponsors after the island won its only World Cup under Arjuna Ranatunga's captaincy in 1996, but income has been running dry in recent times. A major portion of the money that Sri Lanka Cricket, now headed by Ranatunga himself, earns these days is through sale of television rights to home internationals.

The SLC lost 11 million dollars when South Africa pulled out of a triangular one-day series in August 2006 after a bomb blast near the team hotel in Colombo. India, the third team in the tri-series, stayed back to play one-day matches against Sri Lanka, but rain wiped out the hastily-arranged series. CricBuzz, The Hindu, Cricket Next, 29th Jun 2008

Malaysia/Broadcaster: The Cost of Football

Football is the most popular sport in the world.” So says Henry Tan Poh Hock, Astro’s chief operating officer – strategic, content and marketing– and this is a hard, cold fact. Leagues like the English Barclays Premier League (BPL), Spanish Primera Liga, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, and the World Cup are among the most watched, as well as the best-supported football leagues in the world.

Due to its increasing popularity, international footballers and clubs currently enjoy tremendous earning power – and the majority of it comes from the sale of broadcasting rights. However its cost is escalating with every passing year. Tan reveals that Astro’s investment in its sports has also increased – without revealing any specific, figure, he shows that Astro pays 75% more than it did four years ago.

“Generally, the cost of sports rights over the years has experienced a global surge with the BPL taking the lead. Part of the reason for the escalating costs is the bidding process set in place by the BPL’s governing body,” says Tan. He adds that its cost has exceeded the financial viability of a free-to-air model, and thus pay TV (such as Astro) has become the only option for Malaysians to watch the BPL.

BPL rights are currently acquired though ESPN Star Sports, but in the light of escalating costs, Tan says that they are evaluating new opportunities and strategies to improve the economics of sports content. “A precedent has been set in Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and China, all of whom have already acquired the BPL rights independently of ESPN Star Sports,” he states.

Tan says that even with the wealth of football programming in Malaysia, there is room for more, provided it meets its customers’ demands. “We are looking into bringing more football including club channels to the Astro service. Content in consideration are MUTV (Manchester United), Chelsea TV, Liverpool TV, Barcelona TV and also the Dutch, Scottish and French football leagues. “A decision on this will be forthcoming,” Tan concludes. The Star Malaysia, 27th Jun 2008

Global/Rights: Correction - IOC Guidelines to Non-Rights-Holders

On Wednesday, June 25, newslines carried a story, suggesting that the IOC had issued ‘sweeping” new restrictions to non-rights holding media at Beijing 2008. It has been made clear to us that this is not the case:

- The IOC did not issue any new restriction or guidelines to non-rights holders this week.

- The story said it will be forbidden to broadcast Beijing press conferences via the Internet. In fact, the IOC News Access Rules, distributed in August 2007, and the IOC Internet Guidelines for the Written Press and other Non-Rights Holding Media distributed in March 2008 state that...

“Non Rights Holding Broadcast Organisation may broadcast via the Internet all or portions of press conferences that take place in the Main Press Centre, without territorial restrictions, provided there is a delay of at least 30 minutes from the conclusion of the press conference.” In other words, non-rights holders may film and broadcast press conferences in the MPC, just as they did in Torino and Athens.

- The story said the rules for Beijing represent an increase in restrictions from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino In reality, the guidelines in place for Beijing are significantly less restrictive for non rights holders than Athens or Torino.

- There is no requirement that non -rights holders to remove Games related content from media sites by August 7, the day before the opening of the Games.

- NBC will not be the single source for digital video for events and athlete interviews from Olympic venues, curtailing any original video offered by other sites like ESPN.com and Yahoo Sports. Rights holding broadcasters in most territories around the world will be broadcasting Olympic content online.

- Online news access rules have also been agreed in Australia and New Zealand which permit news broadcasts by bona fide news organisations of Olympic material – the first such online news access rules to be implemented anywhere in the world, and described as an “historic agreement” by the Australian media. Sport Business, 27th Jun 2008

Elsewhere/Rights: Eurosport Loses MotoGP as Dorna Looks to National Networks

Eurosport, the pan-European cable and satellite broadcaster which has broadcast motor cycling's MotoGP World Championship for 16 years, has lost the rights from next season after commercial rights owners Dorna Sports opted instead to seek deals with national broadcasters around Europe.

Eurosport, which had broadcast the series since 1992, had been in negotiations regarding a new five-year deal, but Dorna eventually decided not to continue the partnership. Dorna said that the decision ‘is part of its strategy of working with national network broadcasters around Europe, always focusing first and foremost on free-to-air coverage to bring MotoGP to wider audiences.’

The news will give broadcasters MotoGP exclusivity in their own markets from 2009, including the BBC, the UK public-service broadcaster. Dorna revealed that negotiations were under way with TVE, the Spanish state broadcaster, and Mediaset, the Italian commercial broadcaster, about increasing the number of hours of MotoGP coverage during the weekends.

Dorna said that a deal had been signed with a ‘privately-owned free-to-air channel in Germany,’ giving the broadcaster exclusive coverage from 2009 to 2011. DSF, the privately-owned sports broadcaster and the pay-television operator Premiere were recently reported to have agreed a deal in Germany, although RTL, the commercial network, is also thought to have been in the frame. Rights negotiations in France and other major European markets are also under way.

The loss of MotoGP rights leaves a considerable gap to fill in Eurosport’s schedule. Eurosport broadcasts 254.5 hours of MotoGP coverage per season via its main Eurosport channel, which is available across 59 countries in Europe, and its Eurosport 2 channel. The coverage is made up of live, delayed and repeat coverage and includes the races, qualifying sessions, practice sessions, warm-ups and pre-race introductions. Sportcal, 27th Jun 2008


ARTICLES, COMMENTS, INTERVIEWS & OPINIONS

Mobile TV’s Holy Grail Remains Elusive
Tony Brown comments on Telecom.com, 26th Jun 2008

With mobile TV services in the flagship market of South Korea floundering and with few signs that operators anywhere else have found a successful formula for launching such services, most operator and vendor delegates at the recent CommunicAsia Summit in Singapore struggled to find enthusiasm for the fledgling industry. The key question is which business model will work best for commercial mobile TV services, and the industry does not seem anywhere close to coalescing around an agreed model.

Some operators and vendors say that mobile TV should be subscription-based, to offer a reliable revenue stream; others say an ad-supported model is the most viable option; and still others argue that a combined pay/advertising approach is the way forward. Figures from South Korea seem to suggest that both pay-based and ad-supported models have critical weaknesses, which would also apply in other markets in the region. A lot more experimentation and creativity from operators might be required to find the right model.

Those promoting the idea of a pay-based service say that only by charging for content can a business model work. They say operators must team up with content firms to acquire premium content - most particularly sports - that people will be willing to pay a monthly fee to view or even pay for on a per-view basis. But this line of thinking seems flawed, given that there is a limited amount of blue-chip content for which people will be prepared to pay, most notably live sports events - such as English Premier League soccer games - or highlights of them.

The problem is, of course, that content-rights holders have become adept at exacting a premium price for key sports rights, meaning that mobile TV operators would have to recoup their heavy capital investment by charging high subscription fees. This is a problem, since the high churn rate experienced by TU Media in South Korea seems to suggest that mobile TV subscribers are extremely price-sensitive. TU Media subscribers pay just KRW13,000 ($12.60) a month for the service but have been leaving in droves after their initial one-year contracts finish, forcing the firm to offer significantly reduced subscription rates to keep subscribers from deserting the service.

TU Media’s experience suggests that mobile TV subscribers will be willing to pay only so much for services and that although blue-chip sports content has a crucial role to play, operators must find a way to acquire the content without paying excessive prices.

On the advertising side of the debate, many delegates at CommunicAsia argued that an ad-based strategy would work best for mobile TV platforms but that operators would have to be extremely creative in their approach. Delegates uniformly agreed that the idea of transporting the traditional TV-advertising model to mobile was deeply flawed and that mobile TV operators would not be able to sell regular 30-second ad spots on mobile TV services, given the different nature of the platform.

One senior mobile operator executive said that he was skeptical of the ad-supported model, because mobile TV users tend to watch only 10-15 minutes at a time and it would be hard for operators to interrupt that short window with advertising without disrupting the user’s experience. But other delegates, including those from both operators and vendors, were more hopeful that a successful advertising model could be built, though the consensus was that ads would have to be shortened to suit the mobile TV viewing experience and that they would have to be carefully targeted at specific user groups.

These are both valid points, but the elephant in the room is the fact that many mainstream advertisers are skeptical of mobile TV as an advertising model - and some might not be aware of its existence at all - meaning that mobile TV operators will need to work closely with media buyers and ad agencies to craft their message. This might mean offering heavy price cuts in the short term to persuade advertisers to seize the unique opportunity to reach users that mobile TV advertising offers and then trying to turn these advertisers into long-term customers.

There is no magic bullet that will provide a successful business model, but there seems to be a reasonable possibility that an attractive model can be built if operators can match the largely young and technology-friendly subscribers viewing mobile TV on their handsets with advertisers desperate to reach such a market.

Intriguingly, conference delegates also discussed the possibility that broadcast-type mobile TV services might never fully take off in the region and that Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service video streaming over high-speed HSPA and future LTE networks would dominate the market. The debate has strong proponents on both sides. Many vendors back an MBMS approach, saying that experience shows that broadcast-style services are not what users are demanding and that the more-narrowly targeted VOD-style content being offered on HSPA networks is already proving hugely popular.

The pro-MBMS argument also runs that with HSPA/LTE networks already in place and offering voice, data and video services, why go to the expense of deploying a terrestrial or satellite-based mobile TV network, especially with the expense involved in creating high-quality in-building reception? Although this is a persuasive argument, it has shortfalls, most notably the fact that even LTE networks will still be point-to-point networks and will be unequipped to operate as point-to-multipoint services, which a full broadcast mobile TV service would require.

The broadcast-mobile-TV lobby argues strongly that the core strengths of broadcast-based networks cannot be replicated by even high-speed mobile networks, which would not be able to support the huge demand that’s sure to arise for broadcasts of live sports and important news events. In reality, the MBMS-vs.-broadcast-mobile-TV debate is spurious, given that both technologies are going to be on the market, and it will be users who determine which is the more successful.

At this early stage, it looks likely that subscribers and operators will use high-speed, quality video streaming for VOD-based “snacking” on content and that full broadcast mobile TV will be used for some live events, for which only a broadcast-style service can supply the quality of service required.