Thursday, 24th February 2011

RIGHTS FEE & DISTRIBUTION

=>  Delhi High Court has ruled in favor of ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd (ESIPL), in its suit for permanent injunction filed against cable operators across the country against unauthorized broadcast of ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. The HC has restrained all cable operators from unauthorised showing of the tournament through their cable networks. ESIPL argued that the defendants, approximately 144 cable operators, are taking unauthorized connections and they are illegally accessing signals of the plaintiff without taking license from the company. The HC has also permitted ESIPL to take action against all other cable operators not party to the suit but are found to be illegally utilising the feed of ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket without license.

=>  Netball New Zealand (NNZ) announced a new 4-year broadcast partnership with SKY – the largest commercial deal to be signed by a women’s sport in New Zealand. International and domestic netball will now be shown exclusively live on SKY Sport until 2015. The deal extends netball’s relationship with SKY, which already broadcasts the ANZ Championship, Lion Foundation Netball Champs and College Netball. NNZ has also reviewed its free-to-air television partnership and has revealed that Prime Television will be netball’s new free-to-air partner.

=>  Germany’s athletics team has demanded that ARD and ZDF re-open talks with IEC in Sport to acquire live rights to the 2011 IAAF World Championships, held in Daegu Korea. Signed by 55 top German athletes and stars of the past, the letter said they could not understand the position adopted by ARD and ZDF, that despite the IAAF World Championships being among the most significant events in the world, the broadcasters ‘‘are only prepared to absorb a small part of the previously-paid rights fee.’’ ARD and ZDF were only willing to offer €6 mil (US$8.2 mil) for rights to the IAAF World Athletics Series from 2011 to 2013, below IEC’s asking price of €15 mil. Comparatively, ARD and ZDF paid over €20 mil for previous IAAF rights package plus additional “2-digit million figure (in Euros)” for production costs at the World Championship 2009 in Berlin.


BROADCAST

=>  Shenzhen has completed building an integrated broadcasting control sub-platform, which lays a foundation for IPTV services. The platform can provide more than 100 broadcast channels, 15 HD broadcast channels, 20,000 hours of on-demand programming and 7 days playback. Built by Shenzhen Radio, Film and Television Group, the platform links to the Integrated IPTV Broadcasting Control Platform of China Internet TV which forms the platform’s core. All IPTV programmes and services will first be integrated into the platform before being provided to users. Shenzhen residents will be able to enjoy a variety of IPTV services after the sub-platform integrates with the networks of telecom operators.

=>  Chinese film content provider, Celestial Pictures, has signed a deal with AORA, a newly launched national satellite TV provider in Indonesia. With the addition of Celestial Movies, audiences can now access the latest Chinese and Asian blockbuster films along with AORA’s line-up of international pay-TV channels. In reaching an agreement with Celestial Pictures, AORA becomes the fourth platform in Indonesia to carry CM, following Indovision, Telkomvision and Skynindo. Celestial Movies is Celestial Pictures’ flagship channel and the most widely distributed 24-hour Chinese movie channel in the world showcasing latest Chinese movies, plus behind-the-scenes programming, interviews with movie stars and directors, and entertainment news shows.

=>  YouTube announced that it is in talks with National Basketball Association and National Hockey League to show live, streaming games on its site. According to Gautam Anand, Google’s Director of Content Partnerships for Asia Pacific, Google is in talks with “most pro sports leagues” including the NBA and NHL, and European soccer leagues. Such a deal would drive viewers to YouTube and generate significant ad revenue for Google. If YouTube wins rights to stream live sports, TV networks will see erosion of the value of rights to broadcast games. In 2002, TNT signed a US$2.2 bil, 6-year contract to air NBA games and if live games were available for free over YouTube, TV networks would likely see ad revenue decrease.


NEW MEDIA

=>  India’s Hello TV has registered 500,000 subscribers to its mobile broadcast service, carried by telco BSNL. Hello TV is integrated into BSNL’s WAP portal allowing subscribers to watch streamed video from their browsers. 3G and 2G users have subscribed to the service since its launch a year ago. Apalya, competitor to Hello TV, is also available on BSNL via its MiMobi TV application. Hello TV is brought to market by Percept Knorigin, who is planning to launch a targeted mobile TV Apple iPad application for Indians living abroad and is also in discussions for the roll out of 3G and GPRS mobile TV services with three major operators in the next three months.

=>  Perform has acquired football website Goal.com for an undisclosed sum, significantly upping the ante as far as its presence in the direct-to-consumer market. The deal is a major development for Perform, rapidly increasing its scale and reach in the global digital sports market to over 95 mil users a month. Over the last 3 years, Goal.com used its strong brand and broad news coverage in 15 languages to build a leading position in the online football portal market. In Jan 2011, Goal.com had 19.4 mil unique users including 3.8 mil visits on the 31st Jan, the last day of the European mid-season transfer window. Comscore rates Goal.com over 250% bigger than ESPNSoccernet.com, Football365.com and Teamtalk.com - the sites that started the online football revolution more than 10 years ago.


DATA

=>  Rapidly increasing number of portable devices based on Google’s Android operating system will create huge opportunities for pay-TV operators, according IMS Research. The Convergence in Home Entertainment report found that by the end 2011 there will be an installed base of 140 million Android portable devices, including smartphones and tablets. It suggests the unveiling of Google’s Android 3.0 operating system for tablets, known as Honeycomb, along with enhancements to the Android Market website, will do much to enhance growth prospects for this segment. In total, Apple OS and Android OS were present in nearly 125 million connected devices shipped in 2010 and this is only expected to increase in 2011.


EVENT

=>  The Asean Football Federation has awarded Malaysia and Thailand co-hosting rights to preliminary matches at the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup, the biennial competition for national teams from the region. The AFF has yet to unveil dates for the 2012 tournament, although the matches are traditionally played in December. Malaysia, first-time winners of the Cup last year, previously hosted alongside Vietnam in 2004, while Thailand co-hosted with Indonesia in 2008. The AFF was believed to be considering the Philippines as a possible host for the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup although the country's stadia would have had to meet strict criteria to stage matches; provision of security, numbered seating and satellite uplink capability for live broadcasts.

=>  AIBA has opened the bidding process for the 2013 World Boxing Championships. Interested parties should submit their letter of intent to AIBA's headquarters in Lausanne by March 31, 2011. The host city will then be decided at the 2011 AIBA Executive Committee meeting to be held on July 31 and August 1. The World Boxing Championships are held every two years and this year's event will be in Baku, Azerbaijan.

=>  Putting the World Series Boxing Indian franchise mess-up behind it, the Indian Boxing Federation will launch the Indian Boxing League along the lines of Indian Premier League cricket from the second half of this year. The decision to conduct a League was taken at IBF's annual general meeting. Initially, IBL will be conducted in 4 cities for men only and Mumbai-based Percept D-Mark has the mandate to sell the franchise rights. Depending on IBL's success, it will introduce a league for women boxers as well. The Federation has yet to decide on the number of foreign pugilists to be allowed in the league.

=>  Meanwhile, the inaugural finals of the World Series of Boxing, the 12-team, city franchise-based competition created by AIBA in partnership with IMG, has been moved from Macau to mainland China. AIBA said staging the team and individual championships in Guiyang (Guizhou province) rather than Macau, will "guarantee greater TV coverage and public attention", in line with a "broader commitment to develop boxing in the region." The WSB team finals will be held on the weekend of May 6 and 7, with the individual championships scheduled for May 27 and 28. The five WSB individual champions will earn a place in the 2012 London Olympics and $20,000 in prize money. The WSB regular season began in November and concludes in March.

=>  Hockey's FIH took a critical step in developing its next major competition after sending out letters of invitation to teams wishing to participate in the FIH World League, previously referred to as the World Series. The FIHWL is set to debut in 2012 and will give all FIH members the opportunity to play for a place in the FIH World Cup or Olympic Games. During the 2012/13 period, the World League will qualify four teams directly into the 2014 FIH World Cup in the Netherlands. The FIH World League will be played in four rounds; first two rounds will take place in the 2012 calendar year, while the third and fourth rounds will conclude the cycle in 2013. The event will include men and women’s teams.

=>  FIFA will discuss next week how 31 qualification places will be allocated for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The loudest appeal for change is likely to come from CONCACAF, which was previously awarded 3 definite spots while a 4th nation going into a play-off against a country from another confederation, which for 2010, was from South America. CONCACAF is likely to argue that South America could forfeit the right to a play-off since hosts Brazil gain automatic entry. That leaves nine South American nations competing for four spots.


OTHER BUSINESS NEWS

=>  Former Commonwealth Games OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot and CWG official VK Verma, were today summoned for questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation and later remanded in custody. This is the essential prelude to the arrest of Suresh Kalmadi himself, who has been sacked as the Organising Committee chairman last month. Sources said that the arrests were delayed as the CBI wanted a “fool-proof case”. The CBI now has sufficient evidence to back up the arrests from the material produced by corroborating officials arrested by CBI last year. The CBI did not file charge sheets against the threesome as they had traded their freedom against critical information on Kalmadi and company.

=>  The Indian Chambers of Commerce (Ficci) organized a round table discussion on investment opportunities in India for a soccer academy for children which will leverage expertise of French football. It emerged that countries like France and Germany are interested in India considering the massive football market that India is. Rajpal Singh, director, Sports & Youth Affairs at Ficci, said the body is to preparing a report and database on fundamental issues impacting football in India. An important thing to come out of this meeting was the need for media planning which needs to attract people and media, like they do in the case of cricket. One of the members pointed out that in every international club there is a separate media planning team.

=>  Total ADEX in Japan in 2010 was down 1.3% on 2009, according to Japanese ad giant Dentsu. The report found that advertising spend last year totaled Y5.84 tri ($70.5 bil). This represents the 3rd successive year of decline in the Japanese advertising market, after falls of 11.5% in 2009 and 4.7% in 2008. Broken down by medium, expenditure on TV advertising in 2010 rose by 1.1% and internet advertising increased by 9.6%, but newspaper advertising was down 5.1%. Dentsu said factors that boosted advertising spend last year included a gradually recovering economy and improved corporate earnings, along with major international events such as the winter Olympics in Vancouver and soccer’s World Cup in South Africa.

=>  Traffic has completed deals with European broadcasters for TV rights to major South American soccer matches. Traffic markets media rights for the Copa America in Europe and England's FA Cup in South America. As well as its operations in broadcast media and sponsorship activation, Traffic also manages an investment fund worth just over US$24 million to take leading soccer players to new clubs. In January, Traffic was central to a deal that brought former Fifa World Player of the Year Ronaldinho home to Brazil from AC Milan to play for Rio de Janeiro club Flamengo.

=>  News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch has agreed a deal to buy TV production firm, Shine Group, owned by daughter Elizabeth, consistent with News Corp’s strategy of expanding worldwide TV ops. Shine owns 25 production companies across three continents. Shine International, the group's distribution arm, distributes over 3000 hours of broadcast content annually. The two companies reached an agreement for News Corp to acquire 100% of Shine Group for an enterprise value of £415 million. The parties signed a non-binding letter of intent and now proceeds with regulatory requirements. On its completion, Elizabeth Murdoch is expected to join the News Corp board.

=>  American Wasserman Media Group has upped involvement in media rights with acquisition of UK-based Reel Enterprises, which has worked with the International Olympic Committee and some prominent soccer leagues. David Kogan and Sara Munds, Reel’s co-founders, will join Wasserman to develop "global media rights practice based in London,". Kogan and Munds reports to Casey Wasserman, chairman and chief executive of WMG. Reel’s clients across the last 13 years include the IOC (as adviser for European rights sales for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics), English Premier League and Football League, Scottish Premier League and Premier Rugby.

=>  FIFA has amassed reserves of US$1.2 bil, largely because of a windfall from last year's World Cup in South Africa. FIFA began 2010 with reserves of US$1.06 bil and the increase to US$1.2 mil meant FIFA could survive financially for 18 months in the event of a cancelled World Cup. FIFA claimed to be in the red in 2003 but has steadily built up its reserves since. Research prior to 2010 World Cup suggested the tournament would reap $3.3 billion for FIFA, an increase of US$1 bil on 2006. Media rights revenue jumped 53% to US$2.15 bil - the first time it had ever breached the 2 billion mark. Marketing revenue was calculated at US$1.2 bil, up 39.5% on 2006.

=>  Meanwhile, Danny Jordaan, the highly-regarded chief executive of the organising committee for World Cup 2010 in South Africa, has missed out on a seat on the executive committee of FIFA. Jordaan was one of 6 candidates for two African places on the 24-man FIFA committee, one of which was vacant following the suspension of disgraced Nigerian, Amos Adamu, found guilty of bribery in the build up to the vote to decide the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups last December. Jordaan finished fourth in the election, with just 10 votes.