Tuesday, 1st February 2011

RIGHTS FEE & DISTRIBUTION

=>  Sri Lanka Cricket has lost US$125k from rescheduling a home 5-match ODI series against the West Indies in Dec 2010, but was postponed to Jan 2011 due to poor weather and lack of an international TV rights deal which cost the SLC US$25k per game. Ten Sports holds the rights to the initial matches, has decided not to televise the series as it is considered to be a separate tour and therefore not part of its long-term deal with SLC. As a result, the only television coverage is being provided within Sri Lanka by state broadcaster Rupavahini.

=>  Uruguay’s soccer association, the AUF, will hold a public auction for the TV rights for the Uruguayan national team's home qualifying matches for the 2014 Fifa World Cup. The AUF president said that law firm Reyes y Rius is finalising terms of the tender documents for the domestic and international media rights and that the auction will be launched in early February. The move has caused some controversy. Rights agency, Tenfield, has held long-term media rights to the national team and first division league and had expected to retain rights through automatic renewal. The present deal was signed in 2007 and worth $7 million. However, the AUF is seeking significantly more in the new deal, after Uruguay's strong fourth-place showing in the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

=>  A ‘mathematical formula’ will be used to help determine the broadcaster who will win TV rights to Brazil’s Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A, for the 2012-14 period. While rights fees offered will still be the primary consideration, the formula will factor in other facets of a bid, including scheduling, advertising, etc. The bidding will be ‘closed envelope’, which means that incumbent, Globo, will not know what others have offered and ensures a competitive bid. Globo’s rival, Record refused to bid for rights for 2009-11 period, willing to offer up to R$1 bil ($593 mil), but was furious that Globo would retain its matching rights. Rights fees this time, could surpass R$1 bil. At present, Globo pays R$600 million per season for all of its rights.

=>  Pubcaster, France Télévisions (FTv), attracted an audience of 5.5 mil as France defeated Denmark in the final of the men’s 2011 handball world championships, broadcast live on France 2 after FTv bought rights from Canal Plus in a deal worth between €300,000 ($410,975) and €350,000. Canal Plus also broadcast the match live and registered an average audience of 1.8 million (a 36.6% share), and a peak of 2.5 million.  Handball falls in as a part of regulations that require terrestrial carriage of selected sports.

=>  French rugby union’s LNR has issued a warning that pay-TV Canal Plus’ bid to retain rights for the top-tier Top 14 competition to be unacceptable. The LNR said that it had received 10 bids for domestic rights from 2011-12 onwards ahead of submission deadline. Canal Plus’ offer for rights for the next four seasons was reportedly worth €18 mil ($24.6 mil) per year but is presently thought to pay around €26 mil per season for Top 14 and second-tier Pro D2 rights. Telecom, Orange, France Télévisions and Eurosport are also minor broadcast partners of LNR. Canal Plus is reportedly not seeking exclusivity for live coverage of Top 14.


BROADCAST

=>  The Australian Open women’s final between Li Na and Kim Clijsters was watched by an average of 18 mil viewers on CCTV5, according to CSM Media Research-KantarSport China. The figures peaked at 24.6 mil viewers at 6.45pm local time during the match. Viewers watching coverage via four local broadcasters brought the average total up to close to 19 mil. The figures compare with the 9 mil viewers that watched Li Na’s semi-finals match in the Australian Open 2010. The programme’s reach was over 60 mil, ensuring that it will likely feature in the most-watched sports programmes of 2011, normally dominated by basketball, soccer, table tennis, athletics, snooker and volleyball.

=>  Singapore’s StarHub has – finally – put the NBA TV linear channel on air. The channel was originally scheduled to go up in May 2009 but it seems the launch might have been tangled in Singapore’s cross-carriage hubbub. The channel will, among other things, offer one live game a day and up to 35 hours of original NBA content a week.

=>  Malaysian IPTV platform, Telekom Malaysia’s HyppTV, has added four premium channels – Bloomberg Television, UTV Movies, UTV Bindass and Jaya Max – to its linear channel line up. All are being offered a la carte for between RM3/US$1 and RM6/US$2. TM executive vice president Jeremy Kung has promised more as the telco ramps up its broadband ambitions.

=>  8 companies have signed up to sponsor ESPN Star Sports’ coverage of the Cricket World Cup. ESS, global media and marketing rights-holder to ICC events until 2015, has signed Vodafone, Hero Honda and Sony India as presenting sponsors of its Cricket World Cup broadcasts and Airtel Digital TV, Nokia, Maruti Suzuki, Philips and Pepsi as associate sponsors. ESS is in line to generate Rs4 bil ($87.25 mil) from ad revenues for the tournament, which takes place in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from February 19 to April 2. Vodafone has also secured mobile streaming rights in a deal worth Rs550 mil after rival, Reliance, declined to take up its first right of refusal to the rights and will settle for ground sponsorship.


EVENT

=>  Korea’s PyeongChang 2018 Olympic winter games was last week dealt a blow when the Supreme Court stripped Lee Kwang-jae of the governorship of Gangwon Province, where PyeongChang is situated, and upholding a (suspended, pending appeal) jail term for bribery. Lee was heavily involved in PyeongChang's bid campaign. However, a poll conducted in the region revealed that 95.2% of people surveyed backed the city's bid, up from 93% when the same poll was conducted in 2009. PyeongChang also has strong private backing from a broad range of Korean industries, including broadcasting. Ki-young Uhm, vice chairman of the 2018 bid is the former president of national network, MBC Broadcasting.

=>  Morocco has been named as host of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) with South Africa awarded 2017. Morocco and S Africa were the only two bidders for the tournaments after DR Congo pulled out citing economic and infrastructure problems. Morocco and S Africa battled for the 2010 World Cup, which South Africa won in a tight 14-10 vote in 2004. Morocco and S Africa have both staged the CAN once, in 1988 and 1996 respectively. The 2012 CAN finals will be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. After that, CAN will be played every odd year to avoid a World Cup clash, with 2013 already awarded to Libya.


OTHER NEWS

=>  AIBA has finalized details of a new licensing program, approved by AIBA's Executive Committee Bureau. Future licensees will be the only authorized suppliers for boxing events staged under AIBA competition rules at national, confederation and international level. The aim is to make boxing equipment available at the same high standards for safety of all boxers worldwide and develop partnerships between AIBA and suppliers. Through the program, affordable boxing equipment should also be made available to developing countries. The tender process is now open to all potential bidders who are manufacturers of boxing equipment, headguards, gloves and bandages. AIBA plans to select more than 3 licensees for implementing this new program at this time.

=>  13 companies are making presentations to FIFA this week for possible introduction of goal-line technology. FIFA is considering issuing a licence to companies “in the same way that it licenses companies to provide balls, goalposts or turf.” The technology must include a “predictive element,” to enable a decision on whether the ball crossed the line even when it is obscured by a melee of players. The 13 companies include Hawk-Eye, Cairos, Goalminder, Abatec, Tag Heuer and Longines. Technology tests will take place from Feb 7-13.

=>  Triumph Media Group (TMG) has begun marketing operations at Lokomotiv-Kuban (LK), home of Russian basketball’s top-tier Professional Basketball League, to create supporter awareness, raise attendances and develop revenue streams. TMG and LK signed a deal to create a club management system for marketing and other commercial areas. TMG will also develop and implement the club’s brand and awareness through developing digital and social media services and supporting sales activities for sponsorship rights.