Tuesday, 22nd February 2011

RIGHTS FEE & DISTRIBUTION

=>  Spain’s TVE and TV3 have retained the Uefa Champions League after a joint bid. Both acquired rights to the remaining package of rights in Spain by defeating a rival bid by Telecinco. TVE and TV3 are believed to have paid €40 mil ($54.5 million)/season from 2012-13 to 2014-15. The deal values the rights in Spain at €130 mil/season in total, including the €90 mil paid by Digital Plus. This is a 41% increase on the present deal worth €92 mil/season (TVE €30 mil, Forta €35 mil, Gol TV €27 mil). TVE is currently paying €30 mil/season for Tue night rights, while Forta pays €35 mil for the Wed night free-to-air package under present contract period.

=>  [Excerpt] In the UK, BBC and ITV jointly paid £52 mil ($82 mil) for rights to Euro 2008. Uefa had hoped to raise £90 mil from Euro 2008 TV deals in the UK but (appointed agent) Sportfive unable to persuade the BBC and ITV, both members of the EBU. In Germany, ARD and ZDF have acquired the live free-to-air television, broadband internet and mobile rights for Euro 2012 in a deal signed directly with Uefa worth €115 mil ($153 mil). For Euro 2012, Uefa is selling rights in major European territories, including UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, while the EBU paid €130 million to acquire the rights in other European territories.

=>  A leading Brazilian internet portal, Terra, is expected to make an aggressive bid for internet rights to the top-flight Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A. Owned by Spanish giant Telefónica, Terra is taking advantage of a ruling by the Brazilian competition authority which says media rights for Serie A must be sold in separate packages for the new 2012-14 contract period. Presently, Globo holds internet rights, which were sold in a package together with the free-to-air rights for a base price of R$220 million ($132 million). Globo has not broadcast any live coverage of Serie A matches over the internet because it fears live streaming could cannibalise its free-to-air television coverage. Terra has previously acquired top sports rights for its Terra TV service, including the rights to the 2006 Fifa World Cup, the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games and the 2011 Pan American Games.

=>  US pay-TV, Epix, will make its boxing debut when it shows Ukrainian fighter Klitschko’s world heavyweight title defence against Cuba’s Odlanier Solis. Epix, a JV between Viacom, MGM Studios and Lionsgate, is reported to have paid $150,000 for the rights for the bout in Cologne, Germany on March 19. The deal was brokered by promoter Lou DiBella and breaks the near-monopoly on top fights held by US pay-per-view outlets HBO and Showtime. Klitschko will be making his sixth defence of the WBC world title. Epix, which launched in 2009, has a library of over 15,000 movies, but has indicated that it could show more boxing.

=>  Spain’s top basketball league, Asociacion de Clubes de Baloncesto (ACB), will be broadcast in Italy and Singapore for the rest of the 2011 season following deals struck by the MP & Silva. In Italy Sportitalia has acquired the rights, while Starhub will broadcast games in Singapore. Both broadcasters have previously covered Copa del Rey basketball matches and are now stepping up to take league games. In a related move, ACB has announced it will begin official English-language commentaries of games to service international broadcasters such as Starhub. One of the two weekend games made available each week to international broadcasters will feature English commentary. ACB matches are already televised in territories across Europe as well as in Mexico and Brazil; the Middle East and Africa; and, through Jiangsu TV, in China.


BROADCAST

=>  A row over inflated subscription charges has broken out in India between ESPN Star Sports (ESS) and three cable networks in Chandigarh and Punjab. The networks – Siti Cable, Win Cable and Fastway – accuse ESS of hiking the subscription charges by over 35% before the start of the Cricket World Cup and switching off the signal. The companies are now seeking the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court over the decision, which they believe to be unjust. DTH operators Tata Sky, Airtel Digital, Dish TV, Sun Direct and Reliance Digital TV have now negotiated the feed from ESS to show all the live matches in high definition (HD).

=>  Thailand's MCOT is reshuffling their new media production in preparation of liberalisation of the media industry in ASEAN by 2015. MCOT said it had a budget of THB1 bil (US$32.68 mil) this year, of which, THB400 mil ($13.06 mil) will be used to raise production efficiency of existing TV facilities. The rest will be spent on new media, including cable, satellite and mobile TV. MCOT will also invest in non-media businesses, including development of an ASEAN broadcasting hub. MCOT would start work on the THB1 bil project this year, to be completed in 5 years. The hub will have a digital broadcasting tower to facilitate conversion of Thailand's TV broadcasts from analogue to digital. MCOT expects revenues from cable and satellite TV business to exceed THB100 mil ($3.28 mil) this year. TV business contributes about 60% of MCOT's revenues, with 20% from radio and 20% from TV concessions.


DATA

=>  PwC has found that price of content is the key driver for piracy. Over half of consumers surveyed said they don’t feel the need to own a physical copy of content such as a DVD. Though many said costs to buy content—especially movies—is high, most said they do not pirate. Interestingly, the growing number of ad-supported websites is contributing to increased piracy. Such sites may be causing confusion as to what is pirated content and what is legitimate, free content. However, there was general acceptance of paying for content rather than piracy but they’d be willing to pay a max of $3 per movie and $1 per TV show. 83% of those willing to pay want the content within a month of the theatrical release window. 76% said they are somewhat willing to pay a nominal fee if the content can be accessed closer to its release date.

=> TV-capable devices with networking and web capabilities are expected to grow exponentially over the next 5 years, according to In-Stat. North America and Europe will remain primary regional markets for web-enabled, stationary devices and over next 5 years, both markets will exhibit 23% CAGR and account for nearly 70% of the global market. Asia/Pacific will likely favour mobile CE devices over stationary ones and will show a 20% CAGR in web-enabled stationary devices over the same period.


OTHER BUSINESS NEWS

=>  The International Cricket Council (ICC) has slammed the appointment of banned former Pakistan captain Salman Butt as a TV pundit during the ICC World Cup. The ICC has asked for clarification from the tribunal that banned Butt to determine whether his employment contravenes the terms of the opening batsman's 10-year ban. Butt and two others were banned this month following spot-fixing charges related to the Lord's Test against England last August. The World Cup, jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, runs from 19 February to 2 April.

=>  Lagardère Unlimited (LU) has been appointed to sell sponsorship rights for Paris United, a franchise in the World Series of Boxing. LU has agreed a deal with Brahim Asloum Group, Paris United’s owner, to find new partners and develop the franchise’s image. Full Tilt Poker.fr, the online poker website, was recently added as Paris United’s main partner in the first deal to be brokered by Lagardère Unlimited. Meanwhile, Lagardère Unlimited has signed representation deals with two more rising tennis stars, 14-year-old Croatian Donna Vekic and Christian Lindell, a 19-year-old Swedish player ranked 369th on the men’s ATP Tour.

=>  US cable giant, Comcast, the new majority owner of NBC, the network that holds Olympic Games rights in USA, stoked intrigue over a forthcoming auction of the rights for the 2014 and 2016 (and perhaps 2018 and 2020) games by suggesting that its interest in renewing NBC’s rights could only be lukewarm. Steve Burke, chief executive of NBC Universal, said NBC lost $220 million on its coverage of last year’s Vancouver winter Olympics, and Comcast is keen to avoid such losses in future. Earlier this week, IOC’s chief negotiator, Richard Carrion, predicted the value of the new deal exceeding $2 billion paid by NBC for rights to the 2010 and 2012 games.