Tuesday, 24th April 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Ousted Thai Prime Minister Plots Next Soccer Takeover Bid
Deposed prime minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, is hoping to buy Manchester City having failed with a bid for Liverpool in 2004. Shinawatra is preparing a £92.2-million ($184.4-million) bid in conjunction with partners from China and the Middle East, claims www.hi-thaksin.net, the website launched by associates of the former prime minister. Thaksin’s lawyer said that he was aware of the story but had yet to speak to his client about it.
Manchester City said in February that they were in ‘preliminary discussions’ with possible investors which could lead to an offer being made for the club. Thaksin, who is valued in the region of £560 million, registered his interest in acquiring a stake in Liverpool in March 2004 but then withdrew his bid in June of the same year. He has also been credited with interest in other English clubs. Source: Football Insider, Sportcal, 23rd April 2007
Related Excerpts: Thaksin in Man City Takeover Bid
Source: Telegraph UK, 24th April 2007:
City yesterday remained tight-lipped about the link to Thaksin but the Thai is believed to have made initial contact with the club, although he has yet to provide any concrete proposals for club chairman John Wardle and his fellow directors to consider. Wardle, together with David Makin owns almost 30% of the club, has made no secret of his willingness to sell his share-holding in an effort to attract fresh investment to the City of Manchester Stadium, and negotiations with an unnamed American consortium are believed to have been going on for some months.
Source: The Times Online, 24th April 2007:
The pro-Thaksin website set up by his supporters claimed that Mohamed Al Fayed, the billionaire owner of Fulham, was involved in talks on behalf of Thaksin, who, it also claimed, had partners lined up in China and the Middle East, where he is at present on holiday. A spokesman for Thaksin suggested that the 57-year-old would hold a press conference to discuss the reports on his return to London, where he is in exile.
Source: The Star Malaysia, 24th April 2007:
Local media reported that Thaksin had already bought Manchester City, currently languishing at the bottom of the premiership, for six billion baht (US$184mil) with the help of investors in China and the Middle East. The same papers said that Fulham owner Mohammad Al Fayed, a friend of Thaksin, had also helped with the purchase.
DID YOU KNOW…?
Global Positioning System technology made its broadcast debut at the LPGA events starting with the recent SBS Open in Hawaii. The system was integrated on the Golf Channel and ESPN2, and starts a multi-year partnership between SkyGolf and the LPGA. SkyGolf leverages the convergence of GPS, Internet, mobile handsets and proprietary content, and the SkyCaddie GPS system provides TV audiences with real-time data.
The SkyCaddie GPS rangefinder serves as the official rangefinder for LPGA events, and analysts and reporters have access to the system. Using SkyGolf’s IntelliGreen technology, viewers have access to a range of data such as driving distances and positioning, distances needed to clear or lay up in front of fairway hazards, and exact distances to the front of the green and the back of the green from any angle. Source: Sports Media, 23rd April 2007
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
Strengthen That Wall for 85” Plasmas
Hitachi is about to launch an 85” Plasma, and while not cheap it is a sign that prices are falling. Not so long ago it would have cost a King’s ransom to fund a Plasma at much over 70”, and such monsters would be limited to exhibitions and trade shows as well as the lobbies of some media operations. These huge models have in the past been hand-fabricated to special order, and special prices to match.
Hitachi is now mass-producing models up to and including 85”, with Hitachi saying the market for ultra-large Plasmas will double to 20m units a year over the next 4 years. Hitachi has a 20% market share in the Plasma sector. It doesn’t deny that LCD displays will remain dominant in the TV market, but there’s a niche for well-heeled fans to buy models up to 100” across provided target prices can be kept down to under $10,000, it thinks.
Panasonic still supplies the top-sized Plasma, at a mind-blowing 103” across. But if the two can compete vigorously, and volume production brings prices down, then few doubt there’s a buyer’s market where size really does matter. And $10,000 is only £5,000, and it is not so long ago that 42” Plasmas cost that sort of sum! Source: Rapid TV News, 23rd April 2007
INFO BOX
Google Beats Microsoft, Coke in Brand Stakes
Source: Ken Radio, 23rd April 2007, Also on Guardian Unlimited, ZDNet Asia
Google has beaten Microsoft to being named most powerful global brand of 2007. It's the second year in a row that a tech brand has beaten household names such as Coca-Cola, Marlboro and Toyota. Google ranked first with a brand value of more than $66bn, nearly double its value in the 2006 ranking from Millward Brown Optimor. Microsoft came in third at $55bn. Other tech companies in the top 10 are China Mobile in fifth and IBM in ninth.
Other tech companies featuring in the top 100 list include Nokia (12th), HP (15th) and Apple (16th). Out of the complete top 100 listings, finance is the most dominant vertical with one in four coming from that sector. Technology is second, with one in five brands, and retail is the third most popular sector. One of the key drivers to improve a company's brand is innovation and that's where technology brands tend to score very well.
The 10 most powerful global brands of 2007 plus brand value:
1. Google - $66.4bn
2. General Electric - $61.9bn
3. Microsoft - $55bn
4. Coca-Cola - $44.1bn
5. China Mobile - $41.2bn
6. Marlboro - $39.2bn
7. Wal-Mart - $36.9bn
8. Citi - $33.7bn
9. IBM - $33.6bn
10. Toyota - $33.4bn
SPORTS SHORTS
* India’s Tata Sky has dropped 13 channels from the Zee bouquet. Zee had insisted on Tata Sky taking all 32 channels although they wanted only 19. A ruling by TDSAT has adjudicated that Tata Sky is not obliged to carry all 32 channels on their service. The discontinued channels include Zee Sports. TDSAT held in its order of March 31, 2007, that a DTH operator forced to take all channels and pay for them, would naturally pass the cost on to consumers. Source: Exchange4Media, 24th April 2007
* Malaysia has retained the right to host F1 races until 2015. "We have secured a 5-year extension from 2011 to 2015," Mokhzani Mahathir, chairman of the Sepang International Circuit is reported to have said. The move comes despite concerns about its course. Mokhzani said there were plans for an upgrade that would include building an "automotive-related theme park with bike and go-kart tracks." Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, 23rd April 2007
* China hopes that 3G permits will help balance a market skewed in favor of mobile operators. Ministry of Information Industry vice chairman Xi Guohua, said that licensing decisions were not linked to ongoing trials of the home-developed TD-SCDMA network. The market favors mobile operators although expansion into rural markets is denting profits for fixed-line firms. The launch of 3G licenses and the chance of the rollout happening this year look increasingly distant. However, executives close to the four major telcos still expect licenses in 2007. Source: China Economic Review, 23rd April 2007
* NFL will keep games on their own NFL Network, despite rumours that they were considering putting the rights out to tender. The league was to re-tender its eight-game, Thursday-Saturday package, presently broadcast on the NFL Network, as it had been unable to agree carriage deals with major cable operators Time Warner and Cablevision. But it has been confirmed that the games will continue on the NFL network for the duration of the present deal, which expires in five years. NFL Network pays $400 million a year for the package. Source: Sport Business, 23rd April 2007
* Premier League chief, Richard Scudamore, believes next season's bumper television deal should lead to a reduction in ticket prices. A number of Premiership clubs have already announced freezes or reductions for the 2007-08 season, when a new three-year media rights deal worth more than £2.7 billion kicks in. “The clubs have choices with that extra income but the League is not going prescribe what choices they make but a lot of the clubs are considering the attendance-marketing issues,” Scudamore told BBC Sport’s Football Focus. Source: Football Insider, 23rd April 2007
* PolarisSports and YDreams have launched a mobile game featuring Cristiano Ronaldo on Celljump’s new plug-in device for mobile phones, the Media Content Provider, which transfers the game and other content directly onto wireless devices such as mobile phones, smart phones and wireless PDAs, without having to go online. Entitled Cristiano Ronaldo’s Underworld Football, sees Ronaldo and his team given superpowers to take on a team of monsters in a game of football. Source: Sports Media, 23rd April 2007
MORE NEWS
Japan/Broadcaster: Tokyo TV Squabble
A fierce boardroom battle is raging at Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), Japan’s third-largest broadcaster. Rakuten, which operates online shopping services, bought 15.46% of TBS about 18 months ago and made no secret of its intention to acquire TBS. It has since acquired further shares and now holds 19.86% and says it wants more.
However, as part of the original purchase its TBS shares were bought with strings attached including placing half the shares into a trust while it continued general discussions with TBS. Those talks have apparently gone “nowhere”, and while Rakuten says its intentions are not hostile it also wants to boost its stake and work with TBS to maximise longer-term benefits to both companies. Rakuten would also like to be seen as TBS’ ‘equity-valued affiliate’, and thus eligible to see the broadcaster’s proportional earnings incorporated into Rakuten’s numbers.
Part of this strategy is also to see a couple of Rakuten placed as non-execs on the TBS Board, including Rakuten’s president Hiroshi Mikitani. The move by the retailer has caused ructions, including TBS threatening to implement a ‘poison pill’ defensive strategy. There’s a TBS shareholders scheduled for June where these elements will be aired. Source: Rapid TV News, Asia Pacific Broadcast Union Official, 23rd April 2007
India/Broadcaster: Zee TV Cautious on HDTV
Essel Group’s CEO Mahesh Bhandani says India’s consumers are buying flat-panel TV sets as enthusiastically as anywhere else. However, this is not likely to lead to any near-term launch of HDTV, he says. Essel Group owns the Zee TV, India’s largest pay-TV operation. “Sooner or later we will see HDTV enter this market, but the sort of time frame it will take, while on all of our minds, is far from clear just yet.”
Bhandani was speaking ahead of Saturday’s results for Zee Entertainment Enterprises, which reported a 33% jump in consolidated net profit. Chairman Subhash Chandra said: "the operating margins have improved to 25 per cent in Q4 FY 07 and this has been achieved despite the disruptions in the quarter, because of the cricket world cup and intense competitive activity.” Chandra said Zee TV had registered 1.9m subs, and was on target to hit 3m next year. Source: Rapid TV News, 23rd April 2007
Asia/New Media: China, India to Lead Mobile Growth by 2011
Global Insight has announced the findings of its inaugural report produced by its new Telecoms Intermodal Forecasting Service. The report concluded that China and India will remain the world's growth engine for wireless services, accounting for 60% of the 1.2 billion predicted new mobile subscribers over the next five years. The report compares 20 leading developed and emerging markets between 2006 and 2011, and predicts that over the next 5 years, market penetration of wireless services will grow from 34.8% - 69.1% in China; and from 13.4% - 31% in India.
China will also outpace the other 19 markets in broadband growth, accounting for more than one-third of the 350 million-plus new subscriptions over the next five years. By 2011, China would have revenues of more than $19 billion and four times the subscribers currently, and will surpass Japan as the world's second-largest broadband market. However, the US will continue to maintain its position as the world's largest mobile and broadband market by revenues over the forecast period.
More than $50 billion will be lost worldwide over the period due to fixed-line subscriber declines and the migration of voice traffic to mobile and Voice over Internet Protocol networks. A 4.5% decline is predicted in traditional fixed-line accesses as growth in China and India fail to offset the erosion of traditional accesses in markets like Japan, South Korea, and Europe; the latter has already seen extensive migration of accesses from fixed lines to mobile. Source: Indian Television, 23rd April 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: UFC Seeking to Pin Down HBO Deal
HBO said it has not yet inked a deal to distribute content from the Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed-martial-arts franchise, despite published reports to the contrary. UFC president Dana White was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying the organization finalized a deal with HBO to televise UFC events beginning this summer.
HBO spokesman Ray Stallone would only say that the network has “nothing to announce” regarding a UFC deal. He did confirm that the two companies have been in discussions regarding a carriage deal. A HBO deal would be a major coup for UFC, which exploded onto the television marketplace over the past two years through its pay-per-view offerings and its original Spike TV series, Ultimate Fighter.
HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said recently that the pay service -- which is known for its pro-boxing franchise -- said UFC has a great fan base and is “here to stay.” He added that the success of mixed martial arts has not come at the expense of boxing. Source: Multi Channel News, 20th April 2007
Elsewhere/New Media: MediaZone Aces Wimbledon Deal
Online broadcaster MediaZone has renewed a deal with the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club to deliver the 2007 Wimbledon Championships on Wimbledon.org. Last year MediaZone and the AELTC collaborated to deliver the Wimbledon Live broadband video service to offer a range of content including live and video-on-demand coverage of more than 300 matches from up to nine courts concurrently.
Three free Radio Wimbledon channels of live commentary and 10 hours of classic archive footage were also offered, and the service in total attracted more than 2.2 million unique visitors worldwide. Wimbledon.org is designed, built and managed by IBM. The site is also home to the Wimbledon Live service, created in conjunction with MediaZone. Live online coverage of the 2007 Wimbledon Championships begins June 25. Source: Sports Media, 23rd April 2007
Elsewhere/General: Controversy over Draw for Women's World Cup
The draw for the Women’s World Cup in China this year sparked controversy when North Korea were extracted from the draw and assigned a place in Group B along with Nigeria, USA and Sweden, apparently in a politically-motivated decision to avoid an early clash with host country China. Fifa insisted that the decision was made by the organising committee. Worawi Makudi, Women’s World Cup chairman, said that the decision was made ‘after careful analysis and study.’ The move means that North Korea cannot play China before the semi-finals.
The other three groups are as follows: Group A – Germany, Japan, England, Argentina; Group C – Norway, Ghana, Australia, Canada; Group D – China, New Zealand, Brazil, Denmark. The tournament is scheduled for September 10 to 30, 2007, and will be played in five Chinese cities: Wuhan, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin. Source: Sportcal, 23rd April 2007
Monday, 23rd April 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
WWE Ends Relationship with Deep South Wrestling
WWE has severed ties with developmental territory Deep South Wrestling, the company announced on its website. “World Wrestling Entertainment has ended its relationship with Deep South Wrestling. For the past two years, DSW has served as one of WWE's developmental territories. Check back here as more information becomes available,” stated the posting on WWE.com.
The Atlanta based promotion is owned by “The Assassin” Jody Hamilton and ran weekly shows as well as events at Six Flags Amusement parks. The promotion and WWE had issues last year when WWE released Bill Demott as trainer and brought Tom Pritchard to handle training.
The announcement leaves Louisville, Kentucky’s Ohio Valley Wrestling as the only developmental territory at this point. Mike Johnson at PWInsider.com reported that the talents based in Atlanta have been told that they are not going to be released, and that the talent may be sent to OVW as well as Booker T’s Texas based PWA promotion and Steve Keirn’s Tampa, Florida wrestling school.
Many current WWE stars trained in Deep South Wrestling, including The Great Khali, The Miz, MVP, Matt Striker and Deuce and Domino. DSW has also been a place for established talents to work including Dave Taylor, William Regal, and Jamie Noble. Current talents include Sonny Siaki, Kofi Kingston, TJ Wilson, Nattie Neidhart, Angel Williams, Ace Steel and Krissy Vaine. Source: Slam Sports Canada, Wrestling News, 20th April 2007
DID YOU KNOW?
According to the World Squash Federation, it is compulsory for all players under the age of 19 years to protect their eyes with special plastic glasses. The regulations came into force around eight years ago after a number of junior players around the world suffered eye injuries. "It's important that the players use these glasses to avoid potential danger to their eyes," said tournament referee for the first Arab Squash (Under-13) Championship, Ibrahim Jamal. Source: Gulf News, 21st April 2007
INFO BOX
Badminton World Rankings
Source: Badminton World Federation Official, 19th April 2007
Men’s singles:
1 Lin Dan (Chn) 80393 pts;
2 Bao Chunlai (Chn) 63,199.8;
3 Chen Jin (Chn) 62142.8;
4 Chen Hong (Chn) 59,871;
5 Lee Chong Wei (Mas) 57175.8;
6 Chen Yu (Chn) 54,820.5;
7 Peter Gade Christensen (Den) 51,322.6;
8 Kenneth Jonassen (Den) 47,550.8;
9 Hafiz Hashim (Mas) 45492.6;
10 Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 42,108.8.
Other Malaysians: 16 Lee Tsuen Seng 33,490; 18 Roslin Hashim 32,880; 22 Sairul Amar Ayob 31,240; 25 Yeoh Kay Bin 30,890; 37 Wong Choong Hann 23,255; 38 Kuan Beng Hong 22,335; 47 Tan Chun Seang 19,740.
Men's Doubles:
1 Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun (Chn) 68,282;
2 Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen (Den) 58,997;
3 Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae (Kor) 56,078;
4 Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) 52,144;
5 Candra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan (Ina-US) 49,010;
6 Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah (Mas) 48,926;
7 Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) 46,786;
8 Rian Sukmawan-Eng Hian (Ina) 41,471;
9 Lee Jae Jin-Hwang Ji Man (Kor) 38,240;
10 Anthony Clark- Robert Blair (Eng) 38,230.
Other Malaysians: 18 Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock 32,260; 56 Chan Chong Ming-Hoon Thien How 14,950.
SPORTS SHORTS
* Portfolio Entertainment has licensed all seven seasons of Top Dogs, featuring worldwide sports for canines, to True Visions Public Company Limited (formerly UBC) in Thailand. The deal for 84 episodes is Portfolio’s first with the Thai platform, and its first sale of the series since acquiring it from Polar Bear Entertainment in 2006. “When we saw Top Dogs for the first time at MIPCOM, we believed the series would resonate with our viewers,” added Nisa Sittasrivong, program acquisitions officer at True Visions Public Company Limited. Source: Worldscreen, 20th April 2007
* V8 Supercars Australia chairman Tony Cochrane crowed about the ever- growing success of his series. Since shifting to a different TV network, viewing figures this year were up 47%, he said. "We're one of the big four sports in Australia now," he said. He recalled when he tried to sell TV rights in New Zealand 10 years ago, he had trouble getting an appointment and eventually sold the rights to TV1 for $30,000 a year. Source: Stuff NZ, 22nd April 2007
* The U.S. Figure Skating Association got a $12 million-a-year rights fee in the final eight years of the ABC/ESPN contract that ended in April. Given both a 60 percent drop in ratings over the past decade for the women's final at the U.S. Championships and changes in the TV marketplace, the USFSA did well to get what is a revenue-sharing deal with NBC. Both parties will profit once advertising revenue reaches a predetermined level. Source: Sports on Chicago Tribune, 21st April 2007
* German pay-TV Arena has announced a loss of €132 million for first five months of operation. Arena has live rights to the 1.Bundesliga. Premiere has suspended marketing of the Arena football and entertainment package after the German Cartel Office announced an investigation. Arena, owned by Unity Media, gained over a million subscribers in its first five months, with its pre-launch activities costing €31 million. The losses were revealed within Unity Media’s results for 2006, and are in line with the company’s expectations. Source: Sports Media, 20th April 2007
* BBC One’s flagship football highlights programme, Match of the Day, welcomes a woman into the commentator’s booth for the first time. Jacqui Oatley will take to the mike for the Premiership clash between Fulham and Blackburn Rovers at Craven Cottage. There have been a number of female presenters for football programmes in the past, this is the first time on UK television that a female has commentated on a football match. Women have commentated on top flight football matches for several years in Italy. Source: Sports Media, 20th April 2007
* France's chances of hosting UEFA Euro 2016 have been boosted by the decision to award Ukraine and Poland the 2012 tournament, according to French Football Federation (FFF) president Jean-Pierre Escalettes who revealed that France is contemplating bidding for Euro 2016, but admitted any decision would be based on the vote for the 2012 event. France would have little chance if Italy had won 2012, since UEFA would opt to give 2016 to an eastern European country. Source: Football Insider, 20th April 2007
* The Women’s International Squash Players’ Association has signed a 3-year deal with Stolwijk & Eichhorn, the Netherlands-based management company, to stage and promote the annual Women’s World Championship, the centrepiece of the WISPA World Tour, from 2009 to 2011. The event will offer a minimum prize fund of close to $500,000 and will involve total investment of $1.5 million. The announcement follows an earlier decision that this year’s edition will be held in Madrid, while the 2008 event will take place in Manchester. Source: Sportcal, 20th April 2007
MORE NEWS
Don King: Spinks Ready for Middleweight Champion Jermain Taylor
IBF junior middleweight champion Cory “The Next Generation” Spinks cleared a WBC “30-day weigh in” at 168.75 pounds today at the Don King Productions headquarters in Deerfield Beach, FL. Spinks is moving up to middleweight to challenge WBC and World Boxing Organization champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., on May 19 in a match televised on HBO’s World Championship Boxing at 10:15pm ET/7:15pm PT.
WBC rules require all fighters to be within 10 percent of the contracted weight 30 days prior to championship matches, in this case up to 16 pounds over the 160-pound middleweight limit. “I feel good,” Spinks said. “I’m right where I need to be and I’m really looking forward to this fight.” Source: Boxing Press on Saddoboxing, 20th April 2007
Asia/General: Asian Quad-Cup Hosting Plan was Too 'Idealistic'
Choosing to host soccer’s Asian Cup in four different countries this year was a mistake, admits the president of the Asian Football Confederation. The event, scheduled for July 7 to 29, hosted jointly by Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, and Mohamed bin Hammam told Reuters: ‘It involves a lot of marketing and energy. You get something from one government, but not another. Most of them are amateurs hardly committed to their associations, maybe just an hour a day. We have to have commitment. If one country fulfils its obligations and another one doesn’t, this is no good to us.’
Both Thailand and Malaysia have provoked the confederation’s ire for failure to respect the required preparations. Hammam described the rationale behind the quadruple hosting award as ‘idealistic,’ adding: ‘We wanted to give everyone a chance to host this event and give people a chance to enjoy the tournament. One country is more appropriate in terms of logistics. Dealing with one national association and one government, it’s like dealing with one mind.’
Hammam said that the confederation would review a decision to rotate hosting of the tournament between four zones: West Asia, Central and South Asia, East Asia and ASEAN. Bidders to host the event in 2011 are restricted to West Asia and Central and South Asia, with bids having been received from three countries so far: India, Qatar and Iran. The confederation plans to select the 2011 host country on July 28. Source: Sportcal, 20th April 2007
China/General: Volvo Ocean Race to Sail to China in 2009
The Volvo Ocean Race will visit China, stopping in two cities, in early 2009 along a new route that will include stopovers in the middle-east, India and Asia. Favourites to host the Chinese stopovers are Qingdao, which will hold the sailing events during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, and Shanghai. The 2008-2009 race will start from Alicante Port, Spain in October 2008, going through Africa, Middle East, Asia, South America, North America, Europe to a Baltic port finish.
The 10-member crews race aboard the Volvo Open 70, the fastest monohull ocean racing yacht in the world. The fleet will arrive in China around the spring festival in 2009 and stay for about three weeks during which various activities such as in-port race between the fleet will take place. Source: Sport Business, 20th April 2007
Elsewhere/New Media: ITV Partners With Premium TV For UEFA Cup Simulcast
ITV.com has partnered with Premium TV for a UEFA Cup simulcast. The broadcaster will screen all UEFA Cup games over broadband through to the end of the competition, with the final taking place in Glasgow, Scotland on May 16. For the first time, broadband coverage will exceed that shown on television and Premium TV will stream the live coverage of the prestigious competition for the network at UEFACup.ITV.com.
The UEFA Cup project is the latest in a line of joint simulcast ventures planned by ITV.com and Premium TV, and follows on from ITV's UEFA Champions League simulcast, which saw Premium TV provide the live streaming. The two companies also joined up to broadcast the 153rd Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race Live online earlier this month. Source Sports Media, Sport Business, Advanced Television, 20th April 2007
Elsewhere/General: French and English Rugby Form Alliance
French rugby’s national league (LNR) and England’s Premier Rugby formed an official alliance during a meeting yesterday. Both have pulled out of rugby’s premier European competition, the Heineken Cup next season. In a statement the LNR and Premier Rugby said, "the representatives of Premier Rugby and LNR noted a unanimous agreement on matters of common interest and decided to materialise this agreement by forging a formal alliance."
"This alliance will aim to perpetuate the professional clubs. The French and English leagues reaffirmed their indissociable position expressed in October 2006 regarding a new agreement on the organisation of The European competitions." French and English clubs pulled out of the Heineken Cup over a dispute around shares in the European Rugby Cup (ERC). Source: Sport Business, Sportcal, 20th April 2007
Elsewhere/Business: Beckham Sparks $13.3 Million in Sales for Galaxy
David Beckham already has brought Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy an additional $13.3 million in revenue, more than enough to cover his salary for two years. Beckham, who won't play until July, signed a five-year contract with the Galaxy in January that will pay him an MLS- record base salary of $5.5 million annually and might be worth as much as $250 million with his cut from jersey sales, endorsements and sponsorships.
Beckham's current contract with Madrid expires June 30. He said he'll join the Galaxy, whose season began April 8, in July after a short break. In the two years after he joined Real Madrid, the club’s annual sponsorship and advertising income more than doubled to 45.9 million euros ($62.3 million) from contracts with companies including Siemens AG and Adidas AG. Sales of jerseys and other merchandising jumped 62 percent to 54.1 million euros.
Tim Leiweke, CEO of AEG, the owner of the Galaxy said Beckham's celebrity has sold an additional 7,000 season tickets. The average price is $700. That translates into $4.9 million in new revenue. The team doesn't release total season-ticket sales figures. The club boosted the price of premium seats 48% to $4,000 from $2,700 for its 20 home games. It sold 1,000 seats for the season, up 25% from 2006, to generate an additional $800,000. Ticket revenue is expected to double this season to about $10 million.
Beckham will also make his presence felt on ESPN2, which has a contract to show MLS games. ESON2 will broadcast six Galaxy games this season, five after Beckham joins the team. Television audiences for Galaxy games likely will rise between 25- 50% from the MLS average of 197,000 U.S. households last season, said John Skipper, ESPN's executive vice president of content. Source: Bloomberg, 19th April 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
MPA Report Reveals Growth of Asia Pacific Pay-TV, Broadband Markets
According to Media Partners Asia, pay-TV and broadband revenues in Asia-Pacific will grow from $44 billion today to $102 billion by 2015, with a compound annual growth rate of 11 percent. The MPA report, entitled Asia-Pacific Pay-TV and Broadband Markets 2007, measures the growing consumption and value of multichannel video and broadband services over multiple distribution networks, including cable, satellite, fixed-line and wireless, across 16 territories in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to the report, the growth in digital set-top box (STB) deployment in Asia is reaching significant levels. The MPA predicts that net new digital subscriptions will hit an absolute peak of 30 million in Asia by 2010, fuelled by explosive growth in China and India; gradual transition in Korea; continued expansion in Japan and Australia; and full-scale digital migration in most ASEAN markets.
By 2015, almost 50% of pay-TV households will have digital STB versus 11% in 2006. According to MPA, total pay-TV subscriptions reached 255 million in Asia last year and will climb to 446 million by 2015. Broadband household penetration, averaging 13% in 2006, could grow to 24% by 2012 and 31% by 2015.
Penetration levels in Korea, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia will peak at 80-90% on average, while penetration in China will continue to climb, approaching 40% by 2015. Malaysia will lead the ASEAN region with almost 50 percent broadband household penetration by 2015, while penetration levels in India will remain modest at 11 percent by 2015.
In 2006, revenue opportunity for pay-TV channels in Asia was estimated at $9.2 billion. This could grow to $18 billion by 2011 and top $24 billion by 2015. In terms of volume of revenue generated, Japan, China, India and Korea lead the way. Japan’s broadband sector will generate approximately $19 billion in turnover by 2015 and the overall broadband pay-TV market will be worth a sizable $28 billion in revenue.
In China, total digital subscriptions are expected to scale from 10 million in 2006 to 70 million by 2011 and reach 107 million by 2015. This should provide a foundation for pay-TV growth that is spurred by the production of higher quality content, along with services such as HDTV, PVR and VOD. For the first time, English Premier League Soccer matches will be shown on a first-run basis on digital pay-TV in SD and HD formats, starting this year, followed by the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Boosted by cable’s rollout of conditional access systems and aggressive subscriber acquisition by two DTH satellite pay-TV platforms, India’s digital migration is also gaining momentum with almost 1.2 million new digital pay-TV customers added during the first quarter of this year (March quarter) alone. However, the report notes that while India will lead the Asia-Pacific region in pay-TV industry revenue generation, it still lags most of its neighbors in broadband.
Korea’s broadband pay-TV sector will generate $10 billion in revenue by 2015 with broadband contributing 51 percent and pay-TV growing its contribution to 49 percent versus 32 percent in 2006.
Cash generation and profitability are rising in Asia’s pay-TV and broadcasting sectors, causing investors, especially private equity firms, to rush into the ownership of brands and platforms with dependable cash flow. As a result, M&A levels reached a record $8.7 billion in 2006, and will continue to grow, driven by activity in Greater China, India and Korea as consolidation and investment gains pace. Source: Worldscreen, 20th April 2007
Friday, 20th April 2007
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
Sanjaya’s Exit Makes Fox’s Night
Sanjaya Malakar , the divisive 17-year-old “American Idol” contestant better known for his hairstyles than his singing talent, reached the end of his run on Wednesday. Receiving the fewest votes of the more than 38 million cast, Mr. Malakar was told of his departure on Fox’s “American Idol” results show, which garnered 28.2 million viewers in the 9 p.m. hour, according to Nielsen’s estimates. Fox led the night’s ratings over all, but “Bones” at 8 (7.9 million) posted the slimmest of leads in the hour, ahead of CBS’s “Jericho” (7.8 million). Benjamin Toff on The New York Times, 20th April 2007
"I can promise you: We won't soon forget you," Ryan Seacrest, bidding farewell to "American Idol" cast-off Sanjaya Malakar. Source: Entertainment Quotes from Associated Press on International Herald Tribune, 19th April 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* The New Zealand Rugby Union could face legal action after pay-TV broadcaster Sky revealed an expected, albeit controversial decision to withdraw 22 New Zealand All Black rugby players from their teams in this year’s Super 14 competition had badly hit television viewing figures which were down by nearly 23% for the Friday night games, and have not picked up since the return of the All Blacks from a three-month training camp. Sky is in the third year of a five-year, $420-million deal with Sanzar for Tri-Nations and Super 14 games. Source: Sportcal, 19th April 2007
* TNT will launch a MySpace page dedicated to coverage of the NBA. It will host exclusive videos featuring the network's Inside the NBA studio team as well as behind-the-scenes footage from the show. The TNT NBA Thursday MySpace page goes live on April 19. TNT also plans to post candid photos of the stars of Inside the NBA on a regular basis. Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson and others will occasionally post blog entries on the site throughout TNT’s playoff coverage, as will members of the network’s NBA production crew. Source: Mediaweek, 18th April 2007
* IP-based video service provider Glowpoint, Inc. has struck a deal with NASCAR to provide equipment and services allowing delivery of two-way high-definition video interviews over Internet Protocol. Glowpoint will provide the system to several NASCAR locations, enabling live-to-air and live-to-tape interviews. Glowpoint says NASCAR is the first major pro sport to provide content on ‘HD over IP’, marketed by Glowpoint as Team-CamHD. A service link will be provided to NASCAR’s headquarters in Florida and media outlets will be able to acquire driver interviews and such in between races via Glowpoint or satellite feeds. Source: Sports Media, 19th April 2007
* Poland and Ukraine pulled in heavyweight support for their successful bid to host UEFA EURO 2012™ with former world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko and the great pole vaulter Sergey Bubka among the ambassadors backing their candidature in Cardiff. Bubka was not just lending his fame to the tender but also attending in his capacity as president of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee, and could not hide his delight at the bid's surprise success. Klitschko, world heavyweight champion in 2004 and 2005, was also in exultant mood. Source: Uefa Official, 18th April 2007
* Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein has left the club with immediate effect because of “irreconcilable differences” with the rest of the current board. However, the 63-year-old former Football Association vice-chairman and current chairman of the G-14 group of elite European clubs, still holds around 14% of shares in Arsenal’s parent company. The differences are thought to be over the potential takeover by American, Stan Kroenke, who recently acquired ITV's 9.9% Arsenal stake in a £60 million deal and has taken his holding to 11.26%. Source: Football Insider, Sport Business, Sportcal, EUFootball.biz, 19th April 2007
* ATP president, Etienne de Villiers, is believed to have agreed to review aspects of a controversial overhaul of the structure of the season after meeting with prominent players opposed to the changes, led by Roger Federer. The Swiss star is particularly upset at plans to downgrade the Monte Carlo clay court tournament. The meeting in Monte Carlo followed public complaints by the players that De Villiers had not taken their views into account before drawing up plans to change the tournament schedule from 2009 onwards. Source: Sportcal, 19th April 2007
* MIPtv delegates were treated to 3D-HDTV television from Japan’s NHK, which is shot on a single camera fitted with a pair of side-by-side lenses, each taking compressed image signals into a single video stream. This means that the images can be recorded conventionally on a standard HD VCR, or transmitted. The results are spectacular, and exceptionally vivid. The 3D demo-images comprised of nature and wildlife scenes, excerpts from a specially shot drama, animation and documentary footage. This will not revolutionize broadcasting just yet, but end results are interesting and could breathe fresh life into 3D. Source: Worldscreen, 19th April 2007
MORE NEWS
Elsewhere/Rights: Telstra Blow After Court Ruling
Telstra has suffered a blow in its legal wrangle with Fox Sports over National Rugby League (NRL) material on websites and multimedia services. Telstra claims that Premier Media Group is guilty of screening excessive highlights of NRL matches on Fox Sports which are owned by Vodafone and Hutchison, its major rivals. The NRL sealed a A$90 million (US$75 million) deal with Telstra earlier this year, with the latter securing the rights to air league matches on its Internet and mobile services, leaving Fox Sports with the pay-TV rights.
Telstra had sought an urgent ruling to restrict Fox Sports to using a limited amount of NRL action for news reports before the full trial, which takes place later this year. It claimed that 45 seconds of footage should be the maximum and that footage should only be used for only 24 hours after a match. But Federal Court ruled that Fox would be able to continue broadcasting the highlights, which Telstra claims are reducing traffic to its own websites. Source: Sports Media, Sport Business, 19th April 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: EPL to Vote on New TV Revenue Distribution
Clubs in the Premier League were set to vote on proposals for more equitable distribution of television rights revenues, following a new rights deal worth £2.7 billion ($5.3 billion) for the three years starting with the 2007-08 season. The clubs, led by Charlton Athletic, want adjustments to the established revenue distribution in which 50% is split equally between the 20 clubs, 25% distributed according to league position at the end of the season and 25 % according to the number of television appearances that each club makes.
However, a proposal for 70% of the revenues for equal distribution, 20% on league position and 10% on television appearances has already been rejected fearing that the formula would lead to relegated clubs receiving a disproportionately large payment. Richard Scudamore, the league’s chief executive, is said to be planning an alternative in which quotas of TV appearances for each club are handed to the league’s broadcasters, BSkyB and Setanta, to prevent them from focusing their coverage mainly on the most successful (and richest) clubs.
It is feared that under the new deal, which will result in 60% more TV revenue for clubs from next season, the gap between rich and poor clubs is set to grow still wider. This is despite arguments that differentials between the top and bottom will be the smallest yet. The winners of next year’s title are forecast to earn £50 million in TV revenues, compared with £30 million for the bottom club. The differential between top and bottom club at the end of the 2005-06 season was £13.6 million. At least 15 clubs would be required to vote for the proposals in order to change the league's present system. Source: Sportcal, 19th April 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: Premiere/Arena Soccer Deal Scrapped
Following talks with the German federal cartel office, Premiere has decided to discontinue “until further notice” its marketing of Bundesliga channel Arena to DTH homes. The decision was in view of ongoing investigation into the agreement which Arena’s parent company Unity Media, Arena and Premiere made in February, granting Premiere non-exclusive satellite marketing rights for Arena. In return, the company was to receive a 16.7% stake in Premiere’s equity, turning Arena into the pay-TV broadcaster’s largest single shareholder.
Households which receive Premiere via satellite and have a subscription for Bundesliga live will not be affected. Unity Media will continue to market Premiere and Arena on cable networks of its subsidiaries ish and iesy, while in regions served by Kabel Deutschland, Premiere will continue to offer Arena to cable viewers. According to Premiere, the broadcaster intends to develop a model with Unity Media and Arena which complies with competition law by 31 May. Source: Rapid TV News, 19th April 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
TV Economy Has Room for Expansion: Subhash Chandra
As a prelude to GoaFest, the AAAI organized an AD conclave with the participation of Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandran, ABP Group MD Pramath Raj Sinha and a streaming video statement by WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorell. The other speakers were Prasoon Joshi, SK Swamy and Raj Nayak and the session saw active participation from senior advertising executives including Sam Balsara, Shashi Sinha and Mahesh Chauhan.
Proposing to resolve the issue confronting the growth of the Indian advertising industry to achieve Rs 500 billion, individual speakers expressed their views on the same specific to their domain of expertise. Swamy stated, "The current ad growth in India is $ 3 billion, contributing to approximately 0.3% of the GDP." Adding that a recent Goldman and Sachs report which stated that Indian was expected to see an 8% growth in GDP till 2050 which will cause ad expenditure to surge further.
Chandra took narrated the Zee story and specifically looking at television, questioned whether TV in India was an undervalued proposition. To grow to Rs 500 billion from its current standing of Rs 150 billion, the industry would have to register a 50 per cent year on year growth. However, he believes that a television driven economy has room for greater expansion and the mission of achieving a Rs 500 billion target is not a dream but a realistic proposition. Source: Indian Television, 18th April 2007
Thursday, 19th April 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Poland and Ukraine to Co-host Euro 2012
The success of Portugal at UEFA EURO 2004™ can be an inspiration to Poland and Ukraine as they begin the long process of preparing to host UEFA EURO 2012™. This was the message from Polish Football Association president Michał Listkiewicz in Cardiff following the victory of the joint Polish and Ukrainian bid. Listkiewicz recalled how Portugal was a surprise choice for many critics to stage the 2004 finals.
Listkiewicz, a former international referee, said that for Polish football, today's news was "on a par with 1974 when [striker Grzegorz] Lato won the Golden Shoe and with 1982 [when, as in 1974, Poland finished third at the FIFA World Cup]". Grigoriy Surkis, president of the Football Federation of Ukraine, said: "Ukraine and Poland now have this chance to show our best. We are approximately 85 million people, we are neighbours and there are more than 200 million people in the nations neighbouring us. It is a great audience."
Surkis added that the required logistics for a tournament that will take place in two time zones "gives us the impetus to build a new infrastructure and to come close to the European standard". UEFA EURO 2012™ will bring new stadiums to Gdansk and Warsaw in Poland and Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk in Ukraine, as well as ensuring the renovation of eight other grounds.
Speaking to uefa.com, UEFA communications and public affairs director William Gaillard praised the three 2012 bids from Poland/Ukraine, Croatia/Hungary and Italy, and added: "I think hosting EURO 2012 is a tremendous prize for any country – and for sure, what was presented reflected the importance of such an event." Source: UEFA Official, Sportcal, 18th April 2007
Related Excerpts: EURO 2012 Awarded to Poland & Ukraine
Four Ukrainian venues: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kiev and Lviv. Six Polish venues: Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Chorzow. Pros: Growing passion for the sport in both countries, with Poland pulling in record TV figures for FIFA World Cup 2006 and Ukraine reaching last year’s tournament for the first time; Impressive stadium construction programme planned, particularly in Ukraine. Cons: Both countries would need huge investment in infrastructure ahead of the tournament; Construction issues of stadia in Ukraine as the country has its own sports venue development legislation; Political situation in Ukraine has been unstable since the Orange Revolution of 2004-05. Source: Football Insider, 18th April 2007
Poland-Ukraine's victory to host the 2012 European Championship confirms the status of the former Olympic pole-vault champion Sergei Bubka as one of the chief powerbrokers in world sport. Bubka was key in persuading Uefa to take a high-risk strategy of shifting the tournament to the east. Bubka has established himself as a sporting politician and is an influential member of the International Olympic Committee and of the International Association of Athletics Federations council. His commitment to the Poland-Ukraine bid was demonstrated by the fact that he was in Cardiff this week for the final presentation rather than in Beijing, where he had been scheduled to be part of an IOC evaluation commission visit to host city of the 2008 Games. Along with Lord Coe, Bubka is tipped as a future IOC president. Source: Paul Kelso comments on The Guardian UK, 19th April 2007
Hosting of the 2012 European Championship went to Poland and Ukraine delivering a major surprise, awarding the tournament to an un-fancied joint bid with a two-thirds majority, signaling a shift in European football to the east. Uefa's shock decision to look east is a huge snub to Italy, whose bid was expected to win despite the country's tawdry recent history of match-fixing scandals and hooliganism. In the event Poland and Ukraine were comfortable winners, defeating the Italian bid by eight votes to four, with the third contender, a joint bid from Hungary and Croatia, attracting no support in a secret ballot. Source: The Guardian Unlimited, 19th April 2007
Polish football fans and officials burst into enthusiastic cheers and chants after the announcement from Cardiff that Poland and Ukraine will jointly host the Euro 2012 Championship. “White and reds, can’t be beat!” shouted a group of ardent fans that had gathered in the shadow of the communist-era Palace of Culture in central Warsaw to watch the announcement, broadcast live on a large television screen. Poland’s national coach, Leo Beenhakker, expressed his delight and urged government and sports officials to get down to work to prepare for the prestigious competition. Source: AFP on The Star Malaysia, 19th April 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* LeagueOne Marketing Services, will bring women’s beach volleyball to India. The property will be called Volleigirl. The company has tied with Times Group’s lifestyle channel, Zoom, to broadcast the event. This will be India’s first professional women’s volleyball league. Based on a reality show format, Volleigirl will invite entries from women across India. A panel of international players and trainers will shortlist 48 women in auditions held at four Indian cities. 48 girls will be picked to undergo 2 months of training and grooming to prepare for the finals. Source: Agencyfaqs, 19th April 2007
* An overhaul of Asia’s AFC Champions League, has been recommended by the regional body’s professional leagues committee. The Asian Football Confederation released details of committee findings on its website on Tuesday following meetings last week ahead of plans to revamp the tournament in 2009. Among suggestions put forward was inclusion of a round of 16 in the knockout phase, and playing the final as a one-off match in neutral venue. Under the current format, the final is played on a home-and-away basis. Source: Football Insider, 18th April 2007
* Reed Midem announced the launch of Amazia ,a pan-Asian, B2B exhibition and conference devoted to the creation and distribution of international entertainment content across all delivery platforms. Amazia will take place in Hong Kong in November, 2008. Amazia will host content creators and rights owners including television and film production and distribution companies, broadcasters and mobile operators among others, who are looking to associate themselves with entertainment content. Participation is expected to be 70% from Asian Pacific and 30% from outside the region. Source: Indian Television, Worldscreen, 18th April 2007
* The acquisition of English Premier League broadcast rights by Entertainment Highway Limited in Nigeria, the owners of Hi-TV, has helped increase subscribers. Just last month EHL paid up the mandatory US$28 million dollars to put to rest speculations on the broadcast right ownership of the premiership for the next three seasons. The company also paid an additional €6.9 million for the Spanish League for all Africa. Source: Vanguard Nigeria, 18th April 2007
* US companies will spend $3.2 billion in motorsports sponsorship in 2007, up 11% from $2.9 billion spent in 2006, according to IEG Sponsorship Report. Nascar tops the pile in terms of sponsorship spend with its new sponsorship strategy, targeting fewer, bigger corporate partners bringing in big, long-term deals. Sponsorship interest continues to be held back by concerns over the health of motorsport although Champ Car World Series has just signed a new deal with iRise, but the circuit has lost Ford and Bridgestone as presenting sponsors. Source: Sport Business, 18th April 2007
* The F1 calendar will include 'Grand Prix of Europe' in place of the German Grand Prix after a dispute over title-use ended in deadlock. The race is scheduled for July 22 at the Nurburgring. Nurburgring and Hockenheim have agreed to alternate hosting the race. Previously, Nurburgring and Hockenheim hosted F1 races, and the European and German Grand Prix, respectively, each year. However, the two clubs that organise the races failed to reach agreement on Nurburgring using the German Grand Prix title, meaning that this year’s race will revert to the Grand Prix of Europe. Source: Sportcal, 18th April 2007
MORE NEWS
Thailand/Broadcaster: 24-hour Local Sports Channel Debuts
Siam Sport Syndicate Plc, which publishes a daily sports tabloid, today begins broadcasting the first 24-hour local sports channel in Thailand on satellite TV. The move paves the way for the company to run a free sports channel. It still hopes that the government will reallocate frequencies for business operators as the company plans to invest at least 200 million baht in free TV.
The company had invested 50 million baht in the past two years in Siam Keela TV, including 20 million baht in an outdoor broadcast unit. With digital technology, it broadcasts content on channel NBT 19 (National Broadcast Television). NBT belongs to the Public Relations Department and is available to owners of Samart satellite dishes. Samart has sold 100,000 dishes and anticipates this to double in the next two years. Net Media, its major partner, is licensed to manage the department's frequency.
The channel would focus on locally produced talk shows and variety programmes rather that foreign programmes, such as live international sports. He said that imported programmes were too costly and that rights had already been bought by TrueVisions pay TV. He said that the channel would be free for at least one year before adjusting to subscriber-based billing or pay-per-view.
Although the station predicts a slow first year, it expects ad revenues of 120 million baht next year thanks to the Euro 2008 football tournament. Sport publishing is the flagship of Siam Sport Syndicate, accounting for 70% of the parent company's total earnings. He said that this year the company would aggressively expand into TV after operating a 24-hour sports radio programme since 1996.
It has already produced two sport programmes _ Sport Weekly and Dao Bon Din (Star on Earth) _ for TITV. Other programmes called World Soccer and Sport will be aired on MCOT's Channel 9 by July. It will start airing another programme on MCOT2, available on TrueVisons channel 27, next month. Siam Sport projects revenues of two billion baht this year, up from 1.8 billion in 2006. It missed last year's target due to the economic slowdown. But its profits doubled to 77 million baht thanks to reader interest in the World Cup. Source: Bangkok Post, 19th April 2007
Asia/Rights: Agency Obtains Manchester United Asia Tour TV Rights
IEC in Sports has been appointed to distribute the global broadcast rights for English soccer’s Manchester United on its tour of Asia this summer. Details of the tour were confirmed yesterday. Manchester United will face Urawa Reds in Saitama, Japan, on July 17 before heading to Seoul, South Korea, for the match against Seoul FC on July 20. On July 23, United face Shenzhen FC in Macau, China, and will play a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur on July 27.
Promoter ProEvents is handling the arrangements for the tour, having organised four of Manchester United’s five tours of Asia since 1995. The club’s last tour of Asia was in 2005 when it visited Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo. Manchester United lead the top-tier English Premiership and have qualified for the semi-final of the Champions League, European soccer’s top clubs competition, and the final of the domestic FA Cup. Source: Sportcal, 18th April 2007
Singapore/General: Looks to the World
Singapore announced MOU agreements with 4 major co-producers as the country looks to increase its media presence. The four deals (including Australian, Canadian, French, Indian and US players) are additional to a similar announcement Tuesday with Germany’s Beta movie and series powerhouse.
Seto Lok Yin, director of Media Development Authority, said there was plenty of cash available for the right media-related projects, from private equity funders and the Singaporean banking community. Mr Seto said there was increased commitment to HDTV production and the nation’s producers had wrapped about 50 hours of HD production within the past year – and there was willingness to make further investments in HD output across all genres, especially drama, documentary, kids and animation. Source: Rapid TV News, 18th April 2007
Elsewhere/Rights: Cartel Fears Prompt Bundesliga Suspension on Premiere
German pay-television broadcaster, Premiere, has halted marketing of Arena channel via satellite, while awaiting decision over legitimacy of a tie-up between the two broadcasters. Arena, the channel owned by a consortium of cable operators, holds exclusive rights for live coverage of German soccer's top-tier Bundesliga.
The cartel office is still examining an agreement signed on February 8 between Premiere and Unity Media, the cable consortium that owns the Arena channel. Unity Media acquired a €250-million ($339.4-million), 16.7-per-cent stake in Premiere and in return, Arena's live Bundesliga coverage was made available via satellite through Premiere.
Unity Media last year fended off competition from incumbent broadcaster Premiere to win the exclusive live rights to the Bundesliga for three years for €240 million a year, but did not have the necessary platforms in place to make coverage available across the country. Source: Sportcal, World Soccer News, Advanced Television, 18th April 2007
Elsewhere/Programming: Liverpool to Launch TV Channel
Barclays Premiership giant Liverpool FC is to launch its own TV channel this summer. The Anfield club already produces a weekly three-hour TV show broadcast in 47 different countries outside the UK, but will now join rivals Chelsea and Manchester United, as well as Bank of Scotland (sponsor) Premier League teams Celtic and Rangers, in having its own channel.
Liverpool CEO Rick Parry told www.liverpoolfc.tv: “We are very excited about the prospect of the Club channel which could be a great addition to the coverage that we already provide for our supporters through our website, mobile services and print media. We would like to be able to say more to fans at this stage as to how they will be able to get the new channel but, at the moment, discussions with broadcasters are ongoing and there are a number of details still to be worked out. As soon as we are in a position to release further deta ils, we will do so.”
Although the club has not yet confirmed a launch date, it is already advertising for experienced directors, producers, engineers, camera operators, editors, production assistants and researchers to work on LFC TV. For more information, visit www.liverpoolfc.tv/recruitment. Source: Football Insider, Sport Business, 18th April 2007
Elsewhere/General: Champions League Offers £30 Million Jackpot
Chelsea and Manchester United may compete against each other for glory on three separate fronts; three crucial matches between them next month will determine the outcome of the Barclays Premiership, the FA Cup and - if both win their semi-finals - the Champions League. But a sports marketing expert believes that the value of being crowned kings of Europe will be more than £30 million and purely on commercial terms the UEFA Champions League is the Holy Grail.
In terms of prize money and TV cash, Chelsea and United both made around £29 million from the Premier League last season. They can expect to earn the same again this season. The FA Cup will swell their coffers by a further £2.4 million, with the winner taking home a further £1 million. In Europe, both clubs are guaranteed around £20 million, a further £4 million for making the final and another £2 million for winning it. Manchester United will play AC Milan in one Champions League semi-final while Chelsea will square off against Liverpool in the other. Source: Football Insider, EUFootball.biz, 18th April 2007
Wednesday, 18th April 2007
HEADLINES OF THE DAY
Surprise Result as 2014 Asian Games Host is Unveiled
The South Korean city of Incheon will host the 2014 Asian Games in a surprise decision, after seeing off competition from India's capital New Delhi. South Korea also recently staged the 2002 event in Busan, while India has been overlooked since it last played host in 1982. India hosted the games in the inaugural 1951 edition, but New Delhi won just two votes when it applied to hold the 2006 games that eventually went to Doha in Qatar.
New Delhi’s 2014 bid was said to have been undermined by mixed coverage of its preparations for the Commonwealth Games, which it will host in 2010. Delhi’s campaign is also believed to be affected by a perception that it was using the games to further Olympic Games aspirations. Lars Haue-Pedersen, director of TSE Consulting, said ‘No event wants to feel like it is one of a series of events. There’s nothing wrong with the strategy, but India needs to communicate more clearly about its aspirations to hold sports events.’
The Olympic Council of Asia made the decision at its general assembly in Kuwait. OCA president, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah, did not reveal how many votes Incheon received from the OCA’s 45 member countries. This confirms South Korea as an emerging force in staging major sports events. The city of Daegu was awarded the 2011 world athletics championships and Pyeong Chang is the running for the 2014 winter Olympic Games. South Korea is one of a few countries capable of hosting major sports events in several different cities. Source: Sportcal, 17th April 2007, The Star Malaysia, China Daily, All Headline News, 18th April 2007
Related Stories: Asia Games Awarded to Incheon
Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah has slammed the door on any hope Australia had of competing in the Asian Games, saying it would not be fair to Oceania. The Sheikh acknowledged the benefits Australia’s inclusion would bring, but said they were outweighed by the damage it would do to Oceania’s other sporting nations. “Australia will add 100% value for money. They have a very high standard of sport and organisation but what about the National Olympic Committees in Oceania? We have to be fair to our colleagues in Oceania.” Source: The Star Malaysia, Sportcal, 18th April 2007
The next Asian Games 2010 in Guangzhou will be even bigger, with cricket the latest inclusion as a new sport. The decision to include cricket was taken at the OCA congress here, with heavyweight nations like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka expected to field their top teams. The Guangzhou Games will feature 42 sports compared to 39 at the last Asiad in Doha in December. The OCA member nations also shelved plans to dump cue sports and 10-pin bowling. Source: The Star Malaysia, 18th April 2007
“Delhi loses, but it’s “victory” for Mani Shankar Aiyar,” Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Suresh Kalmadi said today after South Korea’s Incheon edged Delhi out in the “very close” vote in Kuwait. The allusion was to the Indian minister’s comment last week when he said hosting big games, whether in Delhi or Melbourne, makes no difference to the “state of those living in the colonies opposite the stadium”. Aiyar had opposed India’s bid before the Union cabinet. The government, however, gave the green light five days ago, after which an IOA delegation flew to Kuwait for the vote by member countries of the Olympic Council of Asia. Source: Telegraph India, 17th April 2007
SPORTS SHORTS
* A new board has been elected at the AGM of the Women’s International Squash Players’ Association, including two men. The men are American, Blair Keller and Antony Lee, recent president of Squash Malaysia. The other members are the president, Natalie Grainger (USA), Jaclyn Hawkes (NZ), Ingrid Lofdahl-Bentzer and Jenny Tranfield (both England) and Madeline Perry (Ireland). Linda Elriani of England, a former chairman, has stepped down from the board after 13 years, along with Canada’s Katie Patrick. Source: Sportcal, 16th April 2007
* VOOM HD Networks has inked a carriage agreement with Orbit Communications to launch VOOM HD channel in the Middle East. The agreement sees the launch of the first HD channel in the region. The pay-TV platform will launch this month, reaching subscribers in Middle East and North Africa. Source: Worldscreen, 17th April 2007
* AsiaSat was again voted as the “Best Asian Satellite Carrier” in the 2007 Telecom Asia Awards. In 2006, AsiaSat achieved encouraging growth in overall utilisation with an expanding premium customer base, and an increasing number of video and audio channels delivered by its satellite fleet. AsiaSat's associate and subsidiary companies include its broadband venture SpeedCast, Skywave DTH service, and China VSAT joint venture Beijing Asia Sky. Source: Indian Television, 17th April 2007
* Steady growth of IPTV subscriber and service revenue continues on an upward trend in Europe, Asia and North America, according to the new MRG report IPTV Global Forecast Report April 2007. Driving its success is fast growth in Europe; in Asia, particularly China, Japan, and Hong Kong; and in North America, and Canada. Forecasts show service provider revenue growing globally from $3.6 billion in 2007 to $20.3 billion in 2011. Source: Advanced Television, 17th April 2007
* Three bid committees are vying to host the 2012 European Championship. Italy is up against joint bids from Poland and Ukraine, and Hungary and Croatia. All three have made final presentations and 12 members of UEFA's executive board will choose the host Wednesday. The Italians are favored to win the vote despite last year's match-fixing scandal and recent outbreaks of violence. But if Italy doesn't win, the continental championship will head to the former eastern bloc for the first time since Yugoslavia in 1976. Source: UEFA Official, International Herald Tribune, 17th April 2007
* Time Warner is said to be considering reducing cable-TV holdings over time. They regard the long-term future of cable as doubtful as Internet emerges as alternative networks for TV and are considering getting out of cable and investing more in the Web. Time Warner already owns AOL and may seek to purchase another major Internet company. The issue will be put before the board as part of an annual strategic review. Time Warner is the second biggest MSO in the U.S. based on subscribers. Source: Advanced Television, Total Content + Media, 17th April 2007
* Nokia and Samsung agreed to work jointly to boost open standards in mobile television, based on Nokia’s DVB-H technology. A Reuters report quoted a statement from Nokia as saying that the two wanted to encourage greater adoption of broadcast mobile TV services. Mobile phone makers and operators are keen to tap the potentially lucrative market in phones that receive television, but take-up has been held back by fragmentation of the technologies on offer. Nokia and Samsung plan to work on using OMA BCAST standard for mobile operators. Source: Telecom Asia, 17th April 2007
MORE NEWS
India/Broadcaster: TRAI Chides ESPN, Orders Restoration of Signal to LCO
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has directed ESPN to restore immediately the signal to a Maharashtra LCO and held that the disconnection that ESPN had undertaken was illegal. ESPN had been directed to restore the ESPN and Star Sports channels and file compliance within two days. The regulator has disallowed ESPN's contentions in the case and has chastised it, demanding that it follows regulation before disconnecting signals.
Responding to the initial complaint, ESPN told TRAI that the agreement would supply feed only to private residences but LCO was also feeding the signal to hotels, which was in contravention of the agreement. ESPN had also told TRAI that it amount to piracy and despite being asked to desist, LCO continued with their alleged illegal activity.
However, TRAI maintains that regulation dictates that no broadcaster or MSO can disconnect signals without a three-week notice and TRAI found the clause for disconnection had not been followed by the sportscaster. ESPN asserted that there was no need to issue a public notice since there was no agreement with LCO giving signals to hotels and commercial enterprises, which is why it had stayed clear of violating the Regulation. Source: Indian Television, 17th April 2007
Elsewhere/General: Top Tennis Players Strongly Oppose ATP Changes
Roger Federer is the latest tennis figure to criticise governing bodies the ATP and the International Tennis Federation over proposed changes to the sport. The Swiss star is particularly upset with plans to downgrade the Monte Carlo clay court tournament. Backed by other top players, including Rafael Nadal, he said yesterday: ‘The ATP is moving really fast at the moment. We've had a letter sent several times to the ATP and the ITF about certain issues.’
Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic believes the ATP is acting in the interest of US tournaments at the expense of the European players. He said of the Monte Carlo event: ‘It's disappointing to see it's going to be downgraded. Are they afraid of US tournaments? It was never an idea to touch anything over there. European players are the ones paying the price.’ Ljubicic also criticised US players for their lack of support. James Blake and Andy Roddick have both pulled out of the Monte Carlo event. Source: Sportcal, 17th April 2007
ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
5 Reasons Why English Clubs Dominate Europe
To some English press, it's open-and-shut. If there are three English clubs in the semi-finals of the Champions' League, there can be only one reason: the Premiership is the best league in the world. Of course, this thinking is riddled with inconsistencies. But if three semi-finalists is all it takes, then the Serie A would have been the best league in the world in 2003.
That said, there is a theme to the English success this season. One can clearly look at five areas in which Premiership sides have outperformed the opposition and for which, to varying degrees, they deserve praise. This is the season when English club football finally grew up, when it finally lived up to the hype. And here are the reasons why:
1. Healthy finances
The top four English clubs have more money than the top four in any other league. Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain, Inter and Milan in Italy, Lyon in France and Bayern Munich in Germany may all match England's big clubs but no other league comes close to having as many clubs with of the same depth of pocket in one League. Money allows the attraction and retention of talent. Cristiano Ronaldo extended his deal at Manchester United, becoming one of five highest paid players in the world. This does not guarantee that he'll stay, but it does make it much harder. English clubs can now hang on to their big guns like never before.
The Premiership is the best run league in the world from a commercial standpoint. It surpasses every other European domestic competition in terms of marketing, revenues and hype although it has taken some time for the balance sheet to match the quality on the pitch. But the former has inevitably raised the level of the latter and English clubs are reaping the benefits.
2. Faltering opponents
It helps when your adversaries self-destruct and this has been a nightmare season for Europe's footballing royalty outside the Premiership. Juventus are stuck in Serie B for the season, so they could not even compete in top-tiered continental club competitions. Bayern Munich are in a dismal fourth place in the Bundesliga and have had to make an acrimonious mid-season managerial change, ditching Felix Magath and bringing back Ottmar Hitzfeld.
After storming to the top of the Dutch Eredivisie, PSV Eindhoven fell apart just as they met Liverpool in the Champions League competition. The same can be said for Spain’s Valencia, which began the season with a furious (and very public) row between the manager, Quique Sanchez Flores and the club's sporting director Amedeo Carboni. They currently sit in fifth place.
At Real Madrid, Fabio Capello has been on the brink of getting the sack for most of the year, with very public airings of his rows with almost the entire team of Galacticos. Supporters of Real Madrid turned so viciously on some of his signings that Capello had to stop playing the likes of Emerson at the Bernabeu, to spare himself the boos. Down south at Barcelona, Frank Rijkaard endured criticism from Samuel Eto'o, while dealing a tricky situation with Ronaldinho (the Brazilian's agent was flogging him all across Europe) which may yet see him dropped. Compounding matters, this year has seen the tightest La Liga race in years. The domestic title chase has proven so exhausting that Spanish clubs necessarily paid a price in Europe.
3. Managerial excellence
Rafa Benitez, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho are arguably all among the top five managers in the world right now. They've all won the Champions' League before (as has Milan’s Carlos Ancelotti) and all have served up tactical masterpieces on the way to the semis. Whatever one thinks of these three men, only a fool would doubt that they are among the very best in football management.
4. Stability
Of the 16 clubs who advanced to the knockout phase of the Champion's League, seven are led by managers who have been in charge for two seasons or more. And, of those seven clubs, four are English. The fact that Mourinho, Ferguson and Benitez have had time to mould their squads into a cohesive unit which fully comprehends what is required of them on-pitch cannot be underestimated. Today, each of the English sides left in the competition has a distinctive style and philosophy which is deeply ingrained in the players and that can only be a result of managerial stability.
5. Luck
Or, if you think this is a pejorative term, you can call it "happenstance". But reality is that one does not win major silverware without a spot of good fortune.
When United played Lille away, the French side had a perfectly good goal disallowed, while referee Eric Bramhaar controversially (if correctly) allowed Ryan Giggs' quickly taken free-kick score to stand. A different official, on a different night, might have acted differently.
The point here isn't to suggest that these sides are "lucky". Rather, they are, on balance, not "unlucky". Football is, ultimately, a sequence of individual episodes, some of which can change the course of the game. Had Bramhaar made a different decision, we might be looking at four different Champions' League semi-finalists right now and drawing entirely different conclusions. Gabriel Marcotti comments on The Sunday Herald, 15th April 2007