01 cover sbi 152.indd - FIFA/CIES International University Network

MEDIA
SHORTSTOP
IPL: Entertainment & Sports Direct,
promoted by investment advisory
and private equity company DAR
Capital Grouphas, won the theatre
rights for the Indian Premier
League from 2010-2019. The tenyear
deal is reported to be worth Rs
330 crore ($71 million).
TyC Sports: Argentinian sports
broadcaster TyC Sports acquired
the TV rights in Argentina for the
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
and London 2012 Olympic Games.
TyC Sports has had the broadcast
rights in Argentina for every
Summer Olympic Games since
Atlanta 1996. TyC Sports also
acquired rights for the IAAF’s
Diamond League series of athletics
meets, which begins next year.
World Series: Major League
Baseball’s World Series averaged
an 11.7 television rating and
19-per-cent audience share on US
television, up 39 per cent from the
record low of 8.4 and 14 per cent in
2008. This year’s World Series was
contested by the New York Yankees
and the Philadelphia Phillies. Last
year the teams were the Phillies and
the Tampa Bay Rays.
Eurosport: Eurosport International
reported an operating profit of
€33.7 million for the first nine
months of 2009, up over 100 per
cent on the €16.7 million profit
in the same period in 2008.
Subscription revenues rose yearon-year,
driven by the launch of
the Eurosport HD channel, which
launched in May 2008 and now has
four million paying subscribers, and
of Eurosport 2, which now has 38
million paying subscribers.
MTV3 Max: Finnish broadcaster
MTV3 renewed its rights for Formula
One for the 2010 to 2012 period. MTV3
will continue to show live coverage
on its MTV3 Max low-priced paychannel,
and delayed coverage on its
free-to-air MTV3 channel.
IPL: Sony’s Entertainment
Television Network’s channel SET
Max, the official broadcaster of
cricket’s Indian Premier League
(IPL), is estimated to bring in over
Rs 650 crore ($135 million) for the
2010 edition of the competition, 30
per cent higher than in 2009.
TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL
Rick Burton on the timing conundrum facing the IOC when it comes to
negotiating the US broadcast rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games.
READ A NORTH AMERICAN Sports Business
Journal and you will come across a treasure trove
of rights fee information covering the various TV
network sports deals for the largest American
sports properties, including the Olympics.
They are significant and what is particularly
interesting is that the Olympics, particularly
following the massive ratings success of the
2008 Summer Games from Beijing, were not
only the lowest dollar value of the six (which are
all in a single, sophisticated market) but also that
the IOC tends to only bid the Olympics in single
four-year (or two Games) blocks in the US.
That means the next round of bidding for
the US rights, (covering at least the Sochi 2014
Winter Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics in
Rio de Janeiro) are due for negotiation, logically,
sometime next year, after the Vancouver Games.
To that end, there are a number of interesting
factors at play:
● The possible number of bidders in the US
(likely ESPN/ABC, Fox, CBS possibly with Time
Warner and NBC possibly owned by Comcast),
how these parties are likely to compete and how
they will drive the pricing
● Economic conditions in the US and whether
they will continue to improve during the 2010-12
window when this process could take place
● Vancouver’s ratings performance in the US.
This is where the performances of certain
American athletes will influence NBC’s outcome
● Whether the selection of Rio gets ‘spun’ by the
bidders as warranting a discount in the US
● Whether the selection of Sochi (and its
European time zone) will dictate a discount
● Whether US broadcasters will act ‘coy’ about
bidding for rights that only serve them for a
‘couple of weeks’ in February 2014 and August
2016. This coyness is consistent (since the
networks always know the Games only last a
few weeks) but will undoubtedly be measured
by cash flow projections related to how much it
will cost each respective broadcaster to maintain
future rights with the NFL, NBA, NASCAR,
NCAA and Major League Baseball (all which will
go back up for grabs between 2013 and 2016)
● The IOC’s desire to get the deal done early in
order to benefit Sochi and Rio or to wait for more
favorable economic conditions in the US. Dick
Pound wrote in his 2006 book Inside the Olympics,
that due to the economic conditions in the TV
industry at the time, the longer the IOC waited
to sell the US rights (after Atlanta’s selection) the
more revenue the sale would generate. But Atlanta
needed cash for construction of the Olympic
Stadium and wanted the bidding to begin ASAP.
When we consider the bidding process this
time, there are two major ‘player’ developments
20 SportBusiness International • No. 152 • 12.09