News

Kirubi is leading a group of five investors keen to bid for the rights for English Premier League football and start a new Sub-Saharan operation using the existing GTV infrastructure, according to Kenyafootball.com.

GTV went bust in January this year after its owners opted against investing any further money into what was a heavily loss-making operation.

Sony, which is the only major pay-platform in India currently without a dedicated sports channel, has been considering a sports channel for some time. In addition to the rights for Twenty20 cricket’s India Premier League, which it shows on its Set Max general entertainment channel, it has the rights for international cricket in New Zealand and English FA Cup football.

The moves come ahead of the next international rights cycle of English football’s Premier League – fees for which were expected to grow exponentially – and after three years of explosive growth, culminating in a deal last year for Uefa Champions League and Europa League rights in Nigeria worth over $100 million over thee years.

The two networks are paying increases of about two per cent on their existing deals, which were to expire in 2011, in which CBS pays $622.5 million a year and Fox $712.5 million. The NFL was not due to begin renewal talks until next year.

Fox Sports chairman David Hill said that doing deals earlier was “a very smart move by the NFL”, given the economic downturn.

The 11 packages include: the free-to-air rights for one La Liga match a week; the pay-TV rights for one La Liga match a week; non-exclusive pay-TV rights for two La Liga matches a week; two free-to-air highlights packages; and three packages each for the national Cup competition the Copa del Rey and the Segunda Liga.

The deal is worth over SKr1.2 billion (€113 million/$154 million) over four years, from 2010-11 to 2013-14, a 50-per-cent increase on the existing deal. Competition from Modern Times Group’s Viasat, which last week announced the launch of a dedicated ice-hockey channel in Sweden, was the major factor behind the increase.

Cable operator RCS and commercial broadcaster Antena handed over a further €27 million to the Romanian football federation, covering the full-fee for the second-year of a three-year, €85 million deal.

Despite offering about $6 million ($2 million a year), twice the existing fee, One and Setanta were massively outbid after ESPN, in partnership with free-to-air broadcaster SBS, tabled $12 million, some four times what the two pay now. ESPN is thought to be paying the bulk of the fee.

The tender splits the rights down into 11 packages, including the free-to-air rights for one match a week, as required by law, pay-television rights and non-exclusive pay-per-view rights. Bids are due in on May 20.

The difference between reported and like-for-like growth is accounted for by the €33m impact of the full consolidation of the World Sport Group agency’s revenues at the start of the year. Lagardere acquired a 70-per-cent stake in WSG in the middle of last year.

Mediaset added an extra 400,000 active cards in the quarter, to reach 3.3 million at end-March. Mediaset Premium revenue now accounts for almost nine per cent of Mediaset’s Italian revenues.

Earlier, French clubs agreed to continue participating in the League Cup only on the basis that the competition no longer offers a Europa League place to the winner, a proposal that was accepted by the Ligue de Football Professionnel.

Poland is one of the biggest European markets where the rights for the 2009-10 to 2011-12 period have yet to be sold. Public-service broadcaster TVP and pay sports channel N Sports have the rights at present, paying a combined €6 million a year.

HiTV, which is the Premier League’s main broadcast partner at present in Nigeria, says that the consortium venture already has 18 partners and is looking for more. The consortium hopes to challenge the pan-regional dominance of the Naspers-owned Multichoice platform. Revenues from the new platform would be invested into local media and culture.

Sportfive will replace the French Tennis Federation’s long-term partner, the IMG agency. The deal will initially exclude almost all the key markets, such as Australia, Japan and the Indian sub-continent, where IMG has agreed long-term deals that run beyond 2010.

For more details see the latest issue of TV Sports Markets here

The IAAF is looking to extend its European media rights deal for at least another four years, from 2010 to 2013. If no agreement is reached with Dentsu, the IAAF will then proceed to tender in June or July.

Wakeling’s role as head of Sky Sports will be taken by Barney Francis, with Sophie Turner-Laing assuming responsibility for Sky News as part of her role as managing director, entertainment and news. Wakeling has headed BSkyB’s sports division for 15 years.

The decision will be anxiously awaited by numerous sports rights-holders hoping for a decision in Orange’s favour. If the court rejects the appeal, Orange’s recent investment in sports rights – providing competition to dominant pay-operator Canal Plus – is likely to be swiftly curtailed.