Asia
Features
Indonesia’s Mola TV applies brake on sports-rights investments
Indonesian OTT platform Mola TV is scaling back its investment in sports content after concluding it is not delivering value for money. The move is a blow to rights-holders selling into Indonesia as the well-resourced Mola has recently been the source of considerable rights-fee inflation.
Bundesliga secures ‘solid’ rights fee, brand-building commitments in Vietnam
The Bundesliga has secured what local experts consider a solid fee in a new deal with the Next Media agency in Vietnam, as well as commitments to joint brand-building and football development projects that the league hopes will build the value of the property.
Robert Klein and Kevin Sim – Bundesliga International
Robert Klein, CEO, and Kevin Sim, Head of Asia-Pacific, at Bundesliga International explain the German football league’s approach to the first two media-rights deals of its new sales cycle in Asia, in Japan and Vietnam.
Bundesliga starts Asian sales with Sky PerfecTV deal in Japan
Japanese pay-television broadcaster Sky PerfecTV has renewed its German Bundesliga rights at a small discount, in a deal covering the five seasons from 2020-21 to 2024-25, SportBusiness Media understands.
Hot market in Vietnam helps Lagardère raise Suzuki Cup value in four-country deal
Vietnam’s hot market for national-team football rights helped Lagardère Sports secure an increase in the value of rights in the country for the 2020 Asean Football Federation Championship.
Star Sports, New Zealand Cricket ‘fail to secure renewal’
Indian pay-television broadcaster Star Sports and New Zealand Cricket have failed to reach agreement on the renewal of their rights deal, according to a report
Eurosport gets rights to bett1ACES and THIEMs7 tennis tournaments
Eurosport has agreed media-rights deals for two European tennis tournaments, bett1ACES in Berlin on July 13-19, and THIEMs7, which got underway in Kitzbühel yesterday and runs until July 11.
Blitz takes action over PSL media-rights payments
The Blitz agency, domestic broadcast rights-holder of the Pakistan Super League, has taken legal action against the Pakistan Cricket Board over rights payments for the suspended 2020 season of the Twenty20…
Dentsu agrees raft of J.League international deals ahead of season resumption
Dentsu, the Japanese advertising agency heavily involved in sports marketing, has concluded a number of broadcast deals for the J.League ahead of the Japanese top flight’s resumption on July 4.
Southeast Asia market report, 2020
In the latest interactive monthly data report, SportBusiness Media analyses the media-rights landscape in Southeast Asia
Navigating the payments minefield is crucial for Asian OTT services
While over-the-top broadcasting platforms are increasing in popularity internationally, their growth in Asia has been restrained by challenges around pricing, piracy, and payments.
Basketball market report, 2020
In the latest interactive monthly data report, SportBusiness Media analyses the basketball media-rights landscape.
Star snatches Cricket South Africa rights in India from Sony
Indian pay-television broadcaster Star is poised to strengthen its grip on cricket broadcasting in the subcontinent by beating incumbent Sony to the rights for Cricket South Africa content.
Winnie Chan, chief commercial officer, Malaysian Football League
Winnie Chan discusses the latest Malaysian Football League domestic media and sponsorship rights deals and the challenges the league has faced, and the action it is taking to overcome them.
Malaysian football rights values come back down to earth as Telekom returns
The value of the Malaysia Football League’s domestic media and sponsorship rights have dropped significantly in the latest deal with Telekom Malaysia after two previous rights rounds of inflated valuations and, ultimately, collapsed deals.
Digital Consortium powers KBO growth but its sports ambitions thought limited
The emergence of a ‘digital consortium’ to rival the long-standing Korea Pool of free-to-air broadcasters led the Korea Baseball Organisation to record-breaking rights income for its new cycle in the most recently concluded deals. But local industry experts see the digital consortium (DC) deal as a one-off and do not expect it to become a major player in the sports media-rights market.
WWE earns another big fee rise from Sony in India
World Wrestling Entertainment’s media-rights income from the Indian subcontinent has increased about 80 per cent in a deal being finalised with pay-television broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks, SportBusiness Media understands.
FanCode targets ‘long-tail’ content for Indian subscription video launch this year
Indian online sports media platform FanCode is launching a subscription video product this year, built on content not currently covered by Indian broadcasters.
K League closes on deal, but national-team rights still unsold in Korea
The Korea Football Association is finalising a deal with pay-television broadcaster JTBC for domestic K-League media rights for the 2020-23 cycle, but men’s senior national-team matches remain on the market after a lacklustre response to a tender held in January.
Media-rights revenue not primary goal for Riot Games
Riot Games has been prolific in sealing League of Legends esports media-rights deals with Asian streaming platforms in recent months, but such deals remain secondary to the company's primary focus of games publishing.
CJ ENM’s re-emergence fails to help DDMC Fortis avert AFC fee fall in Korea
CJ ENM’s step back into sport after a near-decade-long hiatus was not enough to save DDMC Fortis from a fee decline in its sale of Asian Football Confederation rights in South Korea for the 2021-24 cycle.
Unsuccessful initial tender raises questions over K-League’s domestic media strategy
Korea’s K-League and the Korean Football Association have pooled their media rights, but an initial tender attracted no firm bids, forcing the rights-holders to extend the deadline and change the tender’s terms to allow consortia to participate.
Fifa will need more than eager investors to make new club competition work
Sports marketing companies and private equity houses bidding to become the vehicle for the delivery of Fifa’s new China-hosted club competition in 2021 will face the same challenge: the competition is only likely to be successful if a Chinese company is involved.
Bilibili aims to fulfil esports potential in China with League of Legends deal
Mobile gaming and streaming company Bilibili is hoping its deal for rights to the next three League of Legends World Championships will demonstrate the strategic power of top-tier esports content in China.
IOC extends non-Tokyo Games rights growth trend in Japan to 2032
The International Olympic Committee extended a long run of media-rights revenue growth in Japan in its latest deal with the market’s free-to-air broadcaster consortium for 2026 to 2032, when the special case of the large Tokyo 2020 sales cycle is disregarded.
Sport spearheads Djarum’s bid for ‘premium player’ status in Indonesian media
OTT platform Mola TV has lit a fire under the Indonesian sports-media industry in the last year with the rapid rollout of its new service and a string of media-rights acquisitions. In an exclusive interview, Mirwan Suwarso, a representative of the company, tells SportBusiness Media that sports content is the spearhead of a wider plan by parent company Djarum to create a major domestic and international media business.
Plan B in talks to sublicense Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Thailand
The Plan B Media agency is in talks with multiple broadcasters in Thailand to sublicense the Tokyo 2020 Olympics rights, which it acquired from the Japan-based Dentsu agency in a surprise move this summer.
Thai FA aims to attract international bidders to drive rights value in new tender
The Football Association of Thailand and its media-rights sales adviser, the Octagon agency, expect a competitive market to deliver a revenue increase of over a third in their forthcoming tender for domestic and international rights to club and home-fixture national team events for the 2021-28 cycle.