South-East Asia
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Varavuth Jentanakul – Zense Entertainment
Varavuth Jentanakul, founder and chief executive of Thai media company Zense Entertainment, explains the story behind his company’s landmark eight-year deal for Football Association of Thailand rights.
Strong competition lifts AFC fee in Vietnam in pre-Covid deal
The value of Asian Football Confederation rights in Vietnam rose considerably in the recent deal with telco FPT, driven by a competitive sales process that took place well before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zense, Eleven plan Thai football broadcast overhaul after FAT tender
Thai media company Zense Entertainment and international broadcaster Eleven Sports are discussing the creation of a linear and digital media platform for Thai domestic football in the wake of Zense’s landmark eight-year rights deal with the Thai FA.
Bundesliga ties Indonesian rights deal to Mola’s youth football focus
The German Bundesliga’s strategy of intertwining international media-rights agreements with ancillary brand-building and football development activities has continued in its deal with Indonesian OTT and pay-television platform Mola TV.
NBA takes haircut in Philippines in Cignal, Smart deal after long stalemate
The value of NBA rights in the Philippines has fallen sharply due to the withdrawal of two major sports broadcasters, Solar Entertainment and ABS-CBN, from the market.
Emtek renews Uefa club competition rights in Indonesia
Indonesian media group Emtek has renewed its rights for Uefa club competitions for the next three-year cycle, 2021-22 to 2023-24
KJSMWorld to launch digital platform in Cambodia, Laos on back of AFC rights deal
The Asian Football Confederation has signed off on another rights agreement in a deal with the Korea-based KJSMWorld Corp. media group and agency, covering Cambodia and Laos
Uefa club competition TV rights on market in Korea, three other Asian territories
The sale of broadcast rights to Uefa club competitions during the 2021-24 cycle has begun in four Asian territories, including Korea
Premier League ramps up anti-piracy campaign in Malaysia and Hong Kong
The Premier League has launched the second phase of its anti-piracy fight in Hong Kong and Malaysia
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.
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.
Southeast Asia market report, 2020
In the latest interactive monthly data report, SportBusiness Media analyses the media-rights landscape in Southeast Asia
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.
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.
NBA talks go to wire in the Philippines after Solar loses appetite
Filipino pay-television broadcaster Solar Entertainment Corporation withdrew from talks to renew its long-held rights to the National Basketball Association last week after deciding the property had become too expensive, SportBusiness Media understands.
DAZN cuts LaLiga losses in Vietnam with SCTV sublicense deal
DAZN has sublicensed its rights to Spanish football’s LaLiga in Vietnam to local pay-television broadcaster SCTV from 2019-20 to 2022-23, substantially cutting its losses on the property after postponing plans to launch an OTT service in Southeast Asia.
Emtek picks up Uefa Champions League rights in Indonesia after FMA deal collapse
Indonesian media company Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek) has agreed a two-season deal with Uefa for Champions League and Europa League rights, which became available after the collapse of the rights-holder’s deal with the Futbal Momentum Asia agency.
Mola adopts holistic strategy for Premier League rights exploitation in Indonesia
Mola TV, the new entrant to Indonesia’s sports broadcasting market, is employing a novel strategy straddling pay-television, free-to-air and digital distribution channels to exploit the Premier League rights it has acquired for the upcoming 2019-22 cycle.
Uefa secures robust European Championship fee increase in Vietnam
The value of rights in Vietnam for the Uefa European Championship increased by over 40 per cent in the latest deal with the incumbent public-service broadcaster VTV, covering the 2020 tournament, which is held every four years.
Value of Premier League tumbles in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos
After two failed negotiations in an uncompetitive environment, the English Premier League has completed a deal in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos with pay-television broadcaster TrueVisions that will see the value of its rights halve.
Malaysian domestic football deal collapse signals Telekom Malaysia retreat
The collapse of Telekom Malaysia’s deal for domestic football rights is part of a politically-driven restructuring at the government-linked telco that has seen it exit the entire sports rights market, local industry experts say.
Sustained struggles for Premier League in Asia as Japan, Philippines values fall
English Premier League rights are set to fall in value in yet more Asian markets, with weak competition triggering a 32 per cent drop in the value of its rights in Japan and the Philippines.
Premier League dodges drastic decline in Vietnam after Facebook talks collapse
The English Premier League has avoided a dramatic decrease in the value of its rights in Vietnam after media group Canal Plus swooped in following the collapse of talks between the league and social media giant Facebook.