Sony Pictures acquire TEN Sports Networks

Sony Pictures Networks is to pay $385 million to acquire TEN Sports Networks.

The deal includes 6 channels  that operate across South Asia, pharm Singapore, drugs Hong Kong, the Middle East and the Caribbean. 

“The acquisition of TEN Sports, following the launch of SONY ESPN channels, will mean that our Indian networks would reach over 800 million viewers and broadcast many of the most popular and prestigious sporting events in the world,” said Andy Kaplan, president, Worldwide Networks, Sony Pictures Television. 

Punit Goenka, MD of ZEEL, said: “This is a landmark deal for ZEE and a step towards a strategic portfolio shuffle, as we grow our general entertainment business bothin the domestic and overseas markets… our focus now is on transforming ourselves into an all-round media and content company, comprising of five verticals: broadcast, digital, films, live events and international business.”

EXCLUSIVE – The Rise of UFC

It seems like one of the strangest equations in modern sport.
 
One of the most opinion dividing and intense sports on the planet is also one of the fastest growing, and one of the most successful brands around – Ultimate Fighting Championship.
 
UFC is the envy of many more traditional sports. It has tapped into the 16-30 demographic with ease, owns its own media rights, and is usually regarded as the gold standard of what digital content should look like.
 
James Elliott, General Manager of EMEA, explains why the brand has managed to move so quickly and successfully across the digital environment:
 
“It’s a bit of a cliche for us to be honest, but we’re teenagers ourselves, the business itself is only 15 years old since the current ownership bought it. So for us, we grew up in that digital world. We didn’t have to change any of the processes to try engage with it. We didn’t have TV deals that restricted us with the way we interact with that digital space, and engage on a social level. We’ve been able to be flexible and to adapt, to change and develop with that market as the social media space has exploded.”
 
One of UFC’s nearest rivals, boxing, seems to frequently miss the mark, in terms of the fights it offers, and how fans can access content. Elliott thinks that UFC’s great strength is something boxing has always struggled with: getting the two best fighters in the world in their class in the ring together.
 
“We have a lot of control over our business, because we are just a promotor in the sport of mixed martial arts. I think one of the frustrations people have had with combat sports is that you wait too long for the best to fight the best, and sometimes they don’t, or when they do, it is too late. For us, that ability to matchmake and to have the best fighters fighting the best fighters on a consistent basis, has really been the catalyst that has driven the growth of the sport, and the live event is second to none.”
 
But what has really impressed the sports business industry is how well regarded the brand is. What makes UFC’s rise so remarkable, is that at first glance, it’s an aggressive combat sport. The fighters attack with an intensity rarely seen in other combat sports.
 
UFC’s success has come through educating their audience to understand what they are watching is not violence, but rather two skilled fighters taking part in a contest where every move, attack and defence, is thought through – like chess. For Elliott, and for UFC, an educated audience is vital.
 
“I say it all the time: it’s very easy to look at mixed martial arts and only see the bits you don’t want to see. What we have embarked upon, in Europe particularly, is the process of educating people on what the sport actually is. There is a lot of nuance there, a lot of subtlety to it. I know it doesn’t look like that sometimes when you are watching it, but when people actually take the time to engage with it and understand it, they can see the skill level. Everybody understands, fundamentally, what’s going on. They don’t necessarily see the subtlety. Our success has been in translating that subtlety to people.”
 
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UFC have also tapped into secondary markets; to bring in fans who wouldn’t ordinarily engage with them. Their gaming strategy feeds back into their goal of educating their audience and drawing in more people.
 
“E-sports is a big part of what we are looking at as we continue to develop and continue to engage with that youth demographic. Our EA Sports game is, I believe, their second biggest selling title on a global basis. There’s a real opportunity there as an educational piece, but also to engage with people who don’t necessarily want to engage our content on TV, or participate in it. It’s a natural avenue for people to come into our world.”

So what does the future hold for UFC? They are growing rapidly, and have Europe firmly in their sights, led by Elliott.

“We’re looking to grow everywhere. We’ve made a significant commitment to the European market, we’re putting on bigger and better cards than we ever have done before, that will continue. We’re working to expand across as many territories as we can. There are 145 territories that fall under my remit, and we’ve been to eight! So we have a lot of work to do, we have a lot of new territories to break, a lot of new arenas to go to, we’re working very hard, we just wished there was a bit more time.”


FIBA awards hosting rights for Asia Champions Cup

FIBA’s Asia Regional Office on Tuesday awarded the hosting rights for the 25th FIBA Asia Champions Cup to Beijing Atlas Sports and Cultural Development Co. Ltd.

The event will take place in Chenzhou city in China’s Hunan province from 8-16 October.

Find out more HERE.

Ex-Tokyo 2020 bid chiefs deny wrongdoing

The Ex-President and Ex-Director of the Tokyo 2020 bidding process have denied any wrong doing in a strongly worded statement.

Tsunekazu Takeda and Nobumoto Higuchi sent a joint statement to the media after reports of an illegal payment.

The statement said: “As I was a member of the Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee, order media reports have come to our attention claiming misconduct during our activities.  We would like to reaffirm that the Olympic Games 2020 were awarded to Tokyo as the result of a fair competition and as a result of the contents of our bid.”

“The payments mentioned in the media were a legitimate consultant’s fee paid to the service we received from Mr.Tan’s company.  It followed a full and proper contract and the monies were fully audited by Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC.”

“The Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee can confirm that it paid an amount for the professional services received for the following consultation work including; the planning of the bid; tutoring on presentation practice; advices for international lobbying communications; and service for information and media analysis.  All these services were properly contracted using accepted business practices.”

“The firm contracted for this work had good credentials and references and were experts on Asian and Arabic and we were fully satisfied with the service we received from them. Furthermore, anabolics the amounts paid were in our opinion proper and adequate for the services provided and gave no cause for suspicion at the time.”

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PGA TOUR and UFC Confirmed to Feature on Digital Strategy Masterclass Panel

iSportconnect, the world’s largest private network for sport business professionals, is excited to announce James Elliott, UFC Vice President and General Manager EMEA and Luis Goicouria, Senior Vice President of Digital Platforms and Media Strategy at the PGA TOUR as the first panellists for the Digital Strategy Masterclass (formerly Digital Media and Technology Masterclass).

The popular event will be delivered in partnership with Omnigon, the leading international digital consultancy within the sports, media and entertainment industries, at the Grange Wellington Hotel on 13th April.

This year’s edition will be focused on encouraging participation, discussing fundamental business questions and highlighting the challenges that face rights holders in sport, as they look to create value for fans and sponsors in a digital market that is changing at lightning speed.

The evolution of the publishing model, with larger platforms such as Facebook, Twitter etc., as dominant distribution platforms, creates opportunities and problems for content owners. This will be one of the several areas that we expect will provoke lively debate, and that will be of huge value to the guests who join us at The Grange.

James Elliott was appointed as the UFC Vice President and General Manager EMEA in 2015. Elliott joined UFC in 2013 as Senior Director of Content and was instrumental in the massive growth of the company’s broadcast and television deals throughout Europe.

Prior to joining UFC, James worked for a number of leading global sports agencies in addition to PUMA and The Football Association. His roles spanned across multiple sectors from events, marketing, broadcast and athlete management.

As Senior Vice President, Digital Platforms and Media Strategy for the PGA TOUR, Luis Goicouria oversees all aspects for PGA TOUR Digital and is responsible for developing and implementing strategies which position the TOUR to take advantage of emerging technologies, markets, and content distribution.

He joined the TOUR in October of 2011 as Vice President Business Development, New Media and was instrumental in bringing all of the TOUR’s digital assets and capabilities in-house in 2013.

Prior to joining the PGA TOUR, Goicouria spent 15 years at MTV Networks, the last ten of which he served as Vice President, Digital Media for Latin America, Canada & U.S. Hispanic for MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, & MTV Tres. Luis spent his first five years at MTV with Nickelodeon Latin America and was responsible for the launch of all of their digital platforms.

The exclusive, invitation-only Masterclass series, is a unique gathering providing sports digital media and technology executives with the chance to learn from each other, hear industry insights, join in on discussions and network in a relaxed environment.

The discussions will be held without the press and under Chatham House rules, allowing for an open and free flowing debate.

iSportconnect chairman Michael Cunnah said: “James and Luis are hugely experienced and highly respected figures in the sports industry and it is a real pleasure to have them on board for the Digital Strategy Masterclass. Their expertise and knowledge of this sector will add real substance to the debates on the day.”

Invitation policy: The Digital Strategy Masterclass is an exclusive invite only event to Heads of digital media, technology, marketing, media and other similar positions from rights holders, brands and broadcasters.

To register your interest please contact Elyse Gallacher at elyse.gallacher@isportconnect.com

Sports Agencies, professional service providers & suppliers, please contact Nick Volante at nick.volante@isportconnect.com for limited commercial opportunities.

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FIFA Ethics Committee Appeals for Lifetime Bans for Blatter and Platini

FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini still face the possibility of receiving lifetime bans from football after FIFA’s Ethics Committee lodged an appeal to have their eight-year bans increased. 

Despite the pair receiving eight year bans last month, the Ethics Committee recommended life bans and is determined for it to be handed to them for the “disloyal payment” of £1.3m to Platini.

Read more HERE.

Stade de France Recognise Importance of Fan Experience With CommScope Deal, Says Exponential-E’s Barry Daniels

Stade de France, the French national sports stadium, has signed a new partnership with CommScope to become the official supplier for its telecommunications and IT networks for the stadium.

The deal is designed for the stadium to make upgrades to its communications network infrastructure.

The American telecommunications company will provide the necessary flexibility and bandwidth to meet fan expectations and support stadium operations.

“The experience of our visitors is very important to us,” said Karim Benslimane, IT research & development manager, Stade de France.

“We want to provide the best atmosphere for the two million visitors that we welcome each year. After much research and visiting other venues, we were very impressed with the capabilities and experience of CommScope in working with large stadiums like ours.”

Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, Barry Daniels, Strategic Alliances at Exponential-E, a leading British provider of ethernet, private cloud and ICT services, believes having the right connectivity provider is crucial for modern day stadia in order to compete.

“It is key that you have a stable solid provider that can shift your data the fastest lowest latency possible speed,” he said.

“When you consider the ticketing systems, in screen entertainment, your CCTV and the WiFi which connects the fan to the infrastructure in the stadium, if you don’t have the right connectivity provider to be able to provide all that information and give you outside feeds in, then you are dead in the water.”

Daniels feels that the Stade de France are taking fan experiences into account with this new deal and fulfilling the expectations of modern day fans due to the increased use of social networks at stadiums. 

“What the Stade de France are going to the routes of, is to really give the fan experience a boost and the only way you do that is to offer what the modern fan wants and needs,” he added.

“We all have our own devices these days which we bring into stadiums, generally they don’t work, the fans get a poor experience, these days its about social sharing of information.

“It is important that the connectivity is there to get out and reach and bring in content as well and be able to offer content to a wider audience, you can only do that with a strong connectivity provider.”

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EPCR Appoint New Marketing and Commercial Director

European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) has appointed Carsten Couchouron as Marketing and Commercial Director.

He will officially take up the post on 1 September.

Simon Halliday, EPCR Chairman, said: “Carsten will bring expertise and a deep understanding of the sports business to the role of Marketing and Commercial Director. This is a key appointment for the organisation as we continue to develop our commercial programme with the aim of growing our financial distribution to Europe’s professional clubs.”

Carsten Couchouron, said: “I am looking forward to working with the clubs, leagues and national federations to grow the tournaments and to fully develop their commercial potential.”