ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has triggered a massive change in Asia's
television landscape by winning the exclusive regionwide rights to the
English Premier League (EPL), one of the most popular sporting
competitions in Asia.
The win marks the first time one pay-TV channel has secured such a deal,
including the free-to-air rights, for the region. Previously,
negotiations for the broadcast rights of the football-fest were
conducted on a market-by-market basis. As such, terrestrial broadcasters
and local pay-TV operators in Asia must now broker a deal with ESS.
The impact has been monumental on stations which failed to broker the
deal as EPL is vital to their programme line-up.
In Singapore, for example, free-to-air sports channel Sports City
recently changed its name to City TV and became a general entertainment
channel.
Local media buyers attributed the sudden change to Sports City's loss of
EPL. In Indonesia, ESS has sub-licensed the free-to-air rights to TPI
rather than the incumbent SCTV; and in Malaysia, EPL has moved from RTM
to TV3.
Says Adam Zechar, ESS vice-president of international sales, Southeast
Asia: "SCTV did have two sports channels - Football and Super Sports -
but it has shut the football channel, and I reckon that's primarily
because EPL is now on ESPN Star Sports.
"And Astro in Malaysia is significantly reducing activity on its Super
Sports service, while Hong Kong Cable has basically closed down its
second sports service."
Soccer fans, however, are discovering that the coverage on these
stations is more limited than in previous years because free-to-air
stations can only broadcast highlights.
Zechar adds: "The best way to drive pay-TV penetration is to keep the
matches exclusively on pay-TV but provide a little bit of programming on
the terrestrials to give viewers an idea of what they're missing."
"Let them enjoy a bit and then hopefully they'll subscribe."
But in markets where pay-TV penetration is low, ESS will allow the local
terrestrial stations to broadcast one or two games.
And in Thailand, where EPL is hugely popular, ESS has stuck with the
status quo - Channel 9 will continue to broadcast 17 to 18 matches each
season.
With EPL in the bag, ESS has mounted a drive to lure advertisers such as
Nike, Slazenger, and Tiger Beer, which previously advertised on
free-to-air channels to continue their association with EPL.
To date, it has signed Toshiba as presenting sponsor and it is looking
for one other, while Nokia and LG Electronics have bought spot
packages.
Programme sponsors gain branding on ESS promos and on-air billboards as
well as on the website and all promotional marketing material.
Sponsors can also become involved in joint promotions with ESS. Despite
EPL's popularity, it's still a hard push on ad sales. As the pay-TV
channel only found out in February that it had won the EPL rights, some
advertisers have taken a wait-and-see attitude. The poor economic
climate hasn't helped, according to ESS sales representatives.
The station is also discovering that managing EPL is a massive task
because it has to work more closely with its pay-TV affiliates.
Ross Edwards, ESS director of sponsorships, points out that ensuring
advertisers gain coverage in all the markets is complex.
For example, ESS' programming is broadcast in markets such as Thailand
and Vietnam, but not the ads.
As a result, the station has to speak with its affiliates to ensure
regional advertisers gain exposure in the EPL telecast markets.
Edwards says advertisers such as Toshiba are keen to be involved because
EPL offers the potential of gaining huge exposure across Asia,
particularly among men.
