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Tag: beIN Sports

  • beIN ropes in Planetcast for sports broadcasting tech across Asia

    beIN ropes in Planetcast for sports broadcasting tech across Asia

    MUMBAI: beIN Asia Pacific has drafted Planetcast Media Services to power its sporting ambitions, striking a deal that will see the technology provider manage 14 HD sports channels across southeast Asia and Australia.
    The Singapore-based broadcaster, part of beIN Media group, has enlisted Planetcast’s cloud-first NexC platform to handle everything from playout to disaster recovery—ensuring sports fans don’t miss a second of action when their team is on the pitch, track or court.

    At the heart of this digital partnership sit two key technologies: Cloud.X Turbo, a nimble playout solution that promises ultra-low latency (tech speak for “you’ll see the goal almost before the goalkeeper does”), and Recaster, which delivers broadcast-quality streams over the public internet without breaking a sweat.

    “beIN Sports is a leader in live sports media innovation,” said beIN Asia Pacific vice-president of media technology  Sabil Salim who clearly believes his company has netted a winner with this partnership. “Planetcast’s proven expertise in managing major sports like the Indian Premier League (IPL), its leading-edge Cloud.X Turbo solution, and its robust NexC cloud platform provide the scalability, reliability, and seamless integration we need to elevate sports broadcasting across the region.”

    Planetcast  chief executive Sanjay Duda returned the compliment, suggesting the tie-up would give beIN “a competitive edge” in a broadcasting landscape that changes faster than football managers after a bad season.

    The deal comes as beIN looks to flex its muscles across 12 countries in the region, where it holds rights to premium sporting contests including Formula 1, UEFA Champions League and the Australian Open.
    Planetcast, meanwhile, will use the upcoming NAB Show in Las Vegas (5-9 April) to showcase its NexC platform—presumably hoping to attract more suitors with its cloud-native charms and AI-powered content automation. 

    Game on.

  • MPA’s Ace cracks down on sports piracy mob in Vietnam

    MPA’s Ace cracks down on sports piracy mob in Vietnam

    MUMBAI: Now it’s the turn of the Motion Pictures Association (MPA’s) Alliance for Creativity & Entertainment (Ace) to bust  a piracy racket. The world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, announced the shutdown of a notorious live sports piracy ring based in Vietnam and viewed extensively throughout the world.

    Unbelievable, but true, the operation’s illicit sites logged 812 million visits over the past 12 months, making it one of the largest sports piracy rings in the world, and the largest sports piracy syndicates taken down by ACE to date. 

    The shuttered sites include  online sports piracy outlets such as bestsolaris[dot]com, streameast[dot]to; markkystreams[dot]com; crackstreams[dot]dev; and weakspell[dot]to.

    Through an intensive, global investigation, Ace identified and approached the sites’ Hanoi-based operators, who agreed to immediately transfer 138 domains to it.

    “The shutdown of this globally notorious live sports piracy ring is a huge victory in our campaign against the piracy of live sports programs and follows other recent successful actions by Ace and law enforcement in Vietnam,” said  MPA executive vice-president & chief content protection officer Larissa Knapp. “Ace’s live sports members face a unique threat when it comes to digital piracy, as live sports broadcasts lose substantial commercial value once the game ends. The takedown serves as a warning to piracy operators everywhere – including operators in live sports piracy – that Ace will identify and shut down their illegal operations.”

    Primarily targeting audiences in the US and Canada, the sites streamed sports events daily, including content from all the US sports leagues and global leagues of every category. The illicit operation affected all Ace  members, including ACE’s sports tier members beIN Sports, Canal+ and Dazn.

    “DAZN stands with Ace in the fight to eradicate piracy, which undermines the sports ecosystem at all levels,” said Dazn chief operating officer Ed McCarthy, “It is very pleasing that a criminal operation of this scale was taken down. Piracy often compromises the security of fans’ data, which is then used for illegal purposes, so the closure of this piracy ring has the added benefit that potential subscribers will be guided toward legitimate content providers like Dazn.”

  • Sports media revenues to grow at 7 per cent CAGR IN 11 APAC markets over 2019-2024 to reach $7.2 bn

    Sports media revenues to grow at 7 per cent CAGR IN 11 APAC markets over 2019-2024 to reach $7.2 bn

    MUMBAI: Sports rights costs across 11 Asia Pacific markets grew 2.4 per cent in 2019 to reach $5.5 billion. in aggregate while sports revenues across TV & online video increased 7.8 per cent in 2019 to reach $5.2 billion in total, according to a new report published today by Media Partners Asia (MPA). MPA projections indicate sports rights costs will grow 3.8 per cent CAGR between 2019-24 to reach $6.6 billion by 2024 while sports revenues in TV & online video will grow at a 6.7 per cent CAGR to reach $7.2 billion by 2024. The report, entitled ASIA PACIFIC SPORTS MEDIA 2020, tracks the growth trajectory of sports rights and TV & online video sports revenues across 11 markets in Asia Pacific with historical data & projections as well as analysis of key players & sports properties by geography.

    OTT accounted for 21 per cent of sports media revenue generation in 2019 in the 11 Asia Pacific markets. This is likely to almost double over the next five years to reach 40 per cent by 2024. Excluding China, OTT will account for 23 per cent of sports media monetisation in 2024 across the measured markets, up from 12 per cent in 2019. The MPA report notes: (1) Sports rights costs & revenues are seasonal and lumpy; major global events typically occur every 2-4 years and can either inflate or adversely impact sports economics on a year on year basis and (2) Global sporting events in 2020 (i.e. the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and UEFA Euro 2020) are a key driver of value in Asia Pacific markets but are subject to risk given the global spread of the coronavirus.

    Commenting on the key findings, MPA Senior Analyst Srivathsan AR said, “The market for premium sports remains relatively healthy in Asia Pacific, in spite of uneven structural dynamics and the corrosive impact of piracy. Sports rights investments in China, India, Australia and Japan are driven by a strong domestic sports ecosystem, supported by premium international rights for football, basketball and baseball. Rights costs in China are driven by growing appetite for domestic and international football as well as basketball. Growth momentum, strong between 2016-19, will stabilise post 2021-22. Cricket continues to drive more 85 per cent of India’s costs. Rationalising of pay-TV spends on domestic rights in Australia will affect the overall market in the future while domestic baseball and football will drive growth in Japan’s sports rights market. Greater Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong, is dependent on growth in international football and basketball. Local football in markets such as Thailand, Indonesia and basketball in Philippines will continue to deliver additional growth.”

    MPA Executive Director Vivek Couto added: “A number of themes are emerging across the region. Investment in premium sports rights is often proving scalable and sustainable, when driven by: (1) Large scale internet players with pole position in a vast digital ecosystem, which helps subsidize investment in premium content (i.e. Tencent in China) or integrated pure play entertainment and sports OTTs with AVOD and SVOD business models (i.e. Hotstar in India and iQiyi in China); (2) Pay-TV operators investing to retain high-ARPU customers and grow a new OTT segment, anchored to product innovation with premium sports at the forefront (i.e. Foxtel, Sky Network TV, Astro and PCCW’s Now TV); and (3) Local & regional TV broadcasters that have a combination of mass reach and premium segmentation with branded sports networks (i.e. Star and Sony in India; select free TV players in Southeast Asia and regional pay network beIN Sports).”

    In 2019, football led the sports rights market across the 11 APAC territories with the Premier League topping the list of individual properties. The Premier League rights value is expected to moderate after 2022, particularly in China. Cricket is growing fast as Indian sports broadcasters continue to pay a premium for the IPL, the ICC and the India international (BCCI) rights. The IPL is the most valued domestic league in APAC currently. Cricket is growing its pie in Australia & New Zealand markets as well. Basketball is growing in demand regionally. Rugby World Cup 2019 drove Rugby’s share.

    China, India, Australia and Japan will contribute on average ~85 per cent to sports rights fees & sports media revenues over 2019-24. Greater Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong, will average ~15 per cent over the 2019-24 period. In terms of sports revenues across TV & online video, Japan led in 2019 with a 27 per cent contribution; by 2024, China will lead with a 33 per cent contribution.

  • FIFA legal action against BeoutQ for WC piracy

    FIFA legal action against BeoutQ for WC piracy

    MUMBAI: FIFA will be taking legal action against Saudi Arabia-based BeoutQ, a pirated TV service operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which continues its illegal piracy of 2018 FIFA World Cup broadcasts, according to an official statement, carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

    This will be the first time where FIFA has recognised Saudi Arabia’s role in the service. FIFA has urged the authorities of Saudi Arabia and of the different countries where these illegal activities have been observed to support it in the fight against piracy.

    Saudi Arabia has consistently denied its involvement with BeoutQ and the country’s media ministry released a statement last week condemning suggestions that it has been complicit in the operation of the service. However, BeoutQ broadcasts from a Riyadh-based Arabsat satellite.

    According to FIFA’s official statement, “It is observed that the pirate entity named ‘beoutQ’ continues to use illegally the 2018 FIFA World Cup broadcast signal. Accordingly, FIFA has engaged counsel to take legal action in Saudi Arabia and is working alongside other sports rights owners that have also been affected to protect its interest.”

    Although FIFA has now acknowledged the Arab nation’s contribution to BeoutQ, it has also called on other countries to join the fight against piracy. One of the biggest victims of BeoutQ has been Qatar-back broadcasting giant BeIN Sports, which has had its World Cup feeds stolen throughout the tournament.

    Last week, tennis governing bodies also issued a joint statement condemning BeoutQ’s pirated coverage of major tennis tournaments across the MENA region over the past year.

  • Facebook acquires EPL rights for 2019-22

    Facebook acquires EPL rights for 2019-22

    MUMBAI: Broadcasters need to be careful of their turf as digital players are swooping in to pick sporting rights. Facebook has acquired the English Premier League rights for the Southeast Asia territory by paying £200 million.

    Facebook made its intentions clear to move into sports by bidding around Rs 3000 crore for the digital rights of Indian Premier League in September last year and hiring Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton earlier this year.

    According to Thedrum.com, Facebook has powered ahead of BeIN Sports and Fox Sports Asia to secure the exclusive rights to broadcast live Premier League matches in Southeast Asia from 2019. The coverage of English soccer’s top flight in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos is for a three-year period covering 2019 to 2022.

    The rights package includes all 380 Premier League matches each season in what is Facebook’s biggest move into the live sports market to date.

    Along with Amazon, Facebook was also widely tipped to make a bid for the Premier League’s domestic rights this year, with the league specifically structuring two packages to make it more attractive to the tech giants. As Facebook stayed away, it was ultimately Amazon who secured the package of 20 live matches each season for three years from 2019.

  • Al Jazeera Sport rebrands as beIN Sports

    Al Jazeera Sport rebrands as beIN Sports

     

    MUMBAI: Qatar based network Al Jazeera has rebranded its sport channel from Al Jazeera Sport to beIN Sports. The move will see Al Jazeera Media Network uniting its global sport channels under one name ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

     “As excitement builds ahead of the FIFA 2014 World Cup Finals, beIN SPORTS guarantees front row seats to all the live action in Brazil as well as live coverage from other popular worldwide sporting events,” beIN said in the statement.

    Subscribers will now have access to 19 HD channels with 12 in Arabic that were formerly called Al Jazeera 1 to 10 and will now be called beIN Sports 1 to 10. The rebranding will provided viewers more opportunities to watch their favourite sports across the globe.