Tag: Infront

Viacom18 acquires broadcast and digital rights for Italian Serie A

Mumbai: Viacom18 on Friday announced that it has acquired the broadcast and digital rights for Italian Serie A for the Indian sub-continent region for the next three seasons. The latest edition of Italian Serie A will kick off on 21 August at 10 p.m. The matches will be aired on Viacom18’s TV channels, Voot and Jio.

Viacom18 has entered into a partnership with Infront, whom Italian Serie A has appointed to manage its international media rights for all platforms across Europe, Asia, Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and Americas (excluding USA).

“We are delighted to host the Italian Serie A across our network. The league enjoys great affinity with football lovers in India. Some of the world’s top clubs, coaches and players make the Serie A stand out as one of the best leagues in the football world. We are confident of growing the fan base through a slew of initiatives that are lined up,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures, head – SVOD and international business, Ferzad Palia.

The media company has been steadily expanding its sports offerings with the network recently entering multi-year partnerships for Spanish La Liga (football) and Abu Dhabi T10 League (cricket).

“One of the core propositions of our network is the promise of variety in content. Sports is a whitespace that we have been consciously experimenting with for some time now. The response to our initiatives, thus far, has been very encouraging. Italian Serie A is one of the most exciting and competitive leagues in Europe and we are excited to bring it to our viewers across digital and broadcast platforms,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures, chief operating officer, Gourav Rakshit.

A total of 20 teams will be taking part in the Italian Serie A. While 17 teams will be from the previous season, the three new teams promoted from Serie B. Crotone, Benevento and Parma were consigned to the 2021–22 Serie B. The top four teams from the league will qualify for the group stages of the Champions League, while the fifth-ranked team will qualify for the Europa League group stage.

“This is the start of what we hope will be a positive relationship between Infront and Viacom18. Serie A already has a significant resonance with Indian football fans and this will help us further grow the audience in the country. We believe this is the beginning of what we hope will be a promising future,” said Infront, vice president media sales and operations, Amikam Kranz.

August 20, 2021
Infront, Dentsu launch football media services JV

MUMBAI: The joint venture between Infront Sports and Media and Dentsu, created to handle the distribution of Asian broadcast rights to the 2010 and 2014 soccer Fifa World Cups and all Fifa events between 2007 and 2014, has been officially launched.

The new company, called Football Media Services (FMS), is a result of Fifa’s award of the Asian rights to the Infront and Dentsu joint venture earlier this year. It was in March that Dentsu and Infront came together to form a joint venture to ward off a daring attempt by Nimbus Sport to get the rights,

FMS has its headquarters in Singapore. It will handle the marketing of all television, radio, broadband internet and mobile broadcasting rights to the 2007-2014 Fifa events including the 2010 and 2014 Fifa World Cups in key Asian territories.

The company is headed by Michael Francombe, who used to be an executive director with Infront in Switzerland.

FMS has already been active in the sale of Fifa events in Asia. It will shortly announce a substantial new contract for a major Asian territory setting a new benchmark in the region and covering broadcast rights for all 2007-2014 FIFA events.

Dentsu CEO Tomoharu Tsuruda said, “We have known and worked with the Infront team over many years, both as partners and friendly rivals. We have much respect for their abilities and believe that this joint-venture will deliver the best possible results for FIFA.”

Infront, president and CEO Philippe Blatter says, “We are exited about our partnership with Dentsu. Our joint know-how provides a strong foundation to meet the expectations for successful distribution of the Asian broadcast rights. The results of FMS’s early initial negotiations in some of the major territories in Asia are already leading to very promising results.”

October 18, 2006
Infront, HBS win Judges’ Award at IBC2006 in Amsterdam

MUMBAI: Infront Sports & Media, the company which handled the worldwide marketing and sales of the broadcast rights to 2006 Fifa World Cup and its subsidiary Host Broadcast Services (HBS) have won the Judges’ Award at the IBC show in Amsterdam.

HBS was responsible for the host broadcast operations of the 2006 Fifa World Cup.

The award was for New Media production at the 2006 Fifa World Cup in Germany. The tailored production services provided by HBS transformed the coverage of the event for New Media in terms of quality and content. The prospect of tailored production drove sales – this was the most widely covered sports event on the internet and on mobile phones to date. More than 100 countries were covered by 50 licensees in Mobile Telephony and World Wide Web.

A team of 40 producers and journalists created a special New Media Content Package – tailor-made for licensees, designed for exploitation without the need for extensive editing and incorporating various innovations designed specifically for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The near-live clips were enhanced with specific or customised match and competition summaries, graphics, background sound, music and commentary.

The fact that this was the first FIFA World Cup covered entirely in HDTV opened the door to improved picture quality for New Media. HD video-based Pan and Scan technology was utilised, allowing the editor to zoom in and capture the core action, producing a clear picture more exciting than ever for tiny handsets.

HBS also offered a voice-over commentary service in the language of one’s choice. A total of eight different languages were booked and produced simultaneously in the IBC during the tournament: Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swiss German.

The benefits for licensees were considerable – better quality production, reduction of cost per licensee through central multilateral production and HD-based content, delivering “never seen before” picture quality in small formats.

HBS director of production Peter Angell received the Award on behalf of HBS and Infront. He said, “This award confirms that our two companies, Infront and HBS, were right in deciding to embed new media requirements in the overall production strategy, providing licensees with a level of service never experienced before. The fact that all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup were filmed in HDTV has transformed the quality of New Media coverage.

” Combined with the use of Pan and Scan technology to capture the core action in a way that is relevant for tiny handsets, it has delivered pictures of unprecedented quality. Licensees and consumers were thrilled”, he said in his acceptance speech.

HBS CEO Francis Tellier said, “This special award acknowledges the quality of services and innovations our team has provided in the area of host broadcasting. The new media production of the 2006 Fifa World Cup has been the defining step forward and underlines our ambition, to lead the industry through innovation.”

Infront Sports & Media president and CEO Philippe Blatter says, “We are proud that the outstanding production capabilities of the Infront Group have been recognised and we see this year’s IBC Judges’ Award as a challenge to push even further in future”.

September 13, 2006
Dentsu, Infront win Fifa broadcast marketing rights in Asia for next 2 soccer World Cups

MUMBAI: Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Inc and Swiss sports event marketing major Infront Sports & Media AG have won the Asia broadcasting rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and for all soccer games to be organised by the sport’s world governing body Fifa between 2007 and 2014.

The rights cover television, radio, broadband Internet and mobile telephony.
Dentsu and Infront came together to form a joint venture to ward off a daring attempt by “upstart” entrant into the soccer telecast game Nimbus Sport, which put in a bid worth a reported $ 269 million for the same rights. Sister concern Nimbus Communications was recently in the news when it won the telecast rights to India cricket for four years running from 1 March, 2006 to 31 March, 2010 with a monster bid of $612.18 million.

A point of note is that Dentsu acquired the Japanese broadcasting rights for the same events in 2005. Following the new announcement made by president Tateo Mataki on Saturday, Dentsu’s control over Fifa events now effectively extends to most of Asia.

Dentsu did not say how much it paid for the rights, nor which countries the rights covered, but information available with Indiantelevision.com indicates that the consortium bid made by Dentsu and Infront, which was the incumbent, is estimated to be worth between $300-310 million. The 29-country deal covers the whole of Asia east of Iran and excluding Japan.

In terms of a value proposition, four countries that make up North Asia account for 55-60 per cent of the bid amount. This includes China, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. South and South East Asia would take up the remaining 40-45 per cent of the bid value and include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Philippines and Singapore as major territories.

Commenting on the deal, Dentsu MD international headquarters Haruyuki Takahashi said, “This expanded role is the result of our long and rewarding partnership with Fifa. As Fifa’s sales representative, Dentsu, together with Infront Sports and Media, will enhance its role as a communications company by contributing to the expansion of the world of football.”

Infront Sports and Media president and CEO Oscar Frei said, “Both parties are strong in Asia and understand the Fifa property very well based on our successful histories of working together with Fifa. This decision also recognises Infront’s growing presence in the critically important market of Asia and we are grateful to Fifa for entrusting the Dentsu/Infront partnership with this important growth market for football.”

March 30, 2006