International Sports

Promotion to the English Premier League (EPL) is worth at least £60 million and is the biggest financial boost a football club can receive, according to a new analysts report at global accountancy firm, Deloitte. The teams who win a EPL place get £30 million from TV rights, plus £5 million from extra sponsorship and merchandising deals each season. Even those who are relegated after one season receive £24 million over the next two years, taking the total to about £60 million. Already-promoted Swansea City and two others can expect to receive a financial boost worth £1.4 million according to Deloitte. (SportBusiness.com, 5/2/08)




The Chelsea Football Club has teamed up with sports and entertainment division of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for assistance in the areas of corporate partnership development, stadium development, athlete marketing, branding, touring, and “corporate social responsibility.” CAA Sports entered into the soccer business in early 2007 when it helped orchestrate the deal that brought David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy, working with Beckham’s manager, Simon Fuller and has since sourced worldwide endorsement deals for the player. CAA said the global appeal of Chelsea is one of the major factors in CAA partnering with the club. The Chelsea squad contains 23 national team players from 14 different nationalities and six current national team captains. (SportBusiness.com, 6/9/08)




The Real Madrid Football Club agreed a deal with Total Sports Asia (TSA) to distribute its mobile content in Asia in a deal scheduled to run through 2010. (SportBusiness.com, 6/10/08)

International Sports

The NFL said it sold the first 40,000 tickets for the SD Chargers-New Orleans Saints game on 10/26/08, its second regular-season match in London, in less than 90 minutes. This was about the same pace at which tickets were sold for the Miami Dolphins-New York Giants game last year. The NFL has an agreement to play at least one game in the UK for the next three seasons, beginning with this year’s game. It has also declared a desire to have games in Germany and France, and is considering resurrecting plans to have a game in China after its 2007 planned pre-season event in China was cancelled. (SportBusiness.com, 5/30/08)




The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee issued a stern, nine-page document entitled "A Guide to Chinese Law for Foreigners Coming To, Leaving or Staying in China During the Olympics." Written only in Chinese and posted on the organizers' official website, the guide covers everything from a ban on sleeping outdoors to the need for government permission to stage a protest. In addition, the document said that having Olympic tickets is no guarantee of getting a visa to enter China, and warns against the display of insulting slogans or banners at any sporting venue. The guidelines seem to clash with a pledge made two month ago by IOC President Jacques Rogge, who said athletes could exercise freedom of speech in China. He asked only that athletes refrain from making political statements at certain official Olympics venues. (Yahoo!Sports, 6/2/08)




The IOC selected Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo as candidate cities for the 2016 Olympic Games. Doha (Qatar) missed out on selection due to its plan to host the Games in October due to the summer heat, while Madrid and Tokyo appear the cities to beat in the early running. The IOC will announce the host of the 2016 Olympics on 10/2/09. (SportBusiness.com, 6/5/08)

China Business

The China Securities Journal circulated a report recently saying that the China Securities Regulatory Commission is encouraging institutional money managers to make stabilization of the stock market their No. 1 priority ahead of the Olympics, and while this is nothing new, it helps to boost overall market confidence. (TheStreet.com, 5/30/08)




Chinese wireless provider China Unicom announced it would acquire fixed-line services company China Netcom as part of the first step in the China’s reshuffling of its telecom industry. The nearly $24 billion stock-swap deal comes one week after Chinese officials announced a plan to merge six state-owned phone providers into three in a move designed to offer more competition for China Mobile, which has the largest subscriber count in the world at nearly 400 million. Additionally, China Unicom said it would sell its code division multiple access, or CDMA, network to China Telecom for $15.86 billion. Once the restructuring is complete, three 3G spectrum licenses will be granted to the merged companies. Overall, the changes should create commercial opportunities for international equipment vendors such as Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia-Siemens. (Wall Street Journal, 6/2/08)

China Sports

Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy Industry (Group) Company (Mengniu) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced a new multi-year marketing partnership agreement to promote healthy lifestyles to young people in Asia by utilizing Mengniu’s and the NBA’s expertise in nutrition and sports respectively. The partnership marks the extension of a relationship started in China in 2007, with Mengniu serving as the “Official Dairy Product” of the NBA in China. Under the new agreement, Mengniu will team up with the NBA to promote the importance of sports and nutrition in six countries and territories in Asia, including Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore through NBA-themed promotions, grassroots events and NBA media programs. (NBA Press Release, 5/7/08)




Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and the NBA are close to announcing an agreement to develop and operate up to 12 arenas in China. The deal would represent another key step in the NBA’s vision for its own league in Asia, while adding more facilities to the global expansion effort under AEG. Moreover, the deal builds on an existing partnership between AEG and the NBA to run the 18,000 seat arena being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Wukesong Indoor Stadium, after the Summer Games have ended. (Sports Business Journal, 5/18/08)

Korea Sports

The Korea Development Camp, an event co-organized by the Korean Basketball League (KBL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), took place in Seoul, Korea from 5/16-20/08. The camp brought together the top 40 Korean basketball players ages 16-19 to take part in basketball instruction and competition with the MVP of the camp earning a spot to participate in “Basketball without Borders India” this summer from July 3 to 6 in New Delhi, India. Assisting with the event were Milwaukee Bucks’ starting point guard Mo Williams and forward Charlie Villanueva, along NBA assistant coaches Jeff Capel (Charlotte Bobcats) and Neal Meyer (L.A. Clippers). (NBA Press Release, 5/14/08)

India Entertainment

The Indian pay-television industry is projected to generate revenues of $11.2 billion by 2012, according to a recent report by Media Partners Asia. By 2017, this is expected to grow to $18.5 billion, with revenues from subscriptions and advertising accounting for $12.3 billion and $6.2 billion respectively. Subscriber base is also expected to expand by 137 million by 2012, and 163.8 million by 2017, with an annual growth of 10.9% for the first five years and 7.2% for the remaining five. In 2007, total pay-television revenues in India amounted to $5.25 billion, of which subscription revenue was $3.77 billion and advertising accounted for $1.48 billion, with a subscriber base of 81.67 million. (SportBusiness.com, 4/28/08)




YouTube India (youtube.co.in) launched recently with user-generated videos and content from existing Bollywood and broadcaster partners such as Eros Entertainment and New Delhi TV. Other alliances include cricket portal Krishcricket.com, the International Indian Film Academy Awards, the Ministry of Tourism and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. (THR.com/Asia, 5/7/08)




Sport 18, the sports marketing division of Indian media conglomerate Network 18, and US-based network, CNBC-TV18, have agreed to an exclusive partnership deal with the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI). Under the deal, Sport 18 acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights for the PGTI and will use its marketing expertise to promote professional golf, while CNBC-TV18 will be the official broadcast partner for professional golf in India. Currently, PGTI manages an annual calendar of over 20 professional golf tournaments in the country. (SportBusiness.com, 5/12/08)

China Sports

The Golden Baseball League hosted exhibition games between the Chinese Olympic baseball team and the Long Beach Armada and Yuma Scorpions on 5/17-18/08, and 5/21/08, respectively. Proceeds from tickets sales, online viewing (there was a fee to watch the games online at ibnsports.com), and a silent auction were donated to the American Red Cross for earthquake relief in China. (Goldenbaseball.com Press Release, 5/9/08)

Japanese Baseball

Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo was released by the Kansas City Royals. There is speculation that the Yokohama Bay Stars from Japan may try to sign him. (JapanBall.com, 4/30/08)

China Sports

Unprompted awareness of Olympic sponsors by Chinese consumers showed high interest and good results, according to a recent survey by SPORT+MARKT. Chinese brand Lenovo led with 38% awareness, followed by Coca-Cola (36%), China Mobile (30%), Samsung and Yiligroup (both at 18%), Bank of China 17%, and Adidas, Haier, Johnson and Johnson (all at 14%). (SportBusiness.com, 4/29/08)




Mercedes-Benz China and tennis star Roger Federer have entered into a multi-year advertising and strategic marketing partnership in cooperation with China Tennis Association (CTA) and the Junior Tennis Development Program called “Swing for the Stars” that is designed to improve Chinese junior players' skills and the coaches' teaching level. The deal was brokered by IMG. (SportBusiness.com, 4/30/08)

Japanese Baseball

Nippon Professional Baseball will appoint outgoing Japanese ambassador to the United States Ryozo Kato as its next commissioner. Kato is scheduled to be appointed after he is confirmed at an upcoming owners meeting of the 12 professional baseball clubs. NPB had been searching for a successor to acting commissioner Yasuchika Negoro since last year. (JapanBall.com, 4/11/08)

India Sports

India is considering bidding for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The Indian Olympic Association is expected to make a formal application by 2013 in order to host the Games. Delhi is thought to be the potential host city, as it will already have the necessary infrastructure after hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games. (SportBusiness.com, 4/10/08)

China Business

A Chinese court has agreed to hear two multi-million dollar copyright infringement claims brought by major record labels agains Baidu, the Chinese search engine company, and Web portal Sohu, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The $9 million claim against Baidu is brought by Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music, who will argue that the search engine aids copyright infringement by providing "deep links" to unauthorized downloads on third-party sites. The IFPI said in a statement: "The claim is the tip of the iceberg in a copyright infringement test-case that could expose the Chinese internet giant to a multi-billion dollar liability," adding that the current claim covers just 127 tracks -- "a small representative sample of the wider infringement." The same three major labels, along with local company Gold Label Entertainment, have also filed for $7.5 million in damages against Sohu. The IFPI claims that "over 99 per cent of all music online in China infringes copyright." (Digital Media Wire, 4/7/08)

Baseball

MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) and BroadWebAsia, owner and operator of six of the leading web 2.0 properties in China, and established and chaired by Brad Greenspan (founder of MySpace), announced an agreement to create and host a MLB focused website in simplified Chinese targeting the China market. The site (www.major.tv/china) is being developed by BroadWebAsia's Shanghai-based Hupo TV subsidiary, and officially launched in time for the MLB Opening Series in Japan on March 25th. The deal was brokered by Greenspan, with Peter Schloss, Chief Executive Officer of BroadWebAsia, and Alex Pigeon, Vice President of International, MLBAM. (Yahoo!Finance, 4/1/08)

MLBAM and ChungHwa Telecom (http://mlb.hinet.net) announced a deal for second straight year of live streaming of MLB games into Taiwan, including certain games in Full HD format. (ChungHwa Telecom Press Release, 4/1/08)

Baseball

Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) has selected software from Cognos, an IBM company that provides business intelligence and performance management software, to help analyze player performance statistics. The software will provide hundreds of agents with "self-service" views and reports, and "will also enable the agents to perform ad hoc analysis on different scenarios with nearly immediate answers." (Digital Media Wire, 3/28/08)

Asia Business

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing has closed a second $60million investment round into social networking website Facebook. The investment was made through the Li Ka-Shing Foundation, and boosts Li's holdings in Facebook to $120million. The deal values Facebook at $15billion. (Los Angeles Times, 3/28/08)

Asia Sports

Sports sponsorship growth in Asia rose by 54% in 2007, with net a spending of $643 million, driven in part by the Beijing Olympics, according to IVCast from OgilvyAction. However, there was also a large rise in the sheer number of deals being done in other Asian countries with 2,233 in 2007 versus 1,624 in 2006, showing that the popularity and relevance of sponsorship is growing. The forecast for 2008 is currently showing a small decline of 9.5% reflecting the unknown continuation of deals recorded in 2007. (SportBusiness.com, 3/27/08)

India Entertainment

Reliance Entertainment, the largest player in the Indian film industry, is making an ambitious play in the US entertainment market by quietly buying up cinemas across the U.S. and is poised to launch in April as a coast-to-coast chain. Recently, George Soros paid $100 million for a 5% stake in Reliance, which has 250 screens in 28 North American locations, including Washington DC, New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, San Jose, Los Angeles, Washington state. The company plans to rename the US sites "Big Cinemas" as their renovations are completed, and says most of the sites are close to centers of ex-pat Indian and Asian populations. The company's objective is not to force the pace of crossover by Bollywood movies but to play popular movies from a wider range of sources, including popular Chinese or Korean cinema. The company's expansion into the US entertainment market, which is likely to be followed by moves into other countries, is one of several efforts to diversify into the entertainment industry. With major positions in telecommunications, broadband Internet, video, radio, movie production and post-production, Reliance has also unveiled plans to offer up to 20 TV channels and is weeks away from launching India's fourth satellite TV platform. Overall, the move underlines Indian companies' growing appetite for international properties and influence. (VarietyAsiaOnline, 3/26/08)

The Indian entertainment sector is expected to grow by 18% per year for the next four years, and could be worth $28.6 billion by 2011, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). PwC points to record inward foreign investment of $211 million and increased digitalization, and estimates that Internet advertising will hit $104 million in 2008, and touch $272 million in 2012. Film is expected to expand from $2.37 billion to $4.35 billion by 2012 as movie players discover revenue streams beyond the traditional box office such as television, mobile, Internet, home video, merchandise, music, re-make rights, and several branded entertainment opportunities. TV, where most of the foreign investment has gone, is forecast to grow from $5.59 billion to $14.8 billion by 2012. (VarietyAsiaOnline.com, 3/25/06)

Japan Baseball

The Orix Buffaloes will accept a ruling that effectively allows the Softbank Hawks to sign with RHP Jeremy Powell following a contract dispute between the two Japanese League clubs, a senior Orix official said. Orix said it would back off from its bid to acquire Powell after acting Japanese baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro issued a ruling in favor of Softbank. Orix and Softbank both announced the acquisition of Powell in January, claiming the validity of their respective deals. Powell has made clear his intention of joining the Hawks, who offered the more lucrative of the two deals. (JapanBall.com, 3/25/08)

China Entertainment

Nineyou International, a developer and publisher of online games in China, has raised $100 million in private equity funding from Temasek Holdings from Singapore. Shanghai-based Nineyou withdrew plans for a $154 million IPO in Japan last year, after two Korean companies threatened legal action over disputed game licenses. (Digital Media Wire, 3/25/08)

India Business

Tata Motors, India's top carmaker, announced a deal for British luxury automakers Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for $2.3 billion. Ford paid for $2.5billion for Jaguar in 1989 and $2.8billion for Land Rover in March 2000. The deal obligates Ford to pay about $600 million into the Jaguar-Land Rover pension fund on closing, so Ford will net only about $1.7 billion. (Los Angeles Times, 3/25/08)

Japan Business

Toshiba is likely to report a loss of about $986 million at its HD DVD business for the year, after deciding to discontinue the format and cede victory to Sony's Blu-ray format. Production line changes and other charges associated with the shuttering will double the loss that Toshiba had previously expected. (Digital Media Wire, 3/19/08)

Wal-Mart said it will buy the remaining 4% of Seiyu, Japan's fifth-biggest retailer by sales, that it doesnt already own as Wal-Mart seeks the flexibility it says it needs to turn around the money-losing supermarket operator. Since entering the Japanese market in 2002, Wal-Mart has been gradually raising its stake in Seiyu, which has about 400 stores nationwide. But Wal-Mart has also struggled to make money in Japan as Japanese still prefer to go to smaller neighborhood stores for everyday food and other needs. In addition, Wal-Mart's "Everyday Low Price" strategy has backfired in Japan, where consumers tend to equate low prices with low quality. Overall, Wal-Mart's track record at its international operations has been uneven. While its business has flourished in Mexico and Latin America, shopping cultures in other regions, such as Asia, have failed to respond to the sales format that proved successful in the US. (Los Angeles Times, 3/19/08)

International Sports

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) said it has agreed sponsorship agreements worth about $709 million, more than 90% of its overall target of $760 million. The figures were released as part of VANOC's latest quarterly report, which also showedd that operating expenses are climbing as venue-construction costs decline. The 2010 Winter Olympics run from 2/12-28/10 in Vancouver, Canada and its surrounding areas. (SportBusiness.com, 3/17/08)

China Business

Youku.com, the China-based video-sharing website, has teamed with social networking site MySpace in hopes of becoming China’s version of YouTube. Launched in December 2006, Youku sees over 100 million daily video views, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. (Digital Media Wire, 3/14/08)

India Entertainment

According to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry of India, foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Indian entertainment sector amounted to $215 million in the nine months from March to December 2007, compared with a mere $44 million 2006. The previous highest year for FDI was 2000-01 with $81.5 million. In recent months, Western entertainment conglomerates have been very active in this area, including Disney's enlarged stake in UTV Software Communications, Viacom's co-investment with the TV 18 Group, Turner Entertainment's commitment to a joint venture with Alva Bros, and most recently NBC Universal's stake in NDTV. (VarietyAsiaOnline.com, 3/14/08)

China Business

According to research from Beijing-based BDA, based on data from the China Internet Network Information Center, China had 210 million internet users at the end of 2007, compared to Nielsen/NetRatings findings of 216 million in the US. BDA said that, based on the pace of growth in China, and now that the first quarter of 2008 is nearly finished, it is safe to assume the country has surpassed the U.S. in total internet users. (Digital Media Wire, 3/13/08)

India Entertainment

In a significant move which is a first for a Bollywood label, Eros International has reached an agreement to have its movie titles distributed in Wal-Mart's 27 Canadian stores. Over time, Eros will make available a large number of titles from its catalogue of over 1300 titles as well as its 30-40 new releases every year and they will be distributed throughout Wal-Mart's entire Canadian network. (VarietyAsiaOnline.com, 3/11/08)

Japan Baseball

A new independent baseball league in Japan is taking shape with four clubs expected to be established ahead of its inauguration scheduled for 2009. The organizers of the new league, located in the Kansai western Japan region, said its inaugural season will have one team each in Wakayama and Osaka prefectures and two in Hyogo with a plan to expand it to eight teams in the future. The Wakayama-based Kyshu Rangers were founded last December ahead of the establishment of the three others slated for April. Each team will have 20 players on its roster and play 72 games in a season. Annual salaries for the players have been set at a uniform 1.8 million yen with bonus payments being considered depending on the league's business performance. Currently, there are two independent professional baseball leagues in Japan. The Shikoku-Kyushu Island League features teams in the two islands in western and southwestern Japan while the BC League accommodates clubs in the Hokuriku area as well as in Nagano and Gunma prefectures. (JapanBall.com, 3/8/08)

Asia Business

Acer, the Taiwanese computer company, overtook Dell to become the world's second largest notebook-computer maker, behind only Hewlett-Packard, after acquiring Gateway last fall. HP controls 20% of the global market, with Acer at 16% and Dell at 14%. Chinese company Lenovo is ranked fourth. (Los Angeles Times, 3/5/08)

Six Flags, the world's largest theme park company, announced it would develop a thrill park in Dubai, UAE as part of a massive entertainment and amusement complex to be known as Dubailand, a 3-billion square foot project that will include restaurants, htoels, Universal Studios Dubailand and DreamWorks Animation Park, and is scheduled for groundbreaking in 2009. This is the first project for Six Flags to be developed outside of the North America. (Los Angeles Times, 3/5/08)

February 2008

Baseball
The Los Angeles Dodgers rewarded All-Star closer RHP Takashi Saito (38) with a one-year contract for $2 million, plus another $200,000 in performance bonuses. The Dodgers also signed Japanese RHP Hiroki Kuroda (32) to a three-year contract worth a reported $35.2 million in December. (Los Angeles Times, 2/13/08)

The San Diego Padres announced that they have established a working agreement with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters from Japan. The Padres agreement with the Fighters will allow the clubs to engage in an exchange of scouting information as well as assistance in scouting efforts. The Fighters were Japan Series champions in 2006 and the Pacific League champions in 2007. (JapanBall.com, 2/21/08)

Tickets have sold out for MLB's season-opening series between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics in Tokyo, Japan on 3/25-26/08. Boston LHP Hideki Okajima could be the lone Japanese pitcher for the World Series champions in the two-game series, as RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka may miss the series because his wife is expecting to give birth around that time. (Yahoo!Sports, 2/21/08)

In an on-going issue that seems without resolution, Japanese baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro ruled that a resolution submitted by the Pacific League giving the Softbank Hawks the right to acquire RHP Jeremy Powell over the Orix Buffaloes in a contract dispute will be scrapped. The Pacific League had ruled that Softbank had the rights to the 31-year-old after Powell signed contracts with both Orix and Softbank during the off-season. This issue arose when Softbank announced on 1/29/08 that it had signed a contract with Powell nearly three weeks after Orix announced their acquisition of Powell. The Pacific League and president Tadao Koike initially ruled that both contracts were valid, but that Powell was the property of the Hawks - who checked with the PL office before attempting to sign the right-hander, and were told he was still a free agent - and the pitcher would be suspended for the first three months of the season for "causing trouble between the clubs," unless the teams can reach a deal on compensation. The Nippon Pro Baseball Players Association did not file a grievance on Powell's behalf. (JapanBall.com, 2/21/08)

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced the signing of Korean RHP Byung-Hyun Kim (29) that will pay Kim $850,000 this year, with the possibility of incentives increasing that salary by $1 million. Pitching for the Marlins, Rockies and Diamondbacks last year, Kim went 10-8 with a 6.08 ERA. (MLB Press Release, 2/24/08)

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Basketball
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Fujian Peak Group (Peak) have agreed to a new multi-year marketing partnership in China. This partnership between the WNBA and Peak underscores a series of firsts, including the first time the WNBA is entering China, the first partnership that focuses on the promotion of women's basketball in China, and the first time that WNBA players are being endorsed by a Chinese corporation. (NBA Press Release, 2/16/08)

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Golf
The Phoenix Coyotes announced a one-year sponsorship deal with PGA Tour golfer Jeff Quinney. As part of the deal, Quinney will wear a shirt featuring the Coyotes logo during all PGA Tour events in 2008. (Veritix.com Newsletter, 2/7/08)

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Other Sports
Electronic Arts (EA) announced a multi-year strategic partnership with IMG for marketing and licensing in sports and entertainment. Under the agreement, IMG will partner with EA to license and market its brand in a variety of new product categories, which could include sports camps, gaming lounges, publishing products, performance apparel and more.
(ProSportsGroup.com, 2/14/08)

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China
The 2008 Beijing Olympics will be broadcast in Chinese and Korean by NBC for the first time ever in the US. NBC and Multicultural Radio will co-produce the new language coverage, which will focus on team events such as soccer, baseball and basketball, as well as offering daily highlights in Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese. NBC will also show the majority of its English language coverage in Spanish on its Telemundo network while Oxygen, a female orientated network recently acquired by NBC, will show equestrian, tennis, rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming. (SportBusiness.com, 2/18/08)

Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle doubled his holdings in Chinese media company Xinhua Finance Media to 12% with the purchase of $30 million in convertible stock. Xinhua sells ads for financial publications and TV/radio stations in China. (Los Angeles Times, 2/20/08)

China Central Television (CCTV) has agreed to partnerships with social networking site MySpace China and online-video site Tudou.com to run an interactive website for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The CCTV Olympic Website, which can only be viewed in China, will offer streaming video broadcasts of events and Web profiles through which users can contact Olympic athletes. (SportBusiness.com, 2/28/08)

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India
Four minority domestic investors in Sony Entertainment India, have taken the company to court over demands on them for capital to finance SET's commitments to the upcoming IPL tournament. SET India, which operates channels like Sony, MAX, SAB TV and AXN, recently asked shareholders to infuse fresh equity of $40 million, a bid which was turned down. The four investors, Shemaroo Entertainment Managing Director Raman Maroo, actor Jackie Shroff, World Media Group Director Sudesh Iyer and MobiApps Holding's Jayesh Parekh instead demanded that their stake be sold through an initial public offer, which the parent company has refused. A case has been filed in the Bombay High Court, terming the capital call illegal. (SportBusiness.com, 2/20/08)

Disney has agreed to pay $230 million to increase its investment in leading Indian entertainment group UTV Software Communications with the company paying $200 million to up its stake in UTV from 14% to 32%, and a further $30 million for a 15% stake in UTV Global Broadcasting, a subsidiary which controls new TV channels including youth oriented Bindass and its spin-off nets. Disney took its initial stake in the group in 2006 when it bought UTV's kids channel Hungama. Other Hollywood conglomerates have recently been expanding their operations in India as well, including NBC Universal, and Viacom, who merged most of its Indian businesses with the TV18 group to form Viacom 18. (VarietyAsiaOnline.com, 2/20/08)

The Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), Omidyar Network, and Google announced a new $17 million investment company for small and medium-size businesses in India, "to create job opportunities and spur greater economic participation for a larger segment of the population." The investment company will target equity investments between $500,000 and $3.5 million. (Digital Media Wire, 2/20/08)

January 2008

Baseball
The Kansas City Royals announced the signing of Japanese RHP Hideo Nomo (38) to a minor league contract worth $600,000 for making the roster and a chance to earn $100,000 in performance bonuses. (MLB Press Release, 1/4/08)

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed veteran Japanese RHP Masumi Kuwata (40) to a minor league contract in a return to the Pirates organization after he made his major league debut on 6/10/07 and finished with a 0-1 record with a 9.43 ERA in 19 relief appearances. (JapanBall.com,
1/10/08)

The Chicago Cubs announced the signing of former Yakult Swallows RHP Shingo Takatsu (39) to a minor league contract. Takatsu, the all-time saves record holder in Japan with 286, played in the majors in 2004-2005 with the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets with a combined record of 8-6 with 27 saves and a 3.38 earned run average. (JapanBall.com, 1/23/08)

EMC, a data storage and management company, announced an expansion of its partnership with the Boston Red Sox to include the team's regular season opening series in Japan. The centerpiece of the sponsorship is a commemorative sleeve patch featuring EMC's logo on the team's jerseys, the first corporate logo ever to grace the team's uniform. EMC also becomes an official sponsor of MLB in Japan, part of its fastest-growing market throughout most of 2007. (JapanBall.com, 1/23/08)

The Seattle Mariners have signed RHP Kenta Suda (18) to a minor-league contract. In 2007, Suda pitched for the Nomo Baseball Club, a nonprofit amateur team in Osaka, established by pitcher Hideo Nomo. (JapanBall.com, 1/23/08)

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Basketball
Kia Motors America and the NBA have agreed to a new multi-year marketing partnership that designates Kia as the Official Automotive Partner of the NBA. It is the first ever multi-year marketing partnership deal that Kia Motors America has entered into with any sports league. Under the deal, Kia Motors will present a new series of on-court performance awards that include four of the NBA's most prestigious year-end honors, including the Most Valuable Player Award, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man Award, and Most Improved Player, which will be grouped together into a single series called "The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia." The deal was negotiated on behalf of Kia Motors America by IMG. (SportBusiness.com, 1/14/08)

Disney, Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-Shing and three Chinese financiers have invested $253 million in NBA China, a new sports rights body that aims to harness the huge popularity of basketball in China. The investors stake buys them 11% of NBA China and gives an initial value of $2.3 billion for NBA China. Disney is buying 5% while the Li Ka-Shing Foundation, Bank of China, China Merchants Bank and Legend Holdings, parent of computer giant Lenovo, split the remaining 6%. NBA China will have the right to create teams in China, and will own all broadcasting rights and merchandising, and in an unusual move in China, it will retain some ownership in teams created in the country. In related news, Chinese New Year celebrations which begin in February will see the launch of "Kung Fu Dunk," a basketball-martial arts movie starring pop music sensation Jay Chou and is expected to be one of the biggest Chinese-language movies of the year. As for Li, who owns stakes in numerous media groups including Tom.com and Golden Harvest, he recently paid over $60 million for a slice of social networking website Facebook. (VarietyAsiaOnline.com, 1/15/08)

The NBA and Turner Sports are expected to announce a deal for Turner to manage the league's digital properties, including the 24-hour cable channel NBA TV. The NBA would still own the properties but hand over the day-to-day operations to Turner Sports, which has been a NBA TV partner for 20 years and also runs such digital properties as NASCAR.com and PGAtour.com. (HollywoodReporter.com, 1/17/08)

The NBA will stage its first-ever event in India with "Basketball without Borders", the league's global basketball development and community outreach program, in New Delhi from 7/3-6/08. Top young basketball players (ages 19 and under) from across Asia will come together in New Delhi to take part in basketball instruction and competition, and participate in motivational and life-skills seminars that promote education, leadership, character development and healthy living. (SportBusiness.com, 1/24/08)

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Other Sports
English Premier League soccer team Derby County has been acquired by General Sports and Entertainment (GSE), a Detroit-based firm which owns several minor league basketball and hockey teams, in a deal estimated at $100M. Tom Glick, a former chief marketing officer for the New Jersey Nets, will be brought in as a new president and chief executive. (ProSportsGroup.com, 1/28/08)

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China
Baidu, the most popular Chinese-language Internet search engine, has launched a Japanese service, its first local-language service outside China, which will focus on search engines for mobile phones. The search engine has double the market share of Google in China. In Japan, it will compete against Google and Yahoo's Japanese subsidiary. (VarietyAsiaOnline.com, 1/24/08)

China Sports Industry International (CSII) and Tickets.com, an event ticketing solutions company, have agreed to a joint-venture to provide ticketing and ticketing-related services for sports and associated markets in China. The companies intend to open an office in Beijing during the first quarter of 2008 to provide sales, support and technical services. CSII negotiates sports sponsorships, manages major sports events and provides international sports public relations services in China under the auspices of the State General Administration of Sports, the governmental agency in charge of sports in China. (SportBusiness.com, 1/30/08)

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India
Desi Hits, a South Asian entertainment portal that features celebrity interviews, music videos, podcasts and blogs, announced that it has raised $5 million in its second round of financing, from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Trident Capital and D.E. Shaw Group. San Francisco-based Desi Hits targets the world's South Asian (India), or "Desi" youth culture, and claims more than 10 million hits per month. (Digital Media Wire, 1/22/08)

NBC Universal agreed to pay $150 million for an initial 26% stake in New Delhi Television (NDTV) Networks, a leading Indian news broadcaster. The deal includes lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times, Hindi-language general entertainment net NDTV Imagine, channel consultancy business NDTV Emerging Markets, digital media business NDTV Convergence, media tech unit NDTV Labs and NGEN, a media processes outsourcing company. The Indian TV market is expected to grow at 16% annually moving forward. (VarietyAsiaOnline.com, 1/22/08)

World Sport Group and Sony Entertainment India acquired the global TV rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL), a new 20/20 format, in a 10-year deal worth $1.026 billion by outbidding Network Solutions Pvt., a consortium led by NDTV and ESPN-Star Sports. Eight IPL franchises will play 59 matches in 44 days starting 4/18/08. (SportBusiness.com, 1/22/08)