Feature: Broadband Sport in China - May 2004  

Whether it is broadband penetration, online advertising or mobile phone uptake, technology is on the rise in China. Sport and Technology spoke to the celebrated Hong Kong-based broadcaster Robert Chua about his vision to bring digital sports content to the fastest growing market in Asia.

At the time of writing, China has a population of nearly 1.3bn and an internet penetration rate of 13.6%. This is forecast to grow to penetration of nearly 20%, representing 250m internet users, by the end of 2005 according to research company eMarketer. Those are certainly attractive figures in a market that is very a long way from internet saturation, unlike some of its Asian neighbours.
It is not surprising therefore that a successful broadcaster such as Robert Chua, is keen to capitalise on this new, technology-hungry audience. Chua is no stranger to the Hong Kong and Chinese markets. His 40 years in television include helping to launch commercial station TVB in Hong Kong in 1967 before setting up Robert Chua Production House Company Limited (RCP) in 1974 with his wife Peggy, a well-known television producer. RCP became the first company to sell foreign TV advertising and US programming directly into China. Chua then went on to launch self-funded satellite channel China Entertainment Television (CETV) in 1994 under the banner “No Sex, No Violence, No News” (to appease Chinese censors) and eventually sold the channel to Time Warner in late 2003.
More recently Chua has been involved in developing new television formats and is particularly bullish about interactive television following the success of his interactive game show Everyone Wins that he plans to distribute internationally and involves audience participation via SMS.
But Chua’s ambition does not rest there. He envisages launching a broadband channel in Hong Kong and China during 2004 that capitalises on the growth of broadband subscribers and an increasing appetite for Western sport.
“I see this very much as a new cycle in my life, having just celebrated 40 years in the television industry,” says Chua, “and also an opportunity to reinvent myself.” Broadband is the way forward according to Chua, and sport is the killer content. “There is a demand for sport in China, particular soccer, volleyball, basketball and table tennis that fans don’t get to see on television. If I can make it available to them on the internet, I am convinced they will pay for it.”

A question of billing

Chua believes that content should be available on his platform 24 hours a day and that people should choose how much they consume and therefore get billed according to how much they watch, rather than paying one-off subscriptions. “Pay-per-view in this sense might just be for a few minutes rather than getting people to pay for entire matches that they might just want to dip into,” Chua explains.
Chua’s aim is to acquire European sports content at “not much cost and preferably free”, that he can roll out on his channel initially in Hong Kong and China, but then throughout other parts of Asia. “I’m interested in talking to sports rights owners about forming partnerships in the short term,” says Chua. “If they want to promote their sports in China, then this will be an ideal way to do it. There might not be any revenue at first, but then what little we make after that can be split. Ultimately though there is a vast market out there that they will be able to reach.”
Phase one will be for Chua to stream content in whatever language it is supplied to him. “Then once we start making money, stage two will be to produce it in Chinese as well.”

Cable aspirations

Chua’s ultimate vision is to offer his broadband sports channel to cable network operators in China in exchange for carriage fees, which can then be shared with the rights holders of the sports he broadcasts. He is also keen to build an interactive element to his sports broadcasting in the form of SMS voting on, for example, how many goals are scored during a soccer match
and at what times. He feels that this is more appealing to the Chinese than the additional camera angles that interactive TV usually affords in sport. “Some of this technology can be nice to have but sometimes it is not practical or not actually wanted. Our audiences like to interact with their programming through voting to win prizes.”

3G or not 3G

Looking ahead, Chua also sees a demand for sports content on 3G phones, with fans paying to access sports footage. However, broadband internet is his priority which is sensible given that China is now thought to be shelving plans for 3G networks for a couple of years. According to Chinese news stories, no 3G licences will be issued in the near future because Chinese authorities have been concerned by the failure of operators like Hutchison to generate much interest in 3G in the country.
However, the population in China is getting wealthier, says Chua, and becoming increasingly interested in both technology and sport. With the build up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing expected to increase interest in sport further in China and make the country more commercial, one cannot help but think that Chua’s vision for a broadband sports proposition is a winner. And he certainly has the ambition and contacts to make it a reality.

ASIA SPORTS SUMMIT & EXPO, in conjunction with The PGA Show Asia ~ 4th PGA Merchandise & Facilities Show
ASIA ~ 3.7bn population, 45 sporting nations, 1 Summit ~"Propelling Asian Sports Towards Professionalism in the 21st Century"!
16-18 September, 2004 at IMPACT Exhibition & Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand.
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