Only 2 days remain for Sport and Technology: The Conference 2007’s early-bird discount
Delegates wishing to take advantage of a £100 discount for Sport and Technology: The Conference 2007, only have 2 days left to register their places. The price will rise from £499 plus VAT to £599 plus VAT after 25 May. The London headquarters of global satellite communications provider Inmarsat, well known for its World Rally Championship and Volvo Ocean Race sponsorships, will host the panel-based conference, back for its third year, on Friday 29 June 2007. Derek Wyatt, Member of Parliament in the UK government will take part in the opening panel discussion of the day, looking at the issue of Convergence. Derek is Chairman of the All Party Internet Group and also Chairman of the All Party Rugby Group at Westminster. His fellow panellists are Andrew Brown, Chief Operating Officer, Racing UK; Hyacinth Nwana, Managing Director, Mobile Media Solutions, Arqiva; Peter Lewinton, Head of Sport, Virgin Media; and Rhys Beer, Head of Broadband, Setanta Sports, all of whom bring a wealth of experience to this timely discussion. The panel, moderated by Tony Singh, Associate, Spectrum Strategy Consultants, will address issues such as: What is convergence? What does it actually mean to the consumer? How does convergence actually benefit the consumer? What value can technology companies offer consumers? How can technology be used to enhance consumer experiences? And how will technologies such as VOIP and Mobile TV have an impact on sports fans? As well as including panel discussions on Convergence, Protecting Digital Assets, Venues as Television Studios and Technology versus Referees, Sport and Technology: The Conference 2007 will feature informative keynote presentations and a closing address that draws together the pertinent themes of the day. Delegates will also enjoy an evening cocktail party and a charity raffle, both of which have been popular at the event since its inception in 2005. Sport and Technology: The Conference will continue to present areas of importance to both rights owners and technology companies and will be the must-attend event of 2007 for all those working in the sports industry. Register now at www.sportandtechnologyconference.com
Mobile tickets a hit for MLB
Following the highly successful roll-out of mobile ticketing capabilities for three Major League Baseball clubs in the US, mobile ticketing is to be adopted by additional teams in the coming months. Mobile ticketing technology company Mobiqa, Tickets.com and Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) are providing ‘Tickets@Phone’ to baseball fans. Tickets@Phone is a unique, barcoded ticket, sent as a message to a ticket purchaser's cellphone. The barcode is scanned at the event to grant access.
Yahoo and Eurosport
Yahoo! and Eurosport have launched co-branded websites in four European markets dedicated to online sports news and community interaction. The websites will operate in the UK and Ireland, Germany, Spain and Italy and combine Eurosport’s content and sports editorial with Yahoo!s social media platform. The new sites will be promoted on both Eurosport channels as well as on Yahoo! across all four markets. “Together we're able to satisfy fans’ passion for sport by building user communities of interest around unrivalled high-quality professional content,’ said Javier Rodriguez Zapatero, vice president sales, Yahoo! Europe.
Swedes get mobile NHL highlights
Telia customers can now watch playoff highlights from the National Hockey League (NHL) in the US, on their mobile phones and other wireless devices. Telia customers can also watch Swedish ice hockey stars - Nicklas Lidström, Henrik Lundqvist, Michael Nylander, Markus Näslund – fight for the NHL’s prestigious Stanley Cup trophy. Through an agreement with the mobile video service recently launched by North American Sports Network (NASN), the only pan-European television network dedicated to North American sports, and Globalmouth, a Swedish mobile rights company, Telia will be the first company in Europe to deliver NASN’s mobile service to mobile users. Telia customers can already see live soccer games from the top Swedish league and the Swedish national soccer team via their mobile devices. Meanwhile, back in the US, the NHL has teamed up with Voxant, the Viral Syndication Network, to distribute video clips of game highlights, bloopers, noteworthy moments and other news to thousands of websites and blogs through TheNewsRoom. The clips may be obtained for free and will generate revenue for sites that post the content.
Rewards for Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur has become the latest soccer club to team up with Reward, Europe's largest sports loyalty company. The Barclays Premiership outfit will launch the One Hotspur Reward Programme in July 2007, joining more than 80 other UK clubs that run similar schemes. The programme will work by fans registering their credit or debit cards and receiving reward points based on money spent at participating retailers. Supporters will then be able to redeem points against a range of club merchandise, vouchers and unique experiences. Reward has also recently announced deals with Barclaycard (branding pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport/Matthew Peters) and Italian Serie A champion Inter Milan.
Toyota chooses Cricinfo.com for summer marketing drive
Global cricket site Cricinfo.com has been selected by Toyota to run a summer-long digital campaign targeted at potential UK buyers of its Avensis model. Coinciding with England’s Test series against the West Indies and India, the Toyota Avensis will spearhead a campaign sponsoring Cricinfo’s live match scores and all England team editorial coverage on the site. The campaign, bought and planned by Zed Media, marks the second occasion that Toyota and Cricinfo have joined forces. In 2006, Toyota promoted the Avensis throughout the England series against Pakistan, to reinforce its marketing partnership with Test match grounds.
46m mobile video subscribers by 2010
Service provider revenue from mobile video services jumped 317% to almost $200m worldwide from 2005 to 2006, and is expected to triple in 2007, says market research firm Infonetics Research in its latest report, Mobile Video Devices, Services and Subscribers. Similarly, the number of worldwide mobile video subscribers increased more than 300% between 2005 and 2006, and is set to soar to over 46m by 2010, the report shows. Meanwhile, users of mobile TV in the US are predominantly male and below the age of 35, according to a new study from digital media research firm comScore.
Italy tops online soccer league
Italian soccer clubs Inter Milan and Juventus have come top of Nielsen NetRating’s ‘Online Champions League’ whilst Liverpool and Manchester United lead the ‘Online Premiership’ in terms of audiences to their websites. Inter Milan and Juventus reach 8% and 6% respectively of their domestic online sports audiences. Juventus also has the highest domestic Unique Audience of any soccer club in Europe (with 420,000). Liverpool is the highest English club (in 5th spot), Manchester United is 6th, and Chelsea 11th.
Chinese crews in Paralympic production
The host broadcast organisation of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is set to become the host broadcaster of the Paralympic Games (pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport/David Hall) for the first time in the history of the Olympics. The host is Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Company (BOB), a Sino-foreign joint venture funded by the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and the Olympic Broadcasting Services. According to preliminary plans, broadcasting for the forthcoming Paralympics will be conducted through high definition equipment for the first time. BOB will provide live telecast signals for 11 sports, including athletics, boccia, cycling, judo, swimming, table tennis, volleyball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis. Chinese TV stations such as CCTV and the Beijing TV Station will be in charge of producing telecast signals and some 600 Chinese TV crews are expected to be involved in the event. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Samsung Electronics have extended their partnership agreement through to the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. The partnership between the IOC and Samsung began in 1997.
Sony signs up with FFA
Sony Australia has become an official supplier of Football Federation Australia (FFA). Bringing a local angle to Sony Corporation’s existing global relationship with soccer’s world body, FIFA, Sony’s partnership with the FFA will give the company access to the Qantas Socceroo players, games, branding and merchandise. Sony has also become the official consumer electronics supplier to both the FFA and Socceroos. The agreement between Sony, the FFA and the Socceroos will extend through to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. In addition, Sony has also struck a relationship with Australian soccer player Tim Cahill who will feature in upcoming Sony Australia promotional activities.
Page from ArkSports' Sport and Technology (www.sportandtechnology.com) on 2008-11-21 : News - May 2007 : http://www.sportandtechnology.com/page/0490.html
Delegates wishing to take advantage of a £100 discount for Sport and Technology: The Conference 2007, only have 2 days left to register their places. The price will rise from £499 plus VAT to £599 plus VAT after 25 May.
Tottenham Hotspur has become the latest soccer club to team up with Reward, Europe's largest sports loyalty company. The Barclays Premiership outfit will launch the One Hotspur Reward Programme in July 2007, joining more than 80 other UK clubs that run similar schemes. The programme will work by fans registering their credit or debit cards and receiving reward points based on money spent at participating retailers. Supporters will then be able to redeem points against a range of club merchandise, vouchers and unique experiences. Reward has also recently announced deals with Barclaycard (branding pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport/Matthew Peters) and Italian Serie A champion Inter Milan.
The host broadcast organisation of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is set to become the host broadcaster of the Paralympic Games (pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport/David Hall) for the first time in the history of the Olympics. The host is Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Company (BOB), a Sino-foreign joint venture funded by the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and the Olympic Broadcasting Services. According to preliminary plans, broadcasting for the forthcoming Paralympics will be conducted through high definition equipment for the first time. BOB will provide live telecast signals for 11 sports, including athletics, boccia, cycling, judo, swimming, table tennis, volleyball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis. Chinese TV stations such as CCTV and the Beijing TV Station will be in charge of producing telecast signals and some 600 Chinese TV crews are expected to be involved in the event. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Samsung Electronics have extended their partnership agreement through to the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. The partnership between the IOC and Samsung began in 1997. 
