Q&A: Alexandre Fourtoy, CEO, UEFA Media Technologies - October 2007  

This month, S&T caught up with Alexandre Fourtoy, CEO of UEFA Media Technologies (pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport/Shaun Botterill), after his participation in an Entriq roundtable at SportelMonaco 2007.

Please outline your role and responsibilities at UEFA Media Technologies

“UEFA Media Technologies is responsible for the production of all UEFA’s content. We look after all the online, mobile and host broadcasting operations for UEFA. We have to be able to provide for all the different experiences people want, otherwise they’ll take it illegally anyway.”

Talking of which, is piracy a big problem for UEFA?

“Who hasn’t been hit by piracy? We are concerned by it of course and are taking action all the time. We have a very strong legal team who are making discoveries that astonish us constantly. Piracy has become classier – for example such as through [peer-to-peer] Asian websites showing broadcasts. Generally it’s those operations that rights owners should worry about. YouTube customers don’t know they are pirating after all, and if they could get the content elsewhere legitimately they would do so happily. It’s also worth noting however that there is more guaranteed security on the internet than with traditional broadcasting.”

How does the internet benefit sport?

“The internet’s first benefit is that it brings sport to generations not reached by traditional broadcasting. The second benefit [for UEFA] is that it allows us to offer our competitions on a worldwide basis, even in areas where television doesn’t make sense. Even some of our biggest competitions can become niche in certain markets. The internet reaches those [additional] people in a beautiful way. UEFA.com has a different audience to our television audience. Visitors to the site like to surf and write e-mails too; it’s very much a non-passive way of enjoying sport.”

UEFA has been seen as pioneering in its approach to selling new media rights, please explain why for those unfamiliar with your policy.

“We have a platform-agnostic approach. We oblige purchasers of our rights to fully use them [rather than sit on them], but we are super-nice in helping them to do so if they can’t do it themselves - we act as an incubator. When we sell our rights, we look for optimisation. We sell our rights to raise exposure as well as maximise revenues and we also have some sponsor-funding. Brand value is very important to us.”

As you look ahead to EURO 2008, what are you developing at UEFA Media Technologies to move beyond your 2004 offerings?

“EURO 2008 will be the second time the competition website has been produced in house. Our model will be to ‘personalise’ and ‘participate’ for every part of the big fiesta. Site users will be able to export match calendars into Outlook for example and pick up feeds from other parts of the world. Our aim is to personalise your experience no matter where you are in the world. Our offerings will enable us to create communities and shape lives. We will offer an all you can eat buffet, understanding that you can’t cook for yourself sometimes. We propose to build a menu for you with, say, two alternatives. I’ve spoken a lot about how TV is moving into the internet world, but we will also try and develop this the other way as well. We’re currently looking at a lot of models – fan exchanges, sharing photo files and gaming for example. Most of these services will be totally free – apart from pay-per-view.”

How will you ensure your commercial partners leverage their relationship with EURO 2008 online?

“We will provide them with the capacity to do what they need to. Our sponsors will receive three distinct benefits. Firstly, exposure. Secondly, ownership of a feature on the competition website (such as Sony PlayStation ‘owning’ the gaming section for example). Thirdly, we will provide them with content for their own microsites, which will offer them legitimacy. Not all of them will utilise all these benefits, but the options are there for them. It is going to be huge compared with EURO 2004!”

What has been the biggest challenge for you in your time at UEFA?

“My biggest challenge has been harnessing the concept of live internet and taking a strong step into the convergent world. The challenge has been quite stressful at times and there’s enormous pressure to deliver, however, I have had excellent people to learn from. Our next big challenge is EURO 2008, which will be the pinnacle of everything we do, and we are already looking beyond that to EURO 2012 as well.”

Finally, what do you think will be the next big thing in sports technology?

“It’s very hard to say. Everything is evolving so fast that we have had to adapt at warp speed. I can see LED screens being hooked up to wider networks, making choices easier at home.”

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