Another "front" in the long-running "war" between Comcast and NewsCorp (FOX) over U.S. media rights to international soccer properties could be the U.S. video rights to Chivas Guadalajara home matches in Liga Mexicana starting August 2013. Telemundo (which is 51% owned by Comcast) reportedly paid USD$50 million/year for the rights during the 2008-2013 cycle. Those rights will expire in May 2013. Even though U.S. TV viewership for Liga Mexicana matches are down as much as 50% for some matches since 2007, Chivas Guadalajara home games remain a "premium" property because Chivas remains the #1 Mexican club soccer brand. Even though Chivas doesn't connect with 2nd or 3rd generation Mexican-Americans, Chivas still has enough support among 1st generation Mexican immigrant males. One should expect Chivas Guadalajara owner Jorge Vergara to ask for no less than $100 million/year for those U.S. video rights in 2013-2018. Vergara holds all the aces at the negotiation table as he stares down Telemundo (Comcast) officials in the coming months. Why? Because if Telemundo (Comcast) were to lowball, then Vergara can threaten to walk across the street to cut a new deal with... MundoFOX NewsCorp had at least a dozen options with the news name for the new Spanish-language entertainment channel it is launching with Colombian media company RCN, but NewsCorp chose MundoFOX. Anyone who doesn't believe that NewsCorp had a specific target in mind with MundoFOX is not doing his homework. A chimpanzee can probably figure out by now that NewsCorp is positioning MundoFOX as the "Telemundo-killer." == MundoFOX announced 2 months ago that KWHY-DT 22.1 in Los Angeles will be the flagship station of the network.
In 2007, FOX Sports Latin America reportedly bid USD$100 million for the video rights in Mexico for Chivas Guadalajara home games in 2008-2013, but the bid was matched by Televisa using its last rights-of-refusal. Telemundo reportedly bid USD$250 million for the video rights to Chivas Guadalajara home games in the U.S. in 2008-2013. Mexican futbol clubs now make 2-3 times the TV rights fee in the U.S. market compared to the Mexico market, due to the disparity in purchasing power of consumers. A pair of eyeballs in the U.S. is worth 10 times compared to the same pair of eyeballs in Mexico.
MundoFOX will be on a low-power station in Miami: WJAN-CD 41.1 MundoFOX will be on a full-power station in Fresno: KGMC-DT 43.1 Another 10 affiliates have been signed but not announced. Those include San Francisco and San Antonio. (I am guessing that either KICU-DT 36.1 San Jose or KTNC-DT 42.1 Concord will be the affiliate in San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland. KICU-DT would make sense as its transmitter location 10 miles from San Jose would serve the Spanish-speaking barrios in the Peninsula and the South Bay much better. KTNC-DT's transmitter location would allow one station to serve both San Francisco and Sacramento. KTNC-DT 42.1 currently carries Estrella TV, which has very low viewership due to its mix of low-brow Mexican programming.) No deal yet in New York.
if mundoFOX grabs Chivas rights, then Telemundo will be even more crippled in the soccer end, only friendlies/WC qualifiers just like the old days post-Atlante/Monterrey
You are forgetting about La Liga, especially el Clasico. All signs point to Telemundo as the new home of el Clasico starting next season via a partnership between Comcast and Qatar Media Corporation. Telemundo doesn't need Chivas if the price is not right, as Telemundo still has the Olympics in 2016 and the FIFA properties starting 2015. There are two soccer media deals in the U.S. with price tags of over $100 million/year on deck: EPL and Chivas Guadalajara home games. Will one company want to buy both of them? I have my doubts. At $100 million/year, will either deal make money? Probably not. Both Comcast and FOX will have to decide which business is more important to them.
MundoFox is going to have to have a base of affliates in the top 20 markets if they have a chance of getting off the ground. It would get harder for them with recent legislation encouraging stations to "voluntarily" sell their licensed signals to broadband interests. They may have a better shot becoming a cable/satellite channel, though there are already way too many channels. Wouldn't a better idea be getting Chivas for Fox Deportes?
Let's see if FOX were willing to splash the cash to keep Club Leon next season. FOX's deal with Leon has expired now that Leon has won promotion to the new Liga Mexicana del Futbol (which will no longer be operated by the FMF.) (Leon aired on FOX Sports + in Mexico during the 2011-2012 season, with the 2nd Leg of the promotion final also airing in the U.S. on FOX Deportes.) Azteca will offer about USD $12 million for worldwide TV rights to Club Leon. (Azteca will need to sublicense one additional team to Univision Deportes Network next season as replacement for the relegated Estudiantes Tecos.)
Univision Deportes, not sure how much. http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20120720005944/en http://rbr.com/univision-gets-all-rights-to-chivas-de-guadalajara/ http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.ph...oadcast-rights-for-chivas-de-guadalajara.html
Not a surprise to see Telemundo step aside after it lost money on the previous 5-year deal. The surprise: MundoFOX apparently didn't bid, leaving Univision as the uncontested bidder. Univision has the advantage of being able to use Chivas to build out distribution for Univision Deportes Network on Sunday evenings.
So, you were completely WRONG about this one, too. Even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while, Oliver.
Maybe this means that FOX chose to completely concentrate on retaining EPL rights---they weren't going to have enough money to bid on both Chivas and EPL.
