[huhe888]

The Italian Serie A will introduce a "Chinese Prime Time" kickoff of Sundays at 1230 CET (1830 or 1930 Hong Kong/Beijing/Singapore/Kuala Lumpur time) for the next two seasons: 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.

http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/17...campaign=oct13

"The new Serie A playing schedule starting from 2010-11 includes an additional kick-off time for a match on Sunday at 12.30pm (CET). This has been established to better address the needs of international broadcasters in different time zones."

Infront is handling the tender process for the International media rights to the Serie A.

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Note the Sunday 1230 CET time slot is conveniently 2 hours earlier than EPL's 1330 London Time/1430 CET (2030 or 2130 Hong Kong/Beijing/Singapore/Kuala Lumpur) time slot.

In the U.S., FOX Sports International is currently the incumbent rightsholder to all Serie A matches in English and Spanish, with ESPN360.com holding rights to 2 matches each weekend via broadband Internet.

(I would NOT be surprised if FSI were to win the rights to Serie A for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, FSI would attempt to sublicense the Sunday 1230 CET [6:30am or 7:30am New York Time] Serie A match to ESPN, Inc., especially if ESPN UK were the rightsholder to Serie A in the UK. ESPN, Inc. is currently the incumbent rightsholder to the Serie A in the UK market.)

[blackhornet]

6:30 a.m. soccer - good lord! I need to move to China! LOL

[huhe888]

Originally Posted by blackhornet

6:30 a.m. soccer - good lord! I need to move to China! LOL

1230 CET translates to 3:30am (or 4:30am for 4 weeks each year) for those of us who live in the Pacific Time Zone of the U.S.

I can't see FSI wanting to keep that Sunday 6:30am ET Serie A match if FSI and ESPN, Inc. were to "partner" with each other to divide EPL and Serie A matches. FSI operates out of Los Angeles.

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Both Serie A and La Liga cannot resist the smell of the Chinese Yuan. They also will NOT allow EPL to corner the Chinese sports TV market during weekend evening prime time without putting up resistance.

[djpower]

Originally Posted by huhe888

In the U.S., FOX Sports International is currently the incumbent rightsholder to all Serie A matches in English and Spanish, with ESPN360.com holding rights to 2 matches each weekend via broadband Internet.

(I would NOT be surprised if FSI were to win the rights to Serie A for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, FSI would attempt to sublicense the Sunday 1230 CET [6:30am or 7:30am New York Time] Serie A match to ESPN, Inc., especially if ESPN UK were the rightsholder to Serie A in the UK. ESPN, Inc. is currently the incumbent rightsholder to the Serie A in the UK market.)

ESPN UK showing Serie A will not influence there decision one way or the other in ESPN gaining rights in the US, For start ESPN International already produce games for there international stations and have done so I would imagine for about 6-8 years now long before ESPN UK and before there was any deal done with ESPN360.

As for ESPN UK they started off covering Serie A this session with Jim Proudfoot as sole commentator for all matches for the first 6 rounds but last round they decided to give Jim a break and started to take the ESPN International feed out of the US. So if ESPN UK is taking a American feed its not going to change much apart from they might delegate there best commentators to matches being beamed into the UK and from ESPN International coverage of the last round of Serie A and La Liga matches there is strong evidence of this happening already

[Excape Goat]

Originally Posted by huhe888

The Italian Serie A will introduce a "Chinese Prime Time" kickoff of Sundays at 1230 CET (1830 or 1930 Hong Kong/Beijing/Singapore/Kuala Lumpur time) for the next two seasons: 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.

Well, I will have harder time to follow Serie A in Hong Kong. I am usually not home on a Sunday night or my family occupied the TV. I have been watching Serie A at 9:30 PM and that was fine with everyone.

[mattteo]

It's not because of the Chinese market but because of the Italian market.

It's Sky Italia who asked for this new 'slot' (they did the same with Serie B....which I doubt anyone follows outside of Italy).

Doesn't matter what Infront says.

The Chinese were already perfectly fine with the 15.00 CET 'historical' starting time.

Plus, I don't even know if Serie A is broadcast in Asia.

Anyway....terrible idea which hopefully will never materialize.

[mattteo]

Originally Posted by Excape Goat

Well, I will have harder time to follow Serie A in Hong Kong. I am usually not home on a Sunday night or my family occupied the TV. I have been watching Serie A at 9:30 PM and that was fine with everyone.

Wait, it's just one game, not all games.

[huhe888]

The tenders for the international video rights to the Serie A for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons are due on November 2.

One would expect FSI to bid for the U.S. video rights again, quite possibly in partnership with ESPN, Inc. so that FSC/FSE will NOT have to air the early Sunday 1230 CET match (at 6:30am/7:30am New York Time, or 3:30am/4:30am Los Angeles Time).

I don't see either GolTV, Inc. or Setanta Sports North America bidding seriously on the Serie A TV product. Setanta is basically "tapped out" at this point, while GolTV already has Bundesliga and La Liga in the same time slots as Serie A.

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In Canada, TeleLatino Networks is the incumbent and FOX Sports World Canada is the current sublicensee.

[danielmak]

Originally Posted by huhe888

The tenders for the international video rights to the Serie A for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons are due on November 2.

One would expect FSI to bid for the U.S. video rights again, quite possibly in partnership with ESPN, Inc. so that FSC/FSE will NOT have to air the early Sunday 1230 CET match (at 6:30am/7:30am New York Time, or 3:30am/4:30am Los Angeles Time).

I am curious about your insider viewpoint regarding networks' reliance on people watching games live. That is, in the age when most people with satellites/cable have a DVR, does it matter if people watch live on FSC/FSE compared to watching the game on delay via their DVR? One can assume that the networks and advertisers are aware that a DVR allows viewers to fast forward through commercials, but by now most football fans know that half-time is basically 12 minutes of commercials with 1-2 minutes of highlights. I am, therefore, guessing that most of us use those 12 minutes to do other things, which means we miss the ads either way. So, again, why would it matter to FSI if the game is watched live or recorded and watched later relative to keeping this 1230 CET game vs. sublicsensing the game beyond having to pay the brilliant Danny Lee to do a brief introduction of mispronounced names during the line-up, some poor half-time coverage, and 1-2 minutes of "closing up shop" after the game?

[DAGSports]

I think DVR viewership is only counted by Nielsen if it can be determined that the viewer watched within 24 hours (not sure of the exact rule). Mass use of DVRs naturally drives down ad rates. With sports, channels and advertisers gamble that people feel compelled to watch something truly live.