Rumor: Chinese Portals Pass on Olympics Live Broadcast Rights
Sichuan Morning News, 7/13/12
Industry sources reported recently that four major Chinese portals -- Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), Tencent (0700.HK), and Netease (Nasdaq: NTES) - purchased on-demand broadcast rights, rather than live broadcast rights, for coverage of the upcoming London Olympics.
China Central Television's (CCTV) national online TV station CNTV offered portal sites three plans - A, B, and C - for Olympic resource licensing. Plan A, priced at RMB 55 mln, includes live and on-demand event broadcast rights, as well as rights to CCTV programming. Plan B, priced at RMB 35 mln, offered live and on-demand event broadcast rights, while Plan C, offering on-demand broadcast rights, is priced at RMB 28 mln. According to industry sources, the portals opted for Plan C.
Sohu chief editor Liu Chun said that live broadcast rights had a "low price-to-performance ratio," as the majority of the London Olympics will take place while it is night in China, and viewers will tend to opt for live television coverage, placing online coverage at a disadvantage. Because of this, Liu said, Sohu has chosen to direct its resources toward producing its own content.
Tencent, meanwhile, will direct its focus towards the athletes themselves. Tencent has secured exclusive interview and official microblog rights for 90% of prospective gold medalists. Netease's Olympic strategy takes the mobile internet as its cornerstone. In addition to PC viewing, Netease will offer Olympic news clients for the iPhone and Android platforms.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see "Rumor: CNTV to Resell 2012 Olympics Broadcast Rights," MD 6/08/12 issue.
Keywords: Netease Internet portal Tencent CCTV Olympics Sina Sohu 0700.HK NTES CNTV Liu Chun broadcasting rights
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