Sports Conference Chengdu, October 2017
Sports as Content, on Diversified Platforms
The ABU Sports Group conference saw a renewed call on members to support the Union in terms of the acquisition of rights to premium sporting events. The conference echoed the uphill battle of ever increasing cost of right fee to production and delivery. The challenges and opportunities presented by new media and the mobile were also deliberated.
These were reflected in the Member’s Forum presentations by VTV Vietnam, MNB Mongolia, DD India, TVTM Turkmenistan, TRT Turkey among others. The conference also saw presentation from important players in the sports industry, Alisports, Siam Inter, Shankai Sports, CCTV among others.
The sports group at the Chengdu conference reiterated and called for urgent action by members on the following, the need participate & share information within members and the union. The importance of revitalising the National Pool through government support and to unify and say no to the mindless increase in right fee, when deemed necessary.
The conference also reminded the members to help grow the market and where possible, foster partnership with pay and commercial operators to acquire the rights.
The conference also called on the chief executives of members to act or we might have to let go some of the multi sporting events next year and beyond. The ABU is talking on members’ behalf for IOC and the OCA events 2018 and beyond.
The conference also highlighted activities the ABU Sports have taken up to address these challenges. These include ABU Sports Network platform to share content.
Due to the rising rights fee and the market situation the Sports Fund has been facing challenges related to its sustainability. The Chengdu conference resolved to form a working group to find alternate methods to fund the ABU Sports activities. The conference noted the support provided by Turkmenistan to enable members to attend and cover the AIMAG Games.
The 62nd Sports Group conference and associated meetings will take place May 7 – 9, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia.