MARC lowers rating on Perwaja Steel's RM400m debt notes, outlook negative
Greece struggles on reform, lenders may face rising bill
F&N 1Q earnings fall on absence of Coca-Cola contribution, higher material costs
India court ruling to trigger telecoms industry shakeout
Ex-UBS trader refused bail as bank probe deepens
Maxbiz to submit application against Bursa’s proposed delisting plan
Categories
| BFM’s Barclays EPL matches not meant to compete with Astro, says CEO Malek |
| Written by Kathleen Tan | |||
| Tuesday, 18 August 2009 11:11 | |||
|
Cashing in on the popularity of English Premier League (EPL) football in Malaysia, local business radio station BFM 89.9 launched its live Barclays EPL Season 2009/2010 radio broadcast last Saturday. But BFM founder and CEO Malek Ali said the radio station was not looking to compete with direct-to-home satellite broadcaster Astro as a substitute for football programming. BFM, he said, seeks to play a complementary role for those who find it inconvenient to get access to television. “Not everyone is able to get to a TV on a Saturday night. One may be stuck in traffic or travelling en route to a wedding dinner,” he said.  Malek was confident the radio sports broadcast would be well received, as the commentators were a lot more expressive. “Radio is the theatre of the mind. The commentaries have to be of very high standard and very riveting,” said Malek in a phone interview on Aug 12. Sports media and marketing company Sportscast Sdn Bhd is the official licensee of the audio rights for radio and Internet from the EPL. Malek would not disclose how much BFM paid for the rights under its commercial agreement with Sportscast, nor how much was invested in total. Under the agreement which became official last month, both parties would be involved in the production of the shows and would share revenue garnered from the partnership, said Malek. “We wanted to cater to the lifestyles of business professionals who want to unwind over the weekend as our business programming is for the weekdays. Football is very much a part of our lives and 70% of our listeners are male,” he noted. Malek also said sports programming had a two-pronged strategy, which was to serve the entertainment needs of its core listeners of business professionals as well as to introduce new listeners to BFM. “There is life beyond business and BFM is more than that — it is an entertainment outlet as well.” Malek added that BFM was currently in final discussions with one main title sponsor and two co-sponsors for the EPL broadcasts, and had invested in airtime programming, radio presenters as well as earmarked advertising space. However, he declined to go into details. The programme line-up includes the Thank Friday It’s Footie Friday night preview show at 7.30pm, and Live and Kicking Soccer live football matches on Saturdays and Sundays from 7pm until midnight. The hour-long Monday Blues… and Reds highlights segment airs at 8pm on Monday. Malek said currently, commentaries would revolve around the Barclays EPL but could eventually grow to include the UEFA Champions League. “Right now we don’t have the rights to broadcast the Champions League but that doesn’t mean we can’t commentate on their games,” he said. Besides live radio commentaries from the UK for all weekend matches, the broadcasts would feature local sports commentaries anchored by radio deejay Ross Yusof. Guest commentators include football pundit Serbegeth “Shebby” Singh, Croatian Bojan Hodak — formerly the head coach of the MyTeam FC in the Malaysian Super League soccer division — as well as local author and columnist Kam Raslan. Astro TV chief operating officer of customer and content Henry Tan said that Astro’s viewership would not be affected by the live radio broadcasts, saying that “watching a live football match is the most exciting experience for a sports fan”. Astro currently holds television broadcast rights to the current Barclays EPL 2007/2009 season. This article appeared on the Media & Advertising page, The Edge Financial Daily, August 18, 2009.
|
|||
|
|