This point was made by EurodataTV Worldwide manager Alexandre Callay, during the sports content forum that was organised at the Asia Television Forum in Singapore.

Delegates were focussed on both the opportunities and challenges in covering the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games.

Total Sports Asia senior VP media Julian Jackson says, “The cake is getting bigger, but the slices are getting thinner." He was referring to the robustness of the media content business, and the increasing number of media content providers and platforms.

Jackson added that having the ability to 'own' the media consumer, by being a quadruple-play service provider—offering broadband Internet access, TV, telephone, and wireless—would be most advantageous for a content provider. Jackson also predicted that new media, such as IPTV and mobile TV, would make large strides in gaining audiences by 2010.

Mindshare Singapore regional director Bharadwaj Ramesh noted that the Beijing Olympics in 2008 would shift ad spending to the month of the event—August—and into sport channels. It would also bring benefits to print and new media. "70 per cent of people that own a television watch the opening and the closing ceremony while four out of 10 people will be watching the games off and on throughout the event,” he said.

All the panelists also agreed that an individual's success in a sport, for example Chinese basketballer Yao Ming's emergence in the NBA, could add much value to that particular sport media content in the sportsperson's home and regional market.

The same holds true to the hosting of an event in a particular market, such as the Beijing Olympics for China, and Formula One racing for Singapore next year.

ESPN Star Sports VP programming Nick Wilkinson, Vice President said: "We find that localisation of content is the best way for us to make money. As a broadcaster, you have to serve the viewer. So it's a mix of altruism and commercial necessity to provide localised content."