| MUMBAI:
The organisers of next month's Soccerex conference in South Africa will address
the latest media issues affecting the football industry and how it can utilise
advances in this sector. The
panel 21st Century Football – Broadcasting Platforms, Media Rights and
Web 2.0 brings together experts from Fifa, Uefa, French Football League (LFP)
and Host Broadcast Services (HBS). This
session will feature Uefa marketing director Philippe Le Floc’h discussing
Uefa's media rights strategy for the Uefa Champions League and the Uefa Europa
League 2009/2012 and the revenue increase linked to the extended media platforms.
He will discuss the success of this project and the future revenue implications
this will have for clubs. The
segmentation of media rights is now prevalent throughout Europe’s domestic
leagues. This can be seen in the French Football League and Bundesliga, where
the media rights packages have been broken down into separate mediums and sold
off individually. A
recent example of this is the mobile and internet media rights deal struck between
HBS and LFP for the coverage of France’s Ligue 1. At Soccerex, HBS CEO Francis
Tellier and LFP international development manager Redha Chibani will divulge the
benefits such deals bring to the fans and how HBS will deliver 300+ games live
to mobile handsets and the web. HBS successfully rolled out a similar new media
broadcasting contract for the FIFA 2006 World Cup and will discuss the benefits
such a service can provide when applied to a full season of domestic football. Completing
this session will be a keynote address from Fifa’s newly appointed head of
new media Matt Stone. In his role for Fifa, he is charged with making sure football’s
world governing body continues to evolve with developments in the new media sector.
Stone will utilise this workshop at Soccerex as a chance to address the football
industry on Fifa’s new media strategy and how they are embracing Web 2.0
as a means to improve their interaction with their audience. The
media workshop is one of six workshops that will focus on the key revenue streams
available to football clubs (Media, Stadia, Law and Finance, Player Development,
Licensing and Sponsorship). Each session will feature 90 minutes of networking,
debate and a keynote address from the leading figures in each of these industry
sectors. | 
