Tom Evens

The political economy of television sports rights.

Introduction 1. The Sports-Media-Business Complex 2. The Sports Broadcasting Market 3. The Social and Cultural Value of Sport 4. The Importance of Free-to-Air Sports Broadcasting 5. Competition Law and Sports Broadcasting 6. The Regulation of Access to Major Sporting Events 7: Australia 8. Brazil 9. India 10. Italy 11. South Africa 12. Spain 13. United Kingdom 14. USA Notes References Index

Forecasting broadband Internet adoption on trains in Belgium

Thanks to the massive success of mobile access devices such as netbooks or Apples iPhone 3G, Internet on the move has become one of the prominent features of todays information society. With the emergence of wireless and mobile communication networks, the railroad industry is now catching up on this new technology in their battle with low-cost operators to bring more productivity and entertainment possibilities to its passengers. With millions of daily commuters as potential service users, this transport branch offers high business opportunities. However, while most field trials and research effort have mainly focused on the enabling technology, little research effort has been conducted to forecast the demand-side. This article tries to fill this gap by presenting original results gathered from a large-scale survey amongst 1324 regular train travellers. By means of the Product Specific Adoption Potential method, we predict the potential market penetration of wireless Internet services onboard trains and estimate the size and nature of five adopter segments in terms of socio-demographics, drivers and thresholds, willingness to pay, applications and quality of service. We will discuss the practical implications of these insights in order to develop viable business models, set up introduction strategies and build out user-driven infrastructure networks.

Broadcast market structures and retransmission payments: A European perspective

As a considerable area of conflict in the US broadcast market, the issue of retransmission payments has gained momentum in Europe as well. By conducting case studies of two European regions, Flanders and Denmark, this article focuses on the political economy of retransmission payments in the broadcaster-to-distributor market. It is suggested that the competitive position of an actor in a bargaining game crucially depends on contextual factors, including market concentration, vertical integration and product differentiation.

E–deliberation 2.0 for smart cities: a critical assessment of two 'idea generation' cases

This paper elaborates on the importance of a user-driven approach in the design and development of innovative services and applications for smart cities. By reporting on two case studies situated in the city of Ghent (Belgium), that are part of larger projects, we illustrate how we have applied different user-centred innovation development methods and strategies in order to generate and evaluate innovative concepts and ideas for smart city applications. This paper discusses and compares the work conducted in these case studies by documenting for each case study (a) the policy context and strategy, (b) the problems addressed and the solutions achieved, and (c) the (e-)deliberation (2.0) approaches used. Furthermore, we assess the effectiveness and impact of both approaches and report on the results and the lessons learned.

Access to premium content on mobile television platforms: The case of mobile sports

As broadcasting sports content has proved to be a popular strategy for driving the growth of the digital premium content marketplace in the past, mobile service operators aim to enter the sports rights market. However, as the markets for live sports broadcasting are still dominated by established broadcasters, mobile network operators are facing significant barriers to access premium content creating bottlenecks in the construction of business models. Therefore, content regulation is seen as essential for the development of mobile television platforms. This article aims to stress the strategic importance of content in the development of sustainable business models for mobile broadcasting services and will discuss the implications of bundling strategies and regulations for the viability of these emerging platforms.

Value networks and changing business models for the digital television industry

Abstract Industry architecture and business models in the broadcastingindustry are being increasingly transformed by digitization and conver-gence. While technology and policy have lowered entry barriers for new competitors in today’s media ecosystem, incumbents are deploying strategies for preserving market power and reinventing bottlenecks. Thisarticle analyzes the impact of digitization on industry architectures and emphasizes one of most obvious strategies deployed in the digital broadcasting industry, i.e. the development of conditional access systemsfor digital television content. It is argued that this strategy contrasts therise of open access platforms in other creative content industries such as in music.

Watching the Football Game: Broadcasting Rights for the European Digital Television Market

In Europe, heavy competition between broadcasters for sports broadcasting rights and consumer’s attention has raised policy questions concerning both competition and content issues. Exclusivity of sports broadcasting rights may foreclose new media markets and deprive the public access to major sports coverage. This interdisciplinary article is at the crossroad of media, economic, and regulatory studies, and it aims at providing a more holistic analysis of topical issues in the sports broadcasting rights industry, with particular focus on both upstream and downstream markets. It is argued that a concise regulatory framework is required to grant fair access to mediated sports in society.

Challenges of digital preservation for cultural heritage institutions

This article elaborates four major issues hampering the sustainability of digital preservation within cultural heritage institutions: digitization, metadata indexes, intellectual property rights management and business models. Using a case-study approach, the digitization of audiovisual collections within the performing arts institutions in Flanders (Belgium) will be scrutinized, providing an overview of the state-of-the-art preservation and access. The analysis shows that digital preservation policies in most organizations are underdeveloped and that archives suffer from deterioration and technological obsolescence.

Balancing Public and Private Value for the Digital Television Era

Abstract As the digital switchover is the result of the dynamic interplay between economic, social and political interests, this article reflects on the role of all stakeholders involved in the switch to digital television services. It aims to discuss the trade-off between public and private policy interests focussing on strategies for preparing the transition process and the digital take-off as well as on future opportunities that become available in the spectrum (digital dividend). Based on a comparative study amongst three European countries, it is demonstrated that government has played an important role in the development of the digital television landscape in the past, and it is argued why policy makers should continue to do this in the future. Instead of a solely market-driven approach, a strong plea is made for a better understanding of stakeholders’ expectations in deploying public policies and business strategies concerning the digitised media landscape.

Attracting the un-served audience: the sustainability of long tail-based business models for cultural television content

Digital television services not only provide promise for interactive services, but also for long tail-based business models in terms of tailor-made content. As the share of culture in total linear television programming is diminishing owing to the supremacy of audience rating concerns, digital television services could act as an alternative gateway to deliver culture to a wider audience. This article presents the results of a market pilot study using the established video-on-demand (VOD) platform of Flanders’ main digital television operator for the wide-scale delivery of performing arts videos. Despite the promising pilot study results, we doubt whether the long tail principle is applicable to the delivery of avant-garde material to develop a viable digital television service.