球会们对于中国观众无法收看英超表示强烈的不满
By Nick Harris

随着英超继续的扩展它们的全球策略，他们在中国的电视转播权销售问题上的处理，遭到了持续的批评，而其中一些批评更是来自自身联赛的顶尖球会。英超方面通过一年前的一场拍卖会，以价高者得的方式将中国地区2007-2010年的电视转播权卖给了一间很小很猥琐的收费电视供应商--天盛。但订阅者的寥寥无几，意味着许多比赛根本无人问津，尤其是在这样一个13亿人的大国。

这一纸合约使得英超的观众数目低到统计工作者全都丢了饭碗，这也使寻找提高英超海外收益的新方法成为紧急的议题。一家中国主流媒体的副总裁昨晚警告说，这一纸合同的签订是冒着摧毁整个市场的危险的。这件事情同样惊动一些英格兰最大的球会，其中包括四大豪门（曼联利物浦阿森纳切尔西）中的至少两家，他们已经各自私下向联赛方面发表了对于在这样一个全球拓展的时刻，中国球迷却变得无法看到高水平的英超比赛的关注。

英超联方面坚持它们将在2011年1月开始，每年在5个海外城市举办各两场比赛的“国际轮次”比赛计划是完全有创见性的设想。但这次的事件则表明，英超联方面还不能满足于它们的国际地位，这也同时曝露了关于英超联声称它们的比赛在地球上的每个角落都有转播的荒谬。

天盛曾经把目标设定为有120万的客户，但到目前为止，中国的客户总数还不到2万。价格太高和技术问题是主要原因。现在每一场比赛的电视观众人数，全中国加起来还不到1万，这大概是英超最小的球场弗拉顿公园球场座位容量的一半。

对于统计来说，这样的数字等于零，没有任何意义，这使得有数亿中国人为英超着迷的神话破灭了。而连锁反应则是引起了那些想要通过英国足球在那个国家取得利益的赞助商和商业伙伴的不满。

“如果还是原来的转播合同，那么比赛是由免费的地方台转播，你可以预期阿森纳对曼联这样的大战，全中国至少有1000万的电视观众,而有时还是这个数字的几倍,”体坛集团的副总裁颜强告诉The Independent。体坛是中国销量最大的体育类报纸，每周的发行量大约有500万份，而颜强和中国其他媒体还有英超的球会都有密切的合作关系。

颜强还说:“现在的数字是恐怖外加惨不忍睹。寥寥数千而已。我曾经以个人名义和英格兰四大豪门的CEO谈过，我知道他们对中国的现状感到非常紧张。 如果天盛的合同一直维持到到期。那么英超联会深陷毁掉整个市场的危险之中。”

英超联通过超过80张的合约向全球超过200个国家实况转播比赛。虽然有许多落入了收费电视的手上，但不是全部。而他们在2007到2010的海外转播权收入到达6亿2500万镑。

“我们的球会支持我们全部的海外合作计划。”一位英超联的发言人说。那中国的那张合约呢? “一直以来，不同的球会都会有不同的关注点。人们有时是太过敏感了。”

发言人说现在断定天盛是完全的失败还为时过早。“如果市场发展了，问题的严重性就会降低。要知道，这张3年的合同才刚刚过去6个月而已。”

中国国内的消息说天盛为这三年的转播权一共付出了至少5000万美金，或者大约是800万镑一年。颜强说这样低的客户数并不让人惊讶，因为在中国，体育团体付费请电视台报道的现象仍然很正常，但反过来并不如此。这样，在选择的最高投标的天盛以后，英超联抹杀了它们的后续收入。

英超联的发言人说在不同的地区有不同的标准去卖这个转播权: 有时是观众人数，有时是价格，有时则是发展潜力。“也许付费电视的市场在中国并不达到我们想像中那样的发展程度，在这样的案例里，我们下次可以更加灵活的处理。下一次，我们一定可以努力获得收看人数最多的方案。无疑，如果天盛无法利用手中的转播权获得最大的利益，他们在下次就不会参加投标了。”
余文乐 发表在HoopChina·英超 http://soccer.hoopchina.com

亏死你麻痹的天神，操

统计数字准确吗？

也不能纯怪天盛吧 谁让丫英超联开价那么高呢

英超有现在的影响力跟地方体育台多年推广有很大关系 英超联还是学学大卫斯特恩吧

天盛你纱布了吧

要怪还是怪英超委员会自己吧，日本的转播权也黄了，小日本也三年没得看。

天盛活该！

我们下次可以更加灵活的处理。下一次，我们一定可以努力获得收看人数最多的方案。

下一次是什么时候

估计英超联盟被深圳上海北京的人均GDP骗了:D

现在英超收费都没戏，中国收费电视真的是死路一条了

[ 本帖最后由 藕是张力 于 2008-2-14 22:04 编辑 ]

800万镑每年，中国地区的比赛时间广告收入一年又不知道是多少？？和电视台谈广告分账可能更现实点

有什么好说的!现在只能怪天盛这公司太SB就是了,三年快点过去吧!

Clubs furious as League fails to turn on Chinese fans
By Nick Harris
Wednesday, 13 February 2008

As the Premier League continues to make plans to raise its global profile, the way it has handled its TV deal in China has come under sustained criticism, some of it from its own leading clubs. The League sold its rights in China for 2007-2010 in a "highest bidder wins" auction a year ago to a small pay-TV company, WinTV. But a spectacular failure to sign up subscribers means many games struggle to attract any viewers, in a country of 1.3bn people.

The deal has left Premier League viewing figures so low they cannot be registered, increasing the urgency for new measures to raise the League's profile overseas, and a vice president of one of China's major media companies warned last night that the deal risked "ruining its market" in China. It has also come to the attention of some of England's biggest clubs – including, it is understood, at least two from the "big four" of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool – who have voiced private concerns to the League about top-flight English football becoming invisible in China at precisely the time it should be booming.

The League insists its plan for an "international round" of games in five foreign cities each season from January 2011 is wholly unrelated. But the warning shows that the League cannot be complacent about its international stature, and again exposes the fallacy that is the idea of a planet hanging on the Premier League's every kick.

WinTV set a target of 1.2m subscribers but actually has closer to 20,000. High pricing and technical problems are to blame. Viewing figures are as low as 10,000 people per game across the whole of China, or about half the capacity of the Premier League's smallest stadium, Fratton Park.

In ratings terms, the figures are effectively nil, exploding the myth that hundreds of millions of Chinese are glued to the Premier League. A knock-on effect for clubs hoping to "break" China is discontent among sponsors and commercial partners wanting to make inroads in that country via English football.

"Under the previous deal, when games were on free-to-air television, you would expect at least 10m viewers in China for big games like Arsenal versus Manchester United, sometimes several times that," John Yan, vice-president of the Titan Sports Group, told The Independent. Titan produces China's best-selling sports newspaper with a circulation of 5m copies per week, and Yan has worked closely with other media companies in China and with clubs in England.

Yan added: "The figures now are horrible. Terrible. Just thousands. I have personally spoken to chief executives at "big four" clubs in England and I know they are nervous about the situation in China. If WinTV keeps the Chinese contract over its whole term, the EPL is in real danger of ruining its market."

The League did more than 80 separate deals – many but not all with pay-TV firms – to show live matches in more than 200 countries, earning £625m from overseas rights between 2007-10.

"Overall, our clubs back the overseas deals," a Premier League spokesman said. And the Chinese deal? "Different clubs raise different concerns all the time. People are sensitive to growth issues and exposure issues."

The spokesman said it is too early to say WinTV is a failure. "If the market grows, concerns will be alleviated. We're only six months into a three-year contract."

Local reports in China say WinTV paid the modest sum of $50m for three years, or about £8m a season for the Chinese rights. The low figure is no shock, says Yan, because it is still normal in China for sports bodies to pay TV stations to carry content, not vice versa. Yet by opting for WinTV's top bid, the league has decimated its following.

The League's spokesman said different criteria were used to sell rights in different regions: sometimes viewing figures, sometimes cash, sometimes growth potential. "Maybe the pay-TV market in China is not as developed as we thought, in which case next time we have the flexibility to change. It could be that next time in China we will go for a mass viewing model. Clearly if [WinTV] are not making the rights work for them, they might not even be bidding next time."

过年期间申请免费天盛看，竟然还要回条短消息，怒了，本地电视台春节期间所有收费频道全免

一年58元可能观众人数会上去

就是因为天盛，老子只能在网络上看非常不清晰的比赛～ 玛丽隔壁！

杀鸡取卵到最后鸡也死了，蛋也没了