A two-day international conference sought to end the row over Egypt's TV football broadcasting rights. Inas Mazhar sees what was accomplished An international forum for marketing TV rights in football, hosted by the National Sports Council, included presentations of various European models. The models came from the Italian Serie A, the English Premier League (EPL), the South Africa PSL, Manchester United and club TV channels. Three closed workshops were also held among the participants. foreign experts, and representatives from the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) and the NSC. In attendance were the EFA board of directors, the 14 chairmen of sports clubs, media representatives, as well as sports marketing agencies. The NSC had taken two months to arrange for the forum following the launching by Ahli club of its own TV channel. Ahli then decided to break its agreement with the EFA and prevent other satellite channels, who had already bought the TV rights from the EFA, to broadcast Ahli league matches live. At the beginning of this year's football season, five satellite channels had bought the rights. One of them, ART, also runs the Ahli club channel. Things came to a head after the Ahli-Zamalek derby in November was postponed because of the broadcasting dispute. "Marketing TV rights is still new in Egypt, and that's why it has created many disputes among all the parties involved," said NSC President Hassan Sakr. "Therefore, we found that it was important to show all relevant parties the various experiences of those in the business abroad and give the Egyptians the opportunity to attend closed workshops so they can be exposed to everything in detail and ask questions. "However, we don't plan to copy any of these models; just benefit from all the experiences and come up with what best can suit the Egyptian market. "I would also like to assure you that the selling of TV rights and the fair distribution of the shares of the profits will help greatly to develop Egyptian football, including the EFA, clubs, stadiums, referees, coaches and management." Sakr said he hoped the Egyptian committee he formed, comprising Ayman Younis and Amr Wahbi from the EFA, Khaled Mortagi from Ahli, Hisham El-Khishen from the sports marketing agencies and the NSC Sports Council Mustafa Azzam, "will all reach the best solution for the sake of Egyptian football so we can start implementation as soon as possible." On day one, Ruggero Stincardini presented the Italian Serie A which began TV marketing rights in 1946. Stincardini revealed how the process works in his country and how the shares and profits are divided among clubs, their revenues from football and rights ownership. EFA board member Ayman Younis opened the floor for discussion after the presentation. Most of the questions came from those stuck in the dilemma including Ahli club chairman Hassan Hamdi whose big question was how far the government interferes in selling and marketing the TV rights and the ownership of these TV rights. Mustafa Gomaa of the ART channel asked about the role of the host broadcaster in delivering signals and marketing TV rights. Some observers rejected the idea of selling and marketing the TV rights of the Egyptian league to a foreign or Arab satellite channel. Former EFA president El-Dahshouri Harb said he was against the idea of selling TV rights of the Egyptian league in the first place since it was the right of all Egyptians to watch the league. "I'm not happy with what's going on. It doesn't suit us," Harb said. Walid Debes, owner of the satellite TV channel Modern Sport and one of the rights holders of the Egyptian league, rejected the idea of selling TV rights to an Arab channel, using the example of Saudi Arabia whose government states that only a national company or TV station are allowed to claim such rights. Younis said European models have policies different from us and as such, did not necessarily mean that Egyptians should copy them. "Let's not forget that we are still new in this field whereas we are dealing with countries that have been working in this field for more than half a century." Sir David Richards gave a presentation of the English Premier League, explaining that the shares from marketing the TV rights of the premier league are distributed among all their league clubs as follows: 50 per cent for the top teams, 25 per cent for the rest of the clubs and the remaining 25 per cent allocated at the end of the season for the development of football facilities. Maurice Watkins also spoke about TV and broadcast rights in South Africa, as well as the Man U TV channel which belongs to Manchester Club. He explained that clubs owners of private channels are allowed to broadcast within their city without having to get permission from the EPL. He said there are six different means of broadcasting: live transmission, recorded transmission, programmes, promotions, the Internet and mobile phones. Ben Nicholas representing IMG, an international marketing company, spoke about club TV channels and the criteria used for launching their own TV channels. "These clubs should be big clubs, big names and popular. The number of matches played by the club in the league is very important because it helps in marketing. The financial situation and power of the club in its respective league is also essential, as its relationship with the owner of the competition whether a federation or league if it is a professional league." Nicholas also pointed out the importance of creating a balance between big teams and small teams in any league. He cited Chelsea, "which wasn't as big as it is now, but because it has managed to market the club and its channel well, it has become one of the leading clubs in the UK." Nicholas also presented the experience of Manchester United, Liverpool and the Scottish League. The model speakers, experts and participants, split up into three workshops on the second day, dealt with maximising the revenue on football TV rights, rights ownership and distribution, who owns what (clubs and federations), and new media rights distribution and synchronisation with TV rights. The forum came up with some recommendations, agreeing that the best way forward was to create a fair atmosphere in selling and marketing TV rights and to sell them as a group, meaning the whole league together, in order to increase league profits from marketing the league competition. As such, all parties involved within the football family will acquire part of the shares and will benefit from the marketing. It was also agreed that a meeting should be held soon between the EFA, owner of the Egyptian League competition and the league teams, to reach the ideal system in which to sell TV rights, and that the shares be distributed fairly among the teams. The NSC allocated LE15,000 to each club as compensation until there is a fair distribution of broadcasting revenues to all league participants.
