Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China, 12 September 2005
The television coverage of next year’s Asian Games in Doha will be the most extensive in the event’s history, the Secretary-General of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, David Astley, has predicted.
Mr Astley was speaking from Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China, where a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the ABU and the sports marketing company, Dentsu Inc, representing the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
The MOU, which contains the heads of agreement for the broadcast rights for the 15th Asian Games for 35 territories in the ABU region, was signed by Mr Astley and Mr Kiyoshi Nakamura, Deputy Director and General Manager of Broadcasting & Image Rights for Dentsu, in front of over 200 delegates from 45 countries at the conclusion of the opening ceremony of the OCA’s 24th General Assembly.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by the President of the OCA, His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, the Director General of the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee, Mr Abdulla K. Al Qahtani, and ‘Orry’, the mascot for Doha 2006.
“We will be taking the games into more than 30 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, a tremendous increase over what we were able to achieve for the last Asian Games in Busan,” Mr Astley said.
He congratulated the OCA and Dentsu on their vision for Doha, and how the three parties had worked together to achieve a unique result.
“The coverage we will provide in December next year will demonstrate to other sports property owners and marketers the effectiveness of working collaboratively.
“I must congratulate the OCA and Dentsu for embracing our idea of getting a television deal in place early so that we could set about the most important task of creating sponsorship and advertising value.
“By committing early we have been able to dramatically increase the number of territories and the potential TV audience.
“That is a tremendous result and should excite brand managers around the region,” Mr Astley said.
Mr Astley said it was now up to the individual broadcasters to get behind the event and pursue, vigorously, commercial opportunities where they accepted advertising revenues.
“We have a long lead time for our members who sell airtime to fully leverage a positive result out of the Doha Games. Those who don’t carry advertising or sponsorship can also produce and promote coverage that will deepen station loyalty,” he said
For further information, please contact Mr John Barton, Head of Sport, Tel: +60 3 2282 3592 or e-mail john.barton@abu.org.my
For photos and interview opportunities, please contact Vanessa Ching at vanessa@abu.org.my
About the ABU:
The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) is a non-profit, non-government, professional association of broadcasting organisations, formed in 1964 to facilitate the development of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region and to organise co-operative activities amongst its members. It currently has over 150 members in 55 countries, with its broadcaster members reaching a potential audience of about 3 billion people. Its activities in representing members internationally include the negotiating of rights for major sports events and organising coverage.