Sport Business March 24th 2006

The Broadband Opportunity.

Broadband consumption of sports content will increase by 25 per cent over the next three years, according to a survey of delegates at the New Media Sportscasting Summit.

·The one-day conference held in Dublin on Wednesday - which was hosted by Servecast, suppliers of streaming media solutions - saw leading experts from the sports industry discuss the delivery of sport over broadband and 3G.

Among the keynote speakers were representatives of LiverpoolFC.TV, Setanta Sports North America, leading online sports advertising agency, Aura Sports, Google Video, The Rugby Football League and Vodafone.

The delegation also heard that the best way to minimise subscriber churn from broadband sports subscription services is to incentivise customers towards annual rather than monthly subscription.

Simon Green, managing director of Setanta US, emphasised the 'Placeshifiting' phenonmenon: "This means having content anytime any place. In the US, this is reflected in the Slingbox which enables users to watch their TV programming from wherever they are by turning virtually any Internet-connected PC into a personal TV. In the US it is selling three times as fast as TIVO did."

According to Green, one potential problem for broadcasters is that national territorial rights deals could get eroded.

He did add, however, that broadband subscription services and mobile alerts complement traditional TV broadcasting in many ways to satisfy sports fans' hunger for frequent and comprehensive news and features.

About Servecast
Founded in 1998, Servecast is the leading specialist supplier of New Media Sportscasting delivering advanced streaming media solutions for the Sports Industry. Servecast's Media Studio™ Platform enables Sporting Organisations and Rights Holders to exploit their media assets to new broadband and mobile connected audiences.

Through the delivery of high quality audio visual sports content over broadband and mobile applications, Servecast's Media Studio platform greatly enhances the global fan sporting experience and enables the delivery of significant new revenue streams to the rights holder. Through our focus on sports, Servecast has developed a deep partnership network with major broadcasters, clubs and sporting bodies, the online betting industry, technology providers and content syndication partners. We leverage these partnerships to ensure optimal business success for our customers.