Telecom
Provider Digicel has been one busy
little shopper indeed!
Their
latest acquisitions? Two actually announced on Thursday September 18th
2014, SportsMax, the Caribbean’s Main Sports
Cable Channel and CEEN-TV, an American company based on initial reports as
noted in “Digicel
acquires SportsMax”, published Thursday, September 18, 2014 2:05 PM, The Jamaica Observer and “Digicel acquires
majority ownership of SportsMax”, Published Thursday September 18, 2014
2:25 pm, The Jamaica Gleaner.
And
yes, it’s official, as Telecom Provider Digicel
put out a Press Release on their Website as noted in “DIGICEL
ACQUIRES SPORTSMAX”, published September 18th 2014, The Digicel Group, which indicates as
everyone is suspecting, that they’ve gone Sports crazy.
At
least Chairman of IMC and SportsMax
Patrick Rousseau, is all thumbs up about it, quote: “Our commitment to
excellence and blazing a trail across the region mirrors Digicel’s own commitment to
delivering the very best for its customers. We are delighted to be joining with
them and working together to continue delivering the best Sports on television
and growing our audience and reach across the Caribbean and North America”.
Aside
from World Cup, Local and Caribbean Football Fever, what other reason is there
for Telecom Provider Digicel
purchasing SportsMax and CEEN-TV? Folks,
it’s all about Content!
Digicel purchases SportsMax
– Caribbean King of Sports to compete against RJR Communications Group
SportsMax is on 24-hours a day and is
watched in 23 countries across the Caribbean. This Sports Journalism at its
finest as they carry all types of Sports Events:
1. International
2. Regional
3. Local
This
pretty much is the equivalent of ESPN but tailored for the Caribbean carrying
every major International tournament from FIFA's World Cup to the IOC's
Olympics ant the IAAF's Grand Prix Track and Field Events since 2006:
1. Barclays
Premier League
2. Boys
and Girls' Athletics Championship
3. FIFA's
World Cup
4. IAAF
Grand Prix
5. IAAF's
Grand Prix Track and Field Events
6. Indian
Premier League
7. IOC's
Olympics
8. UEFA
Champions League
9. West
Indies cricket
10. WICBC
West Indies Cricket
Then
in 2013, they began their Latin American push with the launch of their 24 hour
Spanish Sports Cable Channel CDN SportsMax,
in the Dominican Republic. Same Content, except in Spanish and with American
Baseball, which is popular in that country!
RJR Communications
Group and SportsMax – TVJ Everywhere to feature Sports Content
Interestingly
noted Sports Journalist Simon Crosskill left Television Jamaica
to
work with SportsMax back in May 2012,
the same year that this deal was signed as reported in the article “Crosskill's
departure from TVJ marks end of an era”, published Wednesday,
May 23, 2012AD by Clare Forrester, The Jamaica Observer.
So
for Mr. Simon Crosskill, who also works with CVM TV as the host of Live at 7,
he’s basically working with all three (3) Media entities in one way or the
other:
1.
CVM TV
3.
SportsMax
This
Contract makes them the exclusive broadcaster of some of these Majors Sports
Events as I'd pointed out in my blog article entitled
“RJR
Communications Group buys Sports Events rights for JS$1 billion from SportsMax
- TVJ becomes The Expendables 2 to Rescue Sports Journalism from Death”.
Some
of those exclusive Sports Events include:
World
Cup Tournaments
1. 2018
FIFA World Cup Finals in Russia
2. 2022
FIFA World Cup Finals in Qatar
3. Six
(6) Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups
4. FIFA
Women's World Cup
Reggae
Boy and Caribbean Football Competitions
1. Two
(2) Confederation Cup tournaments
2. 2012
and 2014 CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers for all Caribbean teams
3. Reggae
Boyz home friendly Internationals inclusive of those played overseas
Athletics
competitions both Local and International
1. 2013
IAAF World Youth Championships
2. 2013
IAAF World Championships
3. 2012
and 2014AD IAAF Diamond League series
4. 2013
ISSA Boys and Girls' Athletics Championship
2012AD
and 2014AD ISSA (Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association) Schoolboy Football
competitions:
1.
Manning Cup
2.
DaCosta Cup
3.
Walker Cup
4.
Ben Francis Cup
5.
Olivier Shield
A
coup for Sports Journalism in Jamaica and more specifically at the RJR Communications Group, who wrested these
Sports Events from CVM TV after their near
disastrous broadcast of the 2012 Olympics. During that major Sports Event, it
became glaringly apparent that they couldn't provide sufficient coverage to the
entire island as stated in “CVM
regrets Olympics broadcast issue”, published Thursday, August 02, 2012, The Jamaica Observer.
Already,
Jamaica has enjoyed near excellent coverage of the IAAF Diamond League and we’re
now being treated to Broadcasts of the ISSA Schoolboy Football Competitions on
all of their channels:
2.
Hitz 92 FM
3. TVJ
Sports Network
RJR Communications Group is gearing up to
launch TVJ Everywhere, their IPTV Streaming Platform that centralizes all their
Radio and Television stations onto one App be it for smartphone, Tablet or Roku
Set top Box by October 2014 as explained in my blog article entitled
“RJR
Communications Group Launching TVJ Everywhere - How Streaming TVJ Everywhere
will boost Advertising Revenue as Digicel and LIME TV coming”.
The
first Content they’ll provide will most likely be Sports Event, reruns of Local
Content and any Content they’ve being licensed to broadcast in Jamaica. This is
the exact same thing Telecom Provider Digicel
is doing, just on a bigger, Caribbean-wide scale!
Digicel IPTV Streaming
Ambitions – Sports Content first on 4G LTE powered IPTV Streaming
So
yes, plain and simple, if you're like Telecom Provider Digicel and you’ve been gobbling up
all those Cable TV Providers in the Caribbean including most recently Telstar
Cable as I'd pointed out in my blog article entitled
“Digicel
officially acquires Telstar Cable – Why Digicel is launching IPTV Streaming
over 4G LTE using 20 Years of Cable TV History”, you'll need some Local Content
Provider for Sports.
After
all, Sports Events in the Caribbean alone apparently can create enough local Content
in the Caribbean to Broadcast 24/7. Thus if you're planning to stream, you'd
also need not only the Cable Licenses and the Caribbean-Wide Submarine Fiber
Optic Cables but also the Content from a popular Content Provider as pointed
out in the article “Digicel
buys SportsMax”, Published Friday September 19, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner and “Digicel
turns major Content provider following cable TV acquisitions”, published
Friday, September 19, 2014, The Jamaica
Observer.
SportsMax will certainly become Telecom
Provider Digicel Sports hub for
their IPTV Streaming Service which they'll provider via their up and coming 4G
LTE Network as well as FTTH (Fiber to the Home) Network. And most likely, the
first set of programming on Telecom Provider Digicel Streaming IPTV Service will
most likely be Sports.
Howzat
for Sport Journalism, Caribbean People! No
Games, just Sports from the Bigger, Better Network!
No comments:
Post a Comment