MUMBAI: talkSport, the world?s biggest sports radio station and global audio partner of the Premier League, and Adrep China Advertising Services (ADREP), an advertising sales, marketing and business support services company with offices in Beijing and Shanghai, have entered into a long-term collaboration to develop national sports radio marketing services in China.

talkSport and ADREP will collaborate on a range of ventures within China, initially focused on providing live radio coverage of Barclays Premier League, FA Cup and Capital One Cup football.

From the beginning of the 2013/14 football season in August, radio listeners in China will be able to hear live Mandarin commentary of matches between clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool via a network of radio stations in key Chinese provinces. ADREP and talkSport will also collaborate to distribute the commentaries via mobile apps, Chinese social media platforms and digital platforms.

talkSport and ADREP also intend to provide coverage of selected matches before the current football season ends in May as the coveted Premier League and FA Cup trophies are awarded.

talkSport is the world?s biggest sports radio station with 3 million listeners per week. talkSport became the Premier League?s Global Audio Partner in 2012 and also recently renewed its rights agreement for live Premier League coverage in the UK. The station also has rights to broadcast the FA Cup and the Capital One Cup, both in the UK and globally. talkSport is part of UTV Media plc, a leading UK and Ireland multimedia company with interests spanning TV, radio and new media.

talkSport already streams live Mandarin commentary outside China via talksport.com, mobile apps, TuneIn and Twitter as part of its talkSport Live service. talkSport?s Mandarin commentary team made history at the Capital One Cup final in February 2013, with the first ever live commentary in Mandarin from London?s Wembley Stadium.

ADREP was incorporated in February 2008 and successfully established an advertising representation business in China. ADREP is building a national radio advertising sales network under its proprietary brand "MY FM" in major cities throughout China. MY FM has achieved coverage in seven major markets, namely Nanjing, Nanchang, Hefei, Urumqi, Xian, Changchun and Tianjin.

UTV Media Chief Executive John McCann said "The sheer scale of the Chinese market and popularity of Premier League football make China a key focus for talkSport?s global expansion. Through this collaboration with ADREP, talkSport can play a major role in the future development of Chinese sports radio services, providing advertisers with new platforms to connect with Chinese sports fans."

talkSport Chief Executive Scott Taunton said "We look forward to working with ADREP to bring talkSport?s distinctive and passionate brand of live sports coverage to China. Radio is one of the best ways to follow your favourite team and our expert team of football commentators and analysts are sure to bring the drama of the Premier League to life for our Chinese listeners."

ADREP Executive Director Ken Wang said, "Our partnership with talkSport enables us to bring unique and specific content to local Chinese radio stations and communities. Through the network of terrestrial based radio stations and via digital platforms, Chinese audiences will now be able to experience the excitement of the Premier League football like never before. In addition, this collaboration brings with it a ground-breaking opportunity for advertisers to be involved with the broadcasts."

MUMBAI: MultiScreenMedia (MSM), which got the exclusive rights for four years with the National basketball Association (NBA) last year, intends to take the relationship to the next level by building the NBA brand and getting fans closer to the game Earlier this year, the rights had been shared with Zee.

MSM CEO Man Jit Singh says, ?the aim for the year is to grow the reach, viewership and time spent on the NBA and build it as a platform. When we did the deal last year we realised that for focused marketing and cross promotional activities it is better to have one platform. We are looking at on-air content as well as on the ground grassroots initiatives. On-air we will go beyond just showing live games.

"We are looking at showcasing the NBA lifestyle through special content like player profiles. The NBA fits in very well with our strategy of showcasing sports and entertainment. The TG is 14-35 in the Metros and tier one and two cities. Other properties are coming up in this space and we will evaluate these opportunities?

While specifying no plans, he did not rule out having an NBA feed in Hindi. On the ground MSM will do grassroots initiatives with the NBA. ?This will allow us to offer cross promotional opportunities to sponsors. Later this year we and the NBA will do a three-on-three competition across the country. The activity will spread across India and will run for around three months. Winners will get a chance to play against members of an NBA team. This event will be packaged and shown on Six. The appeal of basketball is that it is fast paced. Also, doing grassroots events is not difficult as the infrastructure requirements are not huge unlike other sports like soccer.?

Today NBA and MSM announced a tie-up with the NGO Magic Bus to launch an NBA Cares programme in the country. Weekly basketball programmes will be used to promote education, health and fitness for boys and girls ages 7 to 14. The initiative kicks off in June.

?The NBA is a brand that I admire as they also give back to the community. At MultiScreenMedia we are committed to Magic Bus as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility programme. This will bring the sport to underprivileged children. It will help children compete in a new sport, become active and improve their health? added Singh.
 
NBA Commissioner David Stern is visiting the country for the first time. He noted that while China is the largest market for the NBA outside the US, the expectation is that India will catch up in a shorter period of time. ?India has a large youth population. They will want to consume other sports besides cricket. Globally year on year we have been seeing double digit revenue growth?.

Referring to the tie-up with Magic Bus, he noted that social responsibility was a part of the league?s mission. ?We are proud to work with our partners at Magic Bus and MultiScreenMedia to promote the values inherent in our game ? dedication, discipline, teamwork and sportsmanship and the importance of fitness and good health among Indian youth. The NBA has conducted over 450 grassroots events in India in 10 cities over the last five years?

Magic Bus and the NBA will identify a community in Mumbai and launch a pilot programme for underprivileged youth that will include a jointly developed basketball curriculum. There will be weekly sessions that will feature and basketball activities and will teach life skills in the areas of education, gender equality, health and fitness. The programme is a part of Magic Bus? ?Sport for development? approach.

Basketball will also be integrated into existing Magic Bus programmes in 12 Indian communities and NBA coaches will conduct basketball and fitness clinics for youth enrolled in each community. NBA legends and players who travel to India in the coming year will also participate in clinics for Magic Bus youth.

Magic Bus CEO founder Mathew Spacie said, ?We are thrilled to partner with the NBA to pilot a programme where we will use basketball as a base for our award winning ?sport for development? curriculum. The Magic Bus curriculum works to help provide youth with guidance to make dignified life choices from childhood to adulthood and integrating basketball as a sport for development can diversify our programme benefits to help more and more children learn and grow.?

MUMBAI: The Chinese government plans to merge its press and broadcasting regulatory bodies to create a unified sector regulator that will oversee the country?s burgeoning press, publication, radio, film and television sectors.

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) will be integrated into a single regulatory authority, according to a report delivered by State Councilor Ma Kai at the annual session of the national legislature.

The move is meant to coordinate the resources of each sector and promote the reform of cultural institutions, Ma said in his report on the plan for the institutional reform and functional transformation of the State Council, China?s cabinet.

The new administration will be responsible for promoting the development of these sectors and supervising related agencies and their businesses, said Ma, who is also secretary-general of the State Council.

It will also carry out the functions of the National Copyright Administration, a task that currently goes to the GAPP, Ma said.

The merger will be conducive to establishing a modern communication system, which is rapidly shaped by digital information technology, and boosting the country?s cultural influence, said a statement from the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform.