Making it past the try line, Company Director Magazine
Domini Stuart examines the challenges directors of sports boards have to tackle to build and support winning teams.
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ASX-SGX tie-up is logical and attractive , The Australian
THE critical mass of Singapore's financial sector is a crucial lure for Australia's industry, according to a leading Singaporean banker.
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Travel secrets of Aussie frequent fliers, smh.com.au
Everyone has their strategies for business travel, and many build theirs on the tips and advice of the wise and experienced.
Business Insider Australia spoke to eight Australian road warriors who regularly spend time in the air on the long jump to Asia and beyond for business.
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Australian Road Warriors Reveal Their Asia Business Travel Secrets, Business Insider
Everyone has their strategies for business travel and many build theirs on the tips and advice of the wise and experienced.
Business Insider Australia spoke to seven Australian road warriors who regularly spend time in the air on the long jump to Asia and beyond for business.
Click here to read full article
Aussie Soccer on BSkyB
Aussie Soccer on BSkyB Television Programming Limited (TPL) Sports is to announce at the Sydney Olympics that it has bought the international TV rights to the Australian National Soccer League (ANSL).
The company has all international rights to the tournament and has secured a 30 week series contract with BSkyB. (TPL Managing Director James Bunn said this week that) the company is currently talking to a number of Australian nationals playing in the Premier League about presenting the show. The ANSL features 16 teams, and is sponsored by household goods company LG.
TPL Sports is a leading distributor of Sports content in Australia (and was founded by former Fox Sports Australia head James Bunn in 1994). The company, which has just opened a London office, distributes mainly motor and water sports, and is producing coverage of Olympic Sailing qualifying.
The last football content the company produced was a six minute daily news report from the FIFA World Cup. TPL sold the programme to over 20 countries. TPL is also involved in setting up a beach volleyball league to rival the Beach Volleyball Federation (FIVB) league.
Sharing the same wind: SportVision Summer 2000
Sharing the same wind: SporTVision Summer 2000 There’s plenty of cross-over between Olympic and non-Olympic boats and sailors
Peaceful co-existence is how James Bunn describes it. He is talking about two sailing disciplines that have different status in the world of sailing, and the television market. One, the 18-footer class, is not an Olympic category. The other, the 49’er class (for 4.9 metres) will make its debut as a medal event in Sydney, where Bunn’s company TPL Sports has its main operations (he recently set up in London too)
Sailors jump back and forth between the two classes and so does TPL. The 18-Footers are three man boats and they are expensive, costing upwards of $50,000.00. In the mid '90’s, the 49’er was introduced as a more affordable option, costing about 80% less with a two man crew. "We run 18-footer competitions for television. The events are set up to run for the cameras," Bunn says. "the 49’er calendar has more of a life of its own, with pre-Olympic events for example."
TPL produces and sells a weekly half-hour called Extreme Sail Racing, which features 18-footers prominently. That show is aired on BSkyB in Britain, Speedvision in North America, and Fox Sports Latin America among others. During the run-up to the Sydney games, TPL is also producing coverage of qualifying, including the 49’er Class. TPL even sponsors a 49’er team.
The key to being able to operate across the whole sport appears to be keeping separate the things that need to be kept that way. "We were happily doing 18-footers about ten years ago. We owned the boats, paid the participants and flew the teams all over. When the 49’er started to emerge, there was an attempt by another company to do the television in a similar way and it didn’t work," Bunn recalls. "That’s because they were answerable to the federation but they didn’t want to be and that led to trouble and a breakdown."
While the role of the established federations remains sacrosanct, the climate has changed somewhat in the television business with the explosion of new media options. "I think people are more willing to work with others that they would have considered rivals. Instead of wanting to control everything, which ultimately kills competition, companies want to see what the other guy has got because it might work for them. Also, people are less litigious than they used to be."
The cross-over between Olympic and non-Olympic events is also evident in latest project Bunn is involved with, a new beach volleyball league gearing up for launch in Australia, hoping to catch the wave of momentum from the Sydney Games.
Investors in the Beach Volleyball League of Australia include Steve Anderson, the coach of the Australian Olympic beach volleyball team, and former distance runner Ron Clarke, a 1964 Olympic medal winner. A showcase event, the Champions Cup, is scheduled to debut this November at the Clarke’s Runaway Bay resort in Queensland. TPL has just come aboard as television producer-distributor. The new league is signing up top players from around the world. With the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) running its own beach volleyball league, here’s one case where co-existence may not be quite so peaceful.
TPL - Pushing back the sport broadcast frontiers - Sport Business magazine - Australia 2000
TPL - Pushing back the sport broadcast frontiers The worldwide appeal of Australian sports has been the lifeblood of Sydney-based TPL, the company whose appreciation of the quality sporting content and deep rooted understanding of the global TV market and the ever changing demands of major broadcasters has been responsible for many Australian sporting events having a global following.
The company was launched back in 1994 by James Bunn, an experienced TV industry executive who had been instrumental in some of the most important developments in Australian Sports TV. Now with the ‘90’s behind us TPL is launching into what Bunn believes is the second phase of its development. The opening of a London office is a landmark for an organisation which thrives on close communication with its clients.
"Finding overseas markets for Australian programming is a key element of our business and I felt that we needed a Northern Hemisphere presence if we were to provide the level of contact and service that our growing client base requires," he said.
Sydney will always be our headquarters - it is literally where the heart of the business lies. But expanding in this way was a logical and progressive step which will help TPL to become even more firmly established as a producer and distributor of quality programming across the sporting spectrum.
Bunn’s experience in the Australian sports TV sector is considerable. In 1992 he joined forces with Steve Cosser to launch the nation’s first cable service. The following year he was at the heart of the deal between Cosser’s Australis Media and TCI which led to the launch of the Premier Sports Network, Australia’s first 24 hour channel which was later to become Fox Sports Australia.
Bunn’s understanding of overseas markets extended to helping establish the AFL’s global TV credentials and identifying the potential of the 18ft Skiffs competing in Sydney Harbour. Working first with Bill Macartney and later Rob Brown, Bunn and TPL took the thrills and spills of warm-water Grand Prix Sailing to the World. Its spectacular action was complimented by stunning backdrops to create a uniquely Australian televisual sporting adventure.
Motorcycling, Touring Cars, Netball and Swimming have all benefited from extending their markets with the assistance of TPL Sports. But the company is by no means one-dimensional. Its sports portfolio has also included highly creative series’ on the 1998 Soccer World Cup and the Road to Sydney Olympic scene setters. "This is going to be a massive year for Australian sport thanks to the focus provided by the Olympics" said James Bunn.
"But the fact is that when the Olympic show has packed up and left town we will still be there, taking the best of Australian sport to the World. That remains our commitment which is strengthened by the opening of a London office which will enable us to provide an even better service to our customers" he said.
Going regional can distort the focus - Sport Business magazine July 2000
Going regional can distort the focus James Bunn looks at the local versus global issues facing major broadcasters and internet services
It’s now almost two decades since ESPN, Eurosport and later, STAR TV started to invest heavily in the globalisation of spot. In recent months America’s ESPN has sold its stake in Eurosport to French locals Canal+ and TF1. Some say that this is only the tip of the iceberg as sports businesses recognise the financial dangers of forcing a diet of global sport on television viewers and return to their local origins.
To take one example, soccer is a truly global game and viewers in almost every country take a weekly interest in local and national football teams. Last year "The International Football Channel" was launched, dedicated to all of the top games from around the world, and with a liberal sprinkling of magazine and lifestyle material adding value to match coverage. While the strength of this concept is clear from an entertainment point of view, to acquire global broadcast rights to the top leagues and championships may well be cost prohibitive.
The business of sport is no different from any other business. To profit, the revenues generated must exceed the costs. Unless viewers are prepared subscribe to watch a broadcast, and sponsors prepared to help underwrite costs, license fees demanded by sports cannot be sustained on a global level.
Ten years ago for example, the American sports were very bullish about the potential for their sports around the world. Their fellow countrymen at the global sports channels taking those sports to Asia, Europe and Latin America shared their view. Enormous licence fees were said to be paid to broadcast these sports to the world. Today, business managers are coming to realise that such global investment in US sports is just not proportionate to viewing tastes in combined local markets. In Britain, MUTV has demonstrated Manchester United’s desire to control its broadcasting destiny, and there are rumblings of an (English) Premier League channel. While the draw of top flight soccer is clear, maybe viewing habits are destined to become more and more specialised.
Recently, when TPL Sports opened a new London office, I was lucky enough to return home to my English roots. I soon found that my passion for my old schoolboy football team Ipswich Town to be re-ignited. As they struggled for promotion to the Premier League, I found myself riveted to their weekly battle. Unfortunately, living on the wrong side of the Suffolk / Norfolk border, I found it difficult to find matches being broadcast on local television or radio. Worse still, at the climax to the season I found myself travelling on business. In the fine southern city of New Orleans I couldn’t find the UK football scores anywhere, and even the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix results were limited to a brief graphic on CNN. Of course the local New Orleans news was full of Baseball and (American) Football, as that’s what the majority of their viewers want - therein lies the key.
There are many who say that the internet and WAP will cater for a range of sports tastes in the years to come. I have no doubt that this is true, and I eventually monitored Ipswich Town’s performance from New Orleans and later Chile, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand using the internet. Similarly I can indulge my other passion for the (currently) hapless Sydney Swans on the AFL web site. Soon we are told, complete sports channels will be "web-cast". While we await the technology to make this a reality, we must question whether business can be sustained commercially for such a form of narrowcasting to exist. Only time will tell if advertising dollars available for internet and WAP transmissions can support viable sport businesses.
In recent months we have heard much of the ambitious plans for the all new PSN sports channel throughout Latin America. Interestingly they have chosen a large, homogeneous marketplace, but which, unlike Europe and Asia, is not divided by a large number of languages. Although planning to exploit the economies of scale available to a large operation, they can still target local tastes amongst their viewers.
Perhaps then we have come full circle. As technology continues to develop, enabling us to communicate globally, perhaps the sports enthusiasts are showing us that their true tastes have always been surprisingly local.
James Bunn is Chief Executive Officer of TPL Sports Sydney & London
With wind in his sails - Sports Australian Magazine June 1999
With wind in his sails On any summer’s day James Bunn can often be found, tie loosened, and suit jacket slung casually over his shoulder, on Sydney Harbour watching his company logo flying across the waves.
As he watches the 18-footer skiff sponsored by his company TPL Sports, negotiate the wind shifts on the harbour - and sometimes even come to grief in the tricky conditions and capsize - he jokes good naturedly he should have the logo painted on the bottom of the hull.
But when his crew comes to shore, Bunn is always there to greet them, to mull over the day’s racing and join them in the bar for a drink or two. Bunn loves 18-foot skiffs and the men and women who sail them. He likes the idea of them being a class born and bred on Sydney Harbour as well as the history and tradition associated with this ultra-fast sailing machine.
For him nothing beats watching them from the water, except perhaps, watching them on television in a hotel room on the other side of the world. For Bunn’s business distributes a wide range of Australian sport, including the 18-footers, to television companies around the world.
TPL Sports was set up in 1994 by Bunn, and has been able to secure a host of successful properties, including the Australian Touring Car Championships, The Milo Cup (Netball), the swimming World Cup, the Shell Advance Superbike Series, the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic, the Australian Rally Championships, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, the Sydney Marathon and the Inside Sports and Total Sports programs.
The core business of the company is the export of Australian shows worldwide. TPL Sports acquires a catalogue of some 300 hours of new shows each year that are broadcast in the UK, USA, South Africa, New Zealand, Thailand, Scandinavia, Germany, Canada and throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. "Australia is very in fashion overseas" said Bunn, who moved to Australia from his home in England in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science Degree. "People seem attracted to the outdoor lifestyle and the Australian people and this is all exhibited in a lot of sports"
TPL Sports Specialises in selling sports outside the mainstream. "Sports like rugby and cricket sell well for high prices in a small number of markets and then there are sports like the 18-footers. No country would see sailing at the top of its shopping list but it still has a wide appeal so the fee is smaller but we sell a lot of it" Bunn said. "I think the backdrop of Australia sells the programs well. Imagine someone in a dark bedsit in Europe in winter watching a sunny beach and triathletes. It’s escapism coupled with the excitement of sport."
So entranced was Bunn with Australia on a tourist visit in the late 1980’s that he decided to move to Sydney permanently and eventually took out Australian citizenship. He became a senior executive of Broadcom Australia, managing the rights activities for the Australian Football League both domestically and overseas. He was subsequently involved in the establishment of the Australis Media / Galaxy service which was initially a division of Broadcom. His key programming role including facilitating the TCI / Australis Media joint venture agreement. This led to Australia’s first Pay TV broadcast channel, the 24 hour Premier Sports Network, which later became known as the FOX Sports Channel.
So successful has Bunn’s own company been he is currently expanding his Australian office as well as setting up an office in London in the second quarter of 1999. "Sydney will remain our head office but now we will also have an office where our market is" he said. We do some domestic work but our biggest market is in the UK, then the USA, Germany, France, New Zealand and Thailand".
"We are now getting involved in the production and funding of programs and are also looking at our own channels to provide shows for". One of TPL Sports most recent ventures is to distribute the television coverage of the Australian Yachting Federation’s 49’er skiff series around the world. Bunn has signed a five year agreement to distribute the series featuring the new high performance skiff class which will make its debut at the 2000 Olympic Games. Designed by former 18-footer skiff sailor Julian Bethwaite, the 49’er is the first Australian design to be accepted onto the Olympic Sailing program with Australia currently boasting the reigning World Champion in Chris Nicholson. "With the Sydney Olympics next year, and the debut of the Australian designed 49’er, the focus is very much on the Southern Hemisphere. We are very much looking forward to securing the broadcasters to expose this series to the world."
TPL is also producing pre-Olympic programming for a variety of broadcasters worldwide and holds global TV rights to a range of international sports events associated with the 2000 Games. While his new office in London will require Bunn to travel constantly, he estimates three out of every four weeks, there’s no doubt that come summer time he will again find the time to go back out on the harbour to watch his beloved 18-footers.
"Coming of Age" Sports Australia magazine June 1999
"Coming of Age" TPL Sports’ James Bunn talks about the state of the Australian sports marketing industry and its implications for television.
It is now the best part of a decade since two significant events created a great many new opportunities for Australian Sport.
The combined effect of the introduction of Subscription Television and also the successful bid or the 2000 Olympics in Sydney naturally led to much business excitement during the early 1990’s. As a consequence many sports federations, corporate sponsors, athletes and media organisations saw enormous opportunities for wealth and fame.
Fortunately, the resulting temporary insanity which gripped Australian business for a short while in this period could not last. The individuals behind the proliferation of sports marketing companies with bold ideas of a brave new world have largely returned to whence they came with their tails between their legs.
Just as a strong solid focus reaps a successful sporting campaign, the same is true in business. Through the madness of Superleague, Globalisation and the Olympic dream, only those committed to steadily building television coverage of Australian sports events around the world remain today. The development and sale of television coverage of Australian sports brings many millions of dollars back to Australian athletes to help reward their tireless efforts.
Again, like a sports campaign, the rewards are not immediate or huge and are generally commensurate with the hard work invested to reach the goal.
The madness of the 1990’s has not all been in vain. Many of the less honourable elements have been flushed out, and a new professional approach now prevails. Sport was never intended to make people rich, but clearly the focus required to reach excellence in a chosen field comes at a financial cost. Nevertheless, through corporate sponsorship, the sale of TV rights and ticket sales, plus government support, we can go some of the way towards helping athels with the cost of living and competing on a daily basis.
While sporting success must inevitably come at a sacrifice, perhaps our financial support is essential to enable athletes to consistently focus to achieve at an elite level.
New Opportunities
The real challenge lies in the new millennium. When the Olympic Circus has left town, and competitive momentum is drained as a consequence, it will be essential to look for new opportunities. Having placed Australia firmly on the map, we must now utilise the fine Olympic facilities and (now) heritage to enable Australia to truly come of age. By continuously pushing the envelope of sporting achievement and providing professional corporate support for athletic achievement, we will ultimately show the world that their focus on the Sydney Olympics was truly deserved.
TPL’s novel approach - Sport Business Australia 1998
TPL’s novel approach Ten years ago, in February 1988 a young English businessman stood on Sydney Harbour Bridge. He like so many before and since, was overwhelmed by the view across the beautiful harbour city to the famous Opera House below.
James Bunn had arrived to join a large multinational corporation in their Sydney office, to manage their marketing activities. Having come from the cut-throat corporate worlds of London and New York he found the benefits of the Australian lifestyle particularly seductive.
"The perfect blue of the water and sky, and the clarity of the light was stunning. I knew that if we could package it for overseas, there would be strong market interest around the World for both Sydney and Australia as a whole," he says a decade later.
He settled in this newfound harbour side paradise, and became an Australian citizen soon after. The opportunity to make the dream become a reality finally came in 1992, when he joined with entrepreneur Steve Cosser to start Australia’s then fledgling cable TV industry. It was during Sportel in Monte-Carlo in 1993 that Bunn brokered an historic deal between Cosser’s Australis Media and TCI (today Liberty Global), which led to Australia’s first 24 hour sports channel, Premier Sports Network, and later FOX Sports Australia.
During this period Bunn had started marketing Australia using AFL Australian Rules Football with enormous success around the world. At that time Sydney was making a bid to host the 2000 Olympics, and by using the weekly AFL Highlights show as a publicity vehicle, his team were able to influence decision makers in 140 key countries. The success of this bid is now legendary and early in 1994 Bunn went on to found TPL Sports to export top quality Australian sports television coverage around the world.
From the outset, TPL Sports were responsible for exposure of many Australian sports, from netball, swimming and motor racing, through to water sports. As a keen observer of Sydney Harbour’s 18 Footers, Mr Bunn joined with Bill Macartney and later Rob Brown to take these extreme water sports to the world’s television viewers. With the help of Shell, TPL Sports were able to encourage the Australian domination of motorcycle racing in the early 1990’s via the Shell Advance Superbike Series. Soon, their development of Australian Touring Cars globally began to catch the eye of the larger American (sports marketing) companies, as they duly took heed and started to exploit the Australian Market
Nevertheless, TPL Sports maintains their commitment to Australian sport and tourism by bringing millions of dollars back to the athletes at grass roots level. The recent Sports Eye Report survey named TPL Sports as the fourth largest sponsor of sailing of Sailing in Australia, and their support of young Olympic hopefuls is intended to bring both Gold and the America’s Cup back to Sydney in 2000.
TPL will televise the first Sydney event in the Olympic year, the key 2000 World Youth Sailing Championships. This is one way in which TPL are able to bring the success of the world’s athletes back to their families via local broadcasts at home. The pre-Olympic regattas featuring the 49’er skiff also help complete the Sydney picture along with the world renowned Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. As the only Sydney-based sports distribution and production company, TPL have become partners with many overseas broadcasters requiring local help in the lead up to 2000.
TPL has also enjoyed similar success distributing a variety of documentaries , travel and lifestyle shows. Experience gained in these genres has cross-fertilised the various TPL sports magazine productions in recent years. World of Water, Inside Sport and Total Sports are just three of the successful magazine series’ which have entertained viewers worldwide. This experience will lead to a variety of TPL Sports shows being co-produced in this lead-up to the Sydney Olympics with British, European and Latin American broadcasters.
A working relationship with Soccer legend developed early in 1998, enabling TPL Sports to diversify into World Cup Soccer. Associated new projects will be announced at Sportel, developing TPL’s strong catalogue still further. Also, joint productions with Latin American broadcasters will develop ties between Latin and Australasian countries, who share a love of beach sports and an all round outdoor lifestyle. While the 2000 Games may have been a catalyst, it doesn’t stop there. Mr Bunn was recently quoted as saying; "then the Olympic Circus has left town, we will still be here for sport through the next millennium."
Nevertheless, the success of the TPL Sports business is such that a new sales office is being established in the Northern Hemisphere to service clients in Europe and the USA. Mr Bunn recently found himself trying to recreate that 1988 magic on London’s Tower Bridge, and was later heard to remark with disappointment; "irrespective of England’s charm, I just can’t bring myself to view the Thames in the same way."
Cable Cards on table - by James Bunn MIPTV News April 1995
Cable Cards on Table Article History has shown that Australian consumers embrace new technology with enthusiasm. Some would say the number of mobile telephones on Sydney restaurant tables bears witness to this. Nevertheless, despite a presumed latent consumer demand for "Pay TV", it has taken until January this year (1995) for the first channel to launch.
Much has been said about government and corporate hindrance in the past but, for whatever reason, Australia has come to "cable television" late. Some two years ago, an aggressive management team led by broadcasting entrepreneur Steve Cosser finally broke the log jam, under the banner of Australis Media / Broadcom, and the first cards were laid on the table.
Early priorities have focussed on technical and production issues. Australis Media and its franchisees first acquired the majority of microwave MMDS licences and with associates at East Coast TV gained control of eight satellite DBS licenses, with the remaining two in the hands of the Government-run ABC. Clearly then, the Galaxy camp (as they became collectively known) have positioned themselves well ahead of their competitors in what has become a fiercely competitive poker game.
ANTI-SIPHONING
With talk of 200 channels for the state of the art digital Australian Pay TV market, everyone is chasing a piece of the action. Many strategic alliances have come and gone, and the thriving Telephone carrier, Optus Communications have teamed with Kerry Packer’s PBL / Nine Network and US cable experts Continental Cablevision to put together a traditional cable operation known as Optus Vision. Meanwhile, across Sydney Harbour Bridge, Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited have aligned with the government owned Telstra telephone carrier to offer a second cable system under the banner of Foxtel. To secure an immediate market presence until their cable network is ready, they also plan to absorb Galaxy.
In the UK, the legendary BSkyB soccer rights acquisition made programming the cornerstone of its Pay TV success. The Australian Government, anxious to prevent a similar siphoning situation from arising, has legislated to ensure that certain popular sporting events are shown on Free-to-Air TV first. Nevertheless, the new players have now identified the marketing power of quality programming, and between Optus Vision and Foxtel, most Hollywood studios are now signed up to exclusive deals.
With Foxtel now aligned with TCI’s Prime International for its Premier Media joint venture (later FOX Sports), ESPN is expected to operate an Australian sports channel on the Optus Vision Service. This channel will naturally gain access to the strong Nine Network portfolio of sports. Meanwhile, the Seven Network recently announced a rights deal for the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics, and this, combined with its AFL Aussie Rules and Rugby Union rights, adds credence to its reported strategy of remaining a programme supplier to the new Pay TV operators.
NEW DEMAND
If television can be broken into three basic elements of programming, a delivery mechanism and (revenue generating) viewers, clearly each player in this poker game holds some of the winning programming and delivery cards. Who will eventually win subscriber revenues depends on ability and luck as they play their cards. The game still has many hands to be played, and undoubtedly bluffs will be called, cards will be shared, and some will go bust.
Meanwhile, many hours of programming will be needed to satisfy the new channels every week and programme suppliers will naturally thrive on the new demand. All this for an estimated two million (pay) TV households by the turn of the millennium. Clearly the crock of gold at the end of this rainbow is not a large one.
That is, of course, unless the Sydney 2000 Olympics event brings unexpected market factors into play. Or perhaps someone actually knows what the mysterious information superhighway will do, and sees untold wealth in that opportunity. No doubt the telephone carriers hope so.
James Bunn is a Sydney based media consultant founder of the Premier Sports Channel (Fox Sports) and Chief Executive of the TPL International distribution company.
