Monday 19 January 2009

Berkley looks to grow its operations in Asia

Sunday Business Post - Recruitment Section - Jan 18 2009

Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by
clicking here.

Irish-owned recruiter Berkley will open its first overseas office next month to counter the downturn in the recruitment market at home. The new office in Singapore would employ ten local staff to target businesses throughout Asia, said Fergal Brosnan, co-director, Berkley Recruitment Group.

Berkley recruits IT, pharmaceutical and sales & marketing candidates from bases in Dublin and Cork. Its decision to set up an office in Singapore is part of a wider overseas strategy, which will include two further bases in Hong Kong and Taiwan, said Brosnan. He said the decision to move into new markets was not a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to the downturn in the Irish market.


‘‘We did not see the Irish market going down and decide to take the first train out. However, about 18 months ago, we did feel that the growth in the economy was slowing and that, from a growth perspective, we should take this step,” said Brosnan. ‘‘We looked at our own client base, both multinational and Irish companies, to see where they were situated on an international level, and where their next steps might be. We also did a feasibility study looking at other locations, but the nucleus of all the Asian operations seemed to be in Singapore.”

Berkley’s co-director Steve Greenwood said the company was already working with a number of life-science companies with operations in Singapore, and other parts of Asia, including Eli Lily and Schering Plough.

‘‘There are nuances between Ireland and Singapore, but the overall life sciences industry, the companies and people involved, are pretty similar,” Greenwood said.

Brosnan said he planned to spend up to 80 per cent of his time at Berkley’s Singaporean office in the city’s Central Business District this year, to build up the firm’s business in the region.


‘‘It is not just a separate entity trading there on its own, it will be integrated into the Berkley family,” he said. ‘‘People from our Irish offices will work out there on various projects. The people from there will come to Ireland to get acquainted with our particular recruitment model.”

Greenwood said the company would also look at ways to encourage businesses in Singapore to set up operations in Ireland.

‘‘There are an awful lot of Asian companies who want to come to Europe, and would look at Ireland as a gateway to that,” he said. ‘‘We see as much business coming in this direction as going the other way.”


Established in 1993, Berkley has existing overseas alliances in London and Sydney. Brosnan said the company would continue to focus long term on the Irish market, despite current difficulties in the recruitment sector here. The company’s turnover last year was in the region of €5 million.

‘‘We are not as exposed to the downturn here as other recruitment companies,” said Brosnan. ‘‘Our base is solid and we have long-term relationships with our clients, and our market share in Ireland has grown throughout the last number of years.”

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Wednesday 14 January 2009

Strong Irish Contingent at PAF Fest

IFTN.ie - News Story - Jan 14 2009

Read this story online at the iftn.ie website by
clicking here.

It is not the first place you might expect to stumble across an extensive programme of Irish animated films, but audiences at last month’s PAF animated film festival in Olomouc, Czech Republic were treated to a season of 50 plus Irish animations running to a total of over eight hours.

Film-makers whose work was shown ranged from established figures such as Aidan Hickey and Deane Taylor to newer directors like Rory Bresnihan and Jason Tammemägi, while animations from studios Cartoon Saloon, Monster Films, Boulder Media, Brown Bag, JAM Media and many others also featured.


PAF's programme manager, Kateřina Surmanová, said the festival's Irish season had been warmly received by the local audiences.

"We were very happy with the Irish programme," Surmanová told IFTN. "During the festival many people told me that they were surprised by the high quality of Irish animation and asked us where they could get copies of the films we showed. PAF wants to introduce national animations that are not widely known here in the Czech Republic and Irish cinema is almost unknown here."


Ross Murray, Ross Stewart and Tom Moore from Cartoon Saloon were guests of the festival. Stewart and Murray gave a presentation outlining the genesis of their new Disney-distributed animated feature 'Brendan and the Secret of Kells' (on general release in Ireland from March 6th), while Murray talked about the practicalities of competing on an international stage from a smallish studio in Kilkenny. Diarmuid O'Brien and Mathew Lloyd from the Irish School of Animation at Ballyfermot College of Further Education also attended.


PAF ran from December 11th to 14th in Olomouc, a city 300 kms east of Prague. Austrian filmmaker and film theorist Peter Kubelka was another special guest, giving two energetic lectures on animation history and practice. Japanese composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda and Czech improvisation trio Mikroloops both contributed to the festival’s 'Live Animation' strand, where film-makers or audience members used the 'Polyekran' technique to animate in real time using fractured images on multiple screens.

The festival also featured an 'Adult Animation' season, built around the work of US auteur Ralph Bakshi and included a screening of his X-rated 'Fritz the Cat' (1972). Czech film-maker Miloš Tomić ran a pixilation technique workshop, while young Czech director Martin Kohout won the PAF 'Other Visions' award for his YouTube inspired short 'Moonwalk'.


For more info on the festival check out www.pifpaf.cz, and click on the English icon in the top right hand corner of the screen.

The reason I wrote about this for IFTN is that I travelled to the festival to give a talk about the history of Irish animation to give some context for the films being shown. Here's the proof.

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Monday 12 January 2009

Nothing taken for granted with GAA

Sunday Business Post - Business of Sport - Jan 11 2009

Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by
clicking here.


The payment of inter county players has long been a bone of contention in GAA circles, and the debate over whether professionalism should be introduced has been one of the associations’ biggest issues over the last number of years. While the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) insists it does not want to see hurlers and footballers lose their amateur status, it has fought hard to get compensation for those out of pocket as a result of playing for their county.

After long negotiations, the first government grants to inter-county GAA players were paid out last month, but already there are signs that they could be cut this year.


A total of €3.5 million was shared among 1,800 inter-county footballers and hurlers, with individual payments ranging from €1,400 to €2,500, depending on how many appearances were made in the 2008 All-Ireland championship. The grants are administered by the Irish Sports Council (ISC) on behalf of the government, and distributed by the GAA.


However, sports minister Martin Cullen has signalled that the player grants scheme may be scaled back in 2009, due to the economic downturn.


Dessie Farrell, the GPA’s chief executive and a former inter-county star forward for Dublin’s footballers, said he was confident that there would be no substantial changes to the scheme. ‘‘The ISC has an 8 per cent reduction in its budget, and we would be very happy to work within those parameters,” he said. ‘‘We see no reason why it should go beyond that.”


Farrell said that it had taken a good deal of hard work to persuade all involved to accept the grants scheme.


‘‘It was a very hard-fought concession,” he said. ‘‘We have been campaigning for this since the 2002 Finance Bill, when professional athletes were given lucrative tax breaks. Nonetheless, we are delighted with it.”


Farrell said that the principle involved was more important to players than the amounts being paid. Neither the payments nor the aims of the GPA interfered in any way with the GAA’s amateur ethos.


‘‘The upper levels of the GAA have accepted our acceptance of the amateur status of GAA players, but there is still some scepticism out there,” he said. ‘‘We have gone on record on numerous occasions to insist that we are very happy to see the amateur status retained. There is no hidden agenda.


‘‘You could always do with more funding. But, in this particular instance, we felt that there should be some recognition of the role that intercounty players play within the society.


‘‘We also felt that the revenue generated for the exchequer by these high-profile games should be taken into account.”


Farrell stressed that GPA members were eager to contribute off the pitch, in return for the money coming from the government.

‘‘It is not just a case of players putting their hand out and doing a runner,” he said.
‘‘There is an opportunity to convey very important social messages through high-profile role models. We are currently in discussions with the HSE about a programme involving mental health awareness for the general population. We would like to encourage more take-up from various government departments.”

However, Farrell said that, to keep the prospect of pay-for-play at a distance, there would have to be a certain ‘‘quid pro quo’’ on the part of the authorities - in both Croke Park and Leinster House.


‘‘The basis for the retention of the amateur ethos will be continued government funding, married with the introduction of a comprehensive welfare package for inter-county players,” he said. ‘‘That would be a foundation for players within an amateur context.”

Sponsorship

Farrell said that the GPA signed an agreement with sports marketing and management agency Platinum One last November. ‘‘Platinum One will manage the commercial side of things for us and seek out new sponsorship opportunities,” he said. ‘‘We are happy to hand over our commercial portfolio to a company with vast experience in sports sponsorship and management.”

The GPA currently has commercial relationships with Energise Sport, Halifax and Opel. The latter company’s three-year agreement with the GPA, signed in 2006, is understood to be worth approximately €3 million over three years. No figure was released for the Halifax deal, which was agreed in 2007 and runs for five years.

Farrell said that commercial relationships had been vital in establishing the GPA as a going concern.

‘‘Our ten-year share of revenues agreement with Energise, with what was C&C and is now Britvic, has been a great success for us,” he said.

‘‘Without that, there possibly would be no GPA today. Halifax sponsors our Fair Play award, and is involved with our twinning programme and Gaelic performance summer camps. Opel sponsors our Team of the Year and players’ awards.”

Last year’s Opel footballer of the year was Tyrone’s Sean Cavanagh, while Kilkenny’s Eoin Larkin won the hurling award. Farrell said that being associated with household names such as these was attractive for companies.

‘‘Ultimately, the companies see a huge benefit in being associated with the GPA, because of their involvement with our high-profile members,” he said. ‘‘It is a very attractive proposition for companies wanting that kind of brand exposure and coverage.”

Other work

Farrell said it could be frustrating when people automatically associated the GPA solely with financial matters. He pointed to two less heavily publicised GPA programmes, both of which were introduced last year.

‘‘The Fair Play award focuses on the positive aspects of players’ discipline and on and off-field behaviour,” he said.

‘‘Discipline has been a big problem for the GAA for as long as I can remember, so it is vital that disciplinary issues are tackled at an early age and applied across the board. We see the Fair Play award fitting in well with that.”

‘‘We also launched a twinning programme which pairs strong hurling counties with weaker counties,” Farrell said. ‘‘Players from the stronger counties do coaching sessions in the weaker counties. This programme was devised and implemented by the players themselves. It was hugely successful, yet that seems to get lost in the wash.”

Official recognition

Farrell said the GPA was now focusing its energies on gaining official acceptance from the GAA as the recognised voice of inter-county footballers and hurlers. ‘‘We have been recognised in a de facto capacity for a number of years,” he said.

‘‘The official recognition involves having an official agreement between the GPA and the GAA which recognises the vital role that the GPA fulfils in player welfare and other areas. We would hope in the coming months to ultimately bring that to the final stages.”

Farrell said that this agreement would have to recognise the central role the GPA played in protecting the welfare and rights of its members.

‘‘Through the official negotiations with the GAA, we would like to put in place a very comprehensive player welfare package, with funding from the GAA,” he said. ‘‘Those services would include career development programmes, educational programmes, help with financial planning, and health and wellbeing, including injury, psychological and medical issues.’

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Banking on the right support

Sunday Business Post - News Feature - Jan 11 2009

Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by
clicking here.


Bank of Ireland’s Business Support Fund (BSF), which was launched last December, will help viable businesses to overcome trading difficulties brought on by the recession, according to Damian Young, head of small business, Bank of Ireland Business Banking.


The €250 million fund will be used to target small, indigenous businesses.


‘‘We wanted to demonstrate our commitment to the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Ireland by allocating specific funds to support businesses going through the current economic conditions,” Young said.


He said the support fund was designed to help fundamentally viable and sound businesses that are going through cyclical change due to the conditions in the market.


Applying for funding


Businesses can apply to Bank of Ireland for funding under the scheme in a number of different ways.

‘‘With the Business Support Fund, we are doing things like extending existing debt over longer repayment schedules,” said Young.
‘‘We are also providing moratoria to businesses so they can stop repaying their existing debt over a period of time to give them that flexibility and breathing space to get through the current turmoil.

‘‘We can restructure existing debt so that people can do smaller repayments now, and payments will increase then as their working capital requirement changes.


‘‘Where businesses have an existing overdraft facility that is coming under pressure as they are not getting paid quickly or because suppliers are looking for cash payment upfront, we can change an overdraft facility to a term facility so that it can be spread across a period of time.


‘‘The support fund is there for businesses that need additional borrowings, or new borrowings in the case of existing businesses who did not need to borrow to support their business previously.”




Term facility

Money made available to SMEs under the scheme will be provided as a term facility only with no arrangement fee.

The terms of the loan will depend on the company’s business needs, but maybe extended for a period of up to seven years. The fund is open to sole traders, limited companies and partnerships.

Young said that the amounts available, and the terms of the loans granted, would depend on the nature and circumstances of each individual applicant.

‘‘This is a tailor-made loan for businesses,” he said. ‘‘We are not putting any restriction on the upper limit available, but we are saying about €150,000 or €200,000 in most cases.

‘‘€20,000 is the nominal lower limit, but we are very flexible there as well. We are looking to see what is needed to support the business over the next 12 to 18 months, and how to best structure it over that period, which will be the critical time.”

Future plans

Young advised business-owners hoping to secure BSF funding in the present climate to put together a detailed business plan with in depth and specific details, bearing in mind the difficult trading conditions currently in play.

‘‘We want to see what the business is going to do with the money, including their business plan and projections for how they are going to trade through the current difficult environment,” he said. ‘‘We need to see that it is a sound viable business, which can trade through the next period of time.”

Young said Bank of Ireland business managers had certain criteria they would use to assess each application for BSF funding.

‘‘We want to see if they are looking at new markets,” he said. ‘‘Do they have a new product or innovation? Are they reducing their costs or sourcing materials from different suppliers?

‘‘Are they looking at more effective debtor collection systems and are they over exposed to any one particular debtor that puts them at risk going forward? Small businesses in any environment need to continuously look at their business plan and cashflow, if they do not do that they will find themselves in trouble.”

Business records

All companies should keep up-to date financial records in the current turbulent climate.

‘‘These should not necessarily be formal, audited accounts, but should include information on debtors, creditors, how much stock the company has, how long it has had that stock and how much is the stock worth,” Young said.

‘‘The SME owner should be able to update the bank on their current position. The bank then has up-to date information on how the business is doing, and can therefore make informed decisions based on that.”

Banking relations

Young advised SME owners to talk to their bank as soon as they current credit limits. ‘‘If you require additional debt, come and talk to the bank beforehand, do not just write the cheque,” he said. ‘‘Banks generally do not like surprises, so do not assume that an additional facility will be there whenever it is needed.

‘‘We are happy to sit down with any business and talk about restructuring debt or looking to see if existing debt is sustainable over the coming months. Agreeing beforehand protects the SME’s credit rating across the board, which is vitally important at the moment.”

Current difficulties

Young said the recession was affecting smaller businesses in a number of different ways.

‘‘Payment days have increased quite significantly and SMEs are waiting longer to get paid by debtors,” he said. ‘‘Average ‘debtor days’ are now 67 working days, which means the working capital requirements of a business have changed dramatically. Companies are looking to extend their own overdraft facilities, and to restructure their facilities to meet changing working capital requirements.

‘‘General market factors are another issue. Businesses are getting hit by declining consumer sentiment, retail sales are falling and businesses are coming under more pressure than they had been. This is not unique to Ireland. This is happening across the globe in the current environment.”

The capital structure of some newer businesses is a concern in the current climate, Young said.

‘‘Some smaller companies, particularly ones that have been set up in recent years, have been reliant on interest bearing debts to support the business,” he said. ‘‘When the economy changes and there is more pressure on cash, in a lot of cases there is a need for more equity in put or additional debt.”

The recent fall in the value of sterling relative to the euro has hit some smaller Irish businesses hard.

‘‘A huge number of SMEs are coming under significant pressure due to the near parity between sterling and the euro,” he said. ‘‘That is a 20 or 25 per cent difference from 12 or 18 months ago, which is eroding margins significantly.’

Funding new business

While the BSF is targeted at more established SMEs, Young said Bank of Ireland was also eager to speak to entrepreneurs looking to set up a new business in 2009.

‘‘For brand new businesses, we have a separate fund called the Developing Business Loan fund,” he said. ‘‘That has been running since 2006. In 2008, we upped the upper limit available to €50,000. It is an unsecured loan, so the entrepreneur does not to have tangible assets to secure it against.”

Young said that entrepreneurial activity w s continuing in Ireland, despite the downturn.

‘‘We are still seeing good activity in the Developing Business Loan fund despite the current environment,” he said. ‘‘There are still businesses being set up. There are still people coming to us looking for finance, and we are still supporting those businesses .Our activity in that is running at an average of €2.5million a week being provided.”

Start-up plans

Young advised entrepreneurs seeking bank funding to factor the current difficult economic climate into their start-up plans.

‘‘In the current environment, businesses coming to look for new funding should be prepared with evidence of how they are going to run the business over the next 12 to 18 months,” he said. ‘‘They should have a detailed business plan with cashflow projections, cost control measures, debtor collection plans, new markets or product innovation plans.”

According to Young, it is never too early to approach a bank for a chat about a new business idea.

‘‘The bank is not just there to give you a loan; it is a source of advice, support and direction,” he said.

‘‘Feel free to go in and meet with the business manager and talk to them about the idea and what type of things you should be looking at. You can then go away and prepare the plan a bit further before a more formal meeting with the bank about cash requirements.”

Business basics

Young said the same key business fundamentals applied in any economic climate.

‘‘Have a very good business plan and ensure it is your own and not somebody else’s,” he said. ‘‘The business plan should reflect the passion that the entrepreneur is willing to put into the business. Research the market very well. Understand the upsides, but also the downside, so that you have researched what can go wrong. Be prepared to work hard and manage the finances.”

Banks are generally keen to see the entrepreneur is showing a personal financial commitment to a new business, according to Young.

‘‘Make sure you start off on a good footing in terms of capital structure,” he said. ‘‘There should be signs they are putting their own money into the business, and that they are looking to the bank to provide a similar level of funding.”

Start-up trends

The number of new businesses created in Ireland fell notably last year, according to Damian Young, head of small business at Bank of Ireland Business Banking.

‘‘We do a barometer of start-ups and the first nine months of 2008 saw a 20 per cent drop off in the number of start-ups in Ireland,” Young said.

‘‘The final three months of the year, however, were the most difficult of the year, so we would expect that the overall start-up figure would be around 14,000 to 15,000.”

Bank of Ireland’s Start-up Barometer showed that the number of start-ups in Ireland in 2007 totalled 18,740. This represented a considerable drop over 2006, when 19,221 start-ups were founded.

Young said the fall in construction and related sectors accounted for most of the recent drop-off in start-up activity.

‘‘The shortfall was predominantly in construction, or construction-related sectors, which saw a 43 per cent fall in businesses being set up,” he said. ‘‘The non-construction related businesses were down in the first nine months of last year by only about 7 per cent. Certain services and retail operations would also be down on 2007.”

Low levels of start-up activity prevailed in all sectors last year, according to Young.

‘‘No one new sector really stood out in 2008,” he said. ‘‘The technology businesses were a little ahead of the previous year, and there are more niche businesses being set up in those areas.”‘ The downturn is affecting the type of new businesses setting up in Ireland.

‘‘In the current environment, you will get different types of start-ups,” he said. ‘‘You sometimes see stronger, more focused businesses being set up in a downturn. We see very good expertise coming from multinational companies that are downsizing or scaling back establishing niche businesses that have the capacity to internationalise and export. Those are the type of businesses that will add value to Ireland Inc going forward.”

Young welcomed the government’s commitment to support entrepreneurs in 2009.

‘‘The government’s new initiatives with regard to research and development are very positive,” he said. ‘‘Ensuring that businesses are putting capital into developing their own businesses is going to be important going forward. The likes of the County Enterprise Boards and other support organisations will be focused on supporting new businesses in 2009 as well.”

Bank of Ireland will expand the supports it provides to new companies this year, according to Young.

‘‘We are committed to continuing and enhancing our business start-up package this year,” he said. ‘‘In 2009, we want to be even more active in local markets, in terms of supporting businesses and providing advice and direction to them.

‘‘We have a partnership with Kernel Venture Capital to provide equity capital into new and developing businesses and we have been probably the most active bank in Ireland on the VC side of things.

‘‘We have a number of initiatives looking at business innovation and how we can support more innovative businesses. I am reasonably optimistic for 2009, even though it is going to be very tough here.”

Young said he did not expect any major drop in the number of new businesses setting up in Ireland this year, compared to 2008.

‘‘It is hard to say at this stage, but I would predict that it will be at a similar level to last year,” he said. ‘‘We will take out the element that would only be there in a boom time, but there is a core that might see the figure at around 14,000 next year. We are not going to go back to a stage where we would see fewer and fewer startups.”

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Wednesday 7 January 2009

Broadcasters prepare to fight the online battle

Sunday Business Post - Business of Sport section - Jan 04 2009

Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website by
clicking here.


The ways in which football fans view their favourite teams play may be rapidly changing, in ways that will have knock-on effects for all involved in the football business - clubs, broadcasters, sponsors, shareholders and fans.

Instead of having to fork out for a monthly or annual subscription to a pay-per-view broadcaster, or visit a pub or friends’ house, a significant number are watching their live football online, for free. The service is facilitated by sites such as the popular and notorious US-based website Justin.tv.


Set up last April to allow individuals to broadcast their daily lives online, Justin.tv is now being used by people and companies to show everything from rock concerts to political rallies to sports events. Fans can now generally watch every Premier League game - or other sports events such as European Cup rugby or USPGA golf - live via a stream on Justin.tv or many other copycat sites, albeit often with an imperfect picture and unsteady stream.


However, Setanta’s customer acquisitions director Brian Quinn said this development was not unduly concerning broadcasters who own the rights to show Premier League games in Ireland.


‘‘We are aware that in a small number of instances, some consumers are illegally viewing premium sports content for free on the internet,” said Quinn. ‘‘We do not believe the number of users in Ireland is very high as the viewing experience is very poor and unreliable."

‘‘Most people with a genuine interest in watching these games are happy to pay subscription charges to the legitimate rights owners, such as Setanta, and enjoy a quality experience at a price which represents very good value,” said Quinn.


However, despite this attitude, Quinn said that Setanta, in partnership with the Premier League authorities in Britain, was actively pursuing sites that illegally broadcast material to which Setanta owned the rights.


‘‘We are working with our rights partners, such as the Premier League, to pursue illegal businesses and have them shut down,” he said.


This is easier said than done, however. Justin.tv, for example, claims to be merely offering a facility for others to broadcast, and is therefore not responsible for the content shown. According to Michael Siebel, chief executive of the VC-funded website, Justin.tv immediately shuts down any channel broadcasting copyrighted material, once notified by the copyright holder.


‘‘The Premier League is registered with Justin.tv and is actively using our suite of tools that we provide to copyright holders, so we expect to continue working with them to manage their content on the site,” said Siebel.



Policing these channels, and the thousands of similar websites that have emerged in recent months, is difficult in practice.

Websites such as YouTube and 101greatgoals.com have been targeted by the Premier League, to ensure compliance with copyright legislation. However, as the websites where the content is actually hosted can be in faraway jurisdictions, including China and Iraq, complete enforcement is almost impossible.

This may be why Quinn said that Setanta was developing ways to utilise the internet to broadcast its sports coverage.

‘‘We were very early to realise that some consumers are interested in viewing premium sport through broadband,” he said.

‘‘In Ireland, we work with Eircom as the distributor of our premium content online. In the British market, we retail our online content directly.

‘‘We believe the percentage of our customers viewing online will grow and we are constantly working on improving the online product,” said Quinn. ‘‘In both Ireland and Britain, we will be launching some enhancements next year, which take advantage of the higher speeds now available.”

The previous Premier League rights went for an astronomical stg£2.6 billion for seasons 2007-10, including €570 million paid by Setanta for just one of the four available bundles of games. The next round of rights, for 2010 to 2013, will be sold next year.

Quinn said he did not expect illegal online viewing to impact significantly on the upcoming negotiations.

‘‘It is possible that many factors could influence future rounds of rights auctions, including the economic climate. However, at this point, it is unlikely that users illegally viewing poor quality sport online will impact on the process,” he said.

However, the next round of Premier League broadcast rights will include more complex packages, including different bundles of TV, and online and mobile delivery methods, rather than the traditional TV only deals. Setanta can be expected to bid for at least some of these new packages.

‘‘Distributing our content through various channels - such as satellite, cable, freeview, online and mobile - has been an approach we have embraced from early on and this has brought rewards for us,”

Quinn said. ‘‘We will continue the approach and will always look for new ways to ensure the widest distribution of our content.”

But Quinn said he did not foresee the internet replacing television as the primary medium for viewing live sporting events in the near future.

‘‘It is important to note that the vast majority of premium sports subscribers in two or three years will still be happiest consuming sport through their TV in a traditional format,” he said.

Siebel, however, argued that consumers would want to view content - whether live football, music or television - wherever and whenever they want, and said that rights holders should work with online channels to reach the most people possible.

‘‘I think the trend we have seen over the last few years, where consumers are able to enjoy content any time and anywhere, will continue to grow and evolve,” he said.

‘‘More and more content owners are coming to realise that they need to meet that consumer demand and find new ways to make their content available - whether it be through mobile devices, social media or live video.

‘‘Our vision is that all leagues will work together with Justin.tv in order to provide their fans with a live, televisionlike experience online.”

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