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What's the outlook for production
and technology?
Latin America is very disparate
with some very advanced and some
less advanced markets. But while it
is not necessarily at the forefront of
technology in terms of leading
development, what it can do is very
quickly assimilate any innovations,
without having to go through the
trial and error process. Countries
that have benefited from access to
the latest technology are Brazil,
Mexico, Argentina to a degree. HD
for certain made a huge difference.
3D was regarded as an interesting
experiential thing ‐ Wimbledon
have enjoyed 3D coverage in Brazil
which was quite novel. Itʹs now
being developed in cinemas for
broadcasting live sporting events,
and thatʹs again where Latin America
has been very much at the forefront.
What changes will 2014 & 16 bring?
The arrival of these events is a
catalyst for change across the
region, itʹs transformational. At
IMG, with regard to the World
Cup, weʹve been involved with the
stadium development city by city,
working on footage and content in
preparation for the ʹRoad to…ʹ
event. In May we were awarded the
management of the Maracanã
stadium through IMX, our joint
venture company in Brazil, thatʹs
the third stadium that we are
involved with in the country. For
the Olympics, we have been
involved in the development of
certain venues in Rio. We have now
got the ATP500 event in Rio which
will use the venue of the Olympic
tennis. Probably the biggest thing
regarding Rio has been that for the
last seven or eight years I have been
managing on behalf of the IOC the
media rights in the region, and this
March we made the award of Rio
2016 and Sochi 2014 in Latin
America outside of Brazil. Our
involvement has been big. We have
been participating from the heart.
How is Latin America changing?
Latin America was always a
promise expected to happen soon
and now itʹs actually materializing.
There have been a lot of things
happening in the region that maybe
the rest of the world hadnʹt noticed
but then became big because they
were better marketed or better
exposed.
Today in Latin America, ESPN is
still very strong and growing, as is
Fox who have just launched a new
sports channel in Brazil. Telmex
have come of age and secured the
Olympic rights to Sochi ʹ14 and Rio
ʹ16 and are now going to use that to
launch a very strong sports
offering across the whole of the
region.
There has been a lot of growth in
Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia
particularly, either domestically or
through international partnerships.
We have also had our hiccups. In
Argentina we have government
interference with the nationalisation
of the Argentine football league.
Overall, there is significantly
more competitiveness in the market
now ‐ new channels are coming
which means all players have got to
up their game. The likes of
Bandsports have been doing that
very successfully, similarly
Channel 13 in Chile. But some
established monopolies have begun
to rock from the foundations ‐
Globo are no longer the giant they
once were in Brazil. The same goes
for Televisa in Mexico.
Which are the challenging markets?
We have challenges in Latin America
where big monopolies had been
established and it was difficult to
operate, Brazil andMexico specifically
in the past. Venezuela is complex,
partly because of certain controls
that the government has imposed on
foreign payments which makes it
difficult to bring in foreign content
and develop the market in that sense.
A lot of the challenges are now
happening in Europe. My colleagues
are finding that the European
economy, the state‐run networks
with their shrinking budgets, are
proving a huge challenge now. So in
a funny sort of way, the countries
that were deemed as emerging –
Asia, Latin America, are now
arguably the established growth
markets whereas the traditional
markets of Europe are in decline.
Looking ahead…
I have always felt that all that
technology does is expand your
ability to do what you have always
been doing, which is delivering
something to a spectator. The secret
of this industry is to be able to move
with the times. Technology is not
the enemy, itʹs the opportunity.
People will still want to be entertained
by watching live sport ‐ nothing
really beats the live experience.
Felix Alvarez-Garmon, thank you.
www.imgworld.com
“
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Wimbledon is
one of IMG’s prime
sporting clients
THE CHANNEL
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ISSUE 2 2013
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27
The events
of 2014
and 2016
will be a
catalyst
for change
across the
region
Telmexmoving
into sport
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Top IMG’s
production gallery
BelowFelix
Alvarez-Garmon
