Star to air Hero ISL in 5 languages

The upcoming Hero Indian Super League (ISL) is all set for a mega start as Star India will broadcast it live across eight television channels in five languages. It will also have a multi screen experience on starsports.com.

 

With this move, Star India will have a potential to reach around 85 per cent of India’s television audience says the channel.

 

The league will be televised on Star Sports 2 (English), Star Sports 3 (Hindi), Star Sports HD 2 (English), Star Gold (Hindi), Star Utsav (Hindi), Asianet Movies (Malayalam), Jalsha Movies (Bengali) and Suvarna Plus (Kannada) while there will be live streaming on www.starsports.com. Asianet Network runs channels in Kerala and Karnataka and is fully under Star India.

71 percent viewers watched sports in Hindi

After Hindi, Bangla & Tamil  up next

English was the language of sports commentary when it started in India in the early 1940s on All India Radio. The listenership was limited to the English-speaking class. It was in the late 1950s that cricket commentary in Hindi made a beginning. Commentary in the language of the people took the game of cricket to the hinterlands.

The dominance of sports commentary in Hindi continued till the mid-1980s. Live commentary of India winning the 1975 Hockey World Cup & the 1983 cricket world cup were heard by most cricket fans in India in Hindi.

For the older generation, the names of commentators in Hindi such as Jasdev Singh, Suresh Saraiya, Narottam Puri and Ravi Chaturvedi still bring back memories of the 1970s and early 1980s when words created action happening on the cricket field.

Which cricket commentary is better – Hindi or English?

BCCI directly controls English feed

If you are a fan of text book commentary, you might argue, English commentary is better than Hindi and it has better talent.  But hold on! It is Hindi commentary which has huge numbers and editorially completely independent from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Add to it, huge subscription revenues it brings to Star Sports Network. So if you love having options then which cricket commentary is better - Hindi or English? 

The BCCI produces the world feed and hires English commentators. And there are strict do’s and don’ts for English commentators. 

Hindi commentary of BPL enhances ESPN Star Sports ratings

ESPN Star Sports seems to have hit the right notes with its viewers with the telecast of Barclays Premier League (BPL) this year. And it’s no plain statement. The broadcaster which is airing the football league in both English and Hindi this season has reported a 254 per cent jump in its ratings on the inaugural day. Not only this, the broadcaster also recorded a 105 per cent increase in its time spent per viewer on the day.

The league which went on air from 17 August on Star Sports and Star Cricket is also made available in Hindi for the first time. “We believe there is a huge potential for growth in football viewership and that Indian fans would love to consume non-cricket sports as well if the product is packaged well, communicated and presented in an interesting manner,” said ESPN Software India COO Vijay Rajput.

Everything you want to know about EPL broadcast on Star Sports Network

Q. Why I am getting jumbled/mixed commentary?

Ans. Earlier Star Sports and ESPN commentary feeds were switched by interchanging audio inputs (white nob in red input and red nob in white input). They have not changed that audio system yet. However, you can disable one audio input to get only one commentary feed at a time. For more read this : This is how to change commentary feed of Star Sports channels 

Q. How do I switch between Hindi and English commentary?

Ans. To switch between Hindi and English commentary, locate the language button on your set-top box remote and make the required change. If it is not working then interchange your set-top box audio inputs. If nothing is working then give it a read : This is how to change commentary feed of Star Sports channels

Behind the live telecast

For a cricket crazy nation it is just a matter of pressing a button on television remote to join the game. But a huge manpower and technical expertise are required behind the telecasting of cricket matches live from every venue to make it a worldwide fever.

Star Sports is the only cricketcaster which airs separate Hindi and English presentations. India has some 54.52 million DTH subscribes, 70% of them live in rural and small town India and this knowledge has inspired sportscaster Star Sports to air separate and quality Hindi presentation.

A team of around 200-250 people, most of them free lancers, works behind the scenes in making the footage available to the cricket fans across the globe. Instead of tendering production, BCCI has an in-house television production unit and the BCCI Broadcasting unit not only does the production for international home series, but also for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Champions League T20.

This is how to change commentary feed of Star Sports channels

Star Sports network which has grown into a network of six channels - Star Sports, Star Sports 2, Star Cricket, ESPN, Star Cricket HD and ESPN HD, is now airing two commentary feeds, Hindi and English, on its four Standard Definition channels - Star Sports, Star Sports 2, Star Cricket and ESPN. 

EPL, hockey matches, badminton & Super Fight League  

available with dual commentary feeds on same channel  

While cricket has different Hindi and English presentations, other sports are aired with same presentation and dual commentary feed.

Hindi and English dual commentary feeds on the same channel are available for English Premier League, Indian Badminton League, Hockey matches (international matches and Hockey India League) and Super Fight League. Star Sports is planning to add Hindi feeds of other sports. Here is how you can choose your preferred commentary feed on Star Sports Network.

"Give viewers the no-commentary option" - Harsha Bhogle

What if you have no-commentary option? As Indian TV industry is being digitized and rate of digitization is more in rural India than urban households. No-commentary option is not a bad idea. It will challenge commentators to get better, and give fans a choice, writes Harsha Bhogle for ESPNCricinfo.

Technology-driven changes have affected visuals more than they have words and voices. The pictures are better than they have ever been, and they will be better with every passing year, but the voices that add to them haven't changed much. You could, of course, argue that we have come a long way from Richie Benaud's legendary minimalist style to Danny Morrison, who is almost Formula 1 in comparison. And while it is interesting that both have their share of supporters, commentary is not really too different from how it used to be.