Zee Group to enter sports biz with focus on cricket

Essel Group has rubbished media reports stating that the Subhash Chandra owned company was registering entity with names that appear to be rival national cricket boards. The company says it is excited to enter the sports business at a global level, focusing on Cricket.

In an official statement released on Monday, the company said according to its research, there was an immense opportunity to make Cricket a global sport.

Is Subhash Chandra going to challenge ICC this time?

In the times when Star has been on a buying spree Zee owned Ten Sports has kept their purses tight. It almost look like a complete knock out by Star. 

But wait, if media reports are to be believed Subhash Chandra is planning a return to the cricket pitch with Lalit Modi.  Reacting to these media reports Lalit Modi tweeted

I wish @_SubhashChandra all the best in this new venture. I have nothing to do with it. But we need a rival body - http://t.co/TShcsySVXX
— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) April 27, 2015

It's game over for Champions League T20

It is curtains down for the Champions League Twenty20. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has virtually decided to scrap the tournament – which was once seen as the UEFA Champions League of cricket.

At the working committee meeting of richest cricket board (and CLT20 stakeholder) BCCI in Kolkata on Sunday, the BCCI decided to call a meeting of the Champions League T20 Governing Council and put a stamp on the decision.

Sony launches LIV sports to stream Sony Six’s content, FIFA World Cup

Multi Screen Media has launched 'LIV Sports', a digital sports site –www.LIVSports.in. This site will give access to sports properties owned by Sony.

LIV Sports is the official mobile and Internet broadcaster for the 2014 FIFA World CupTM starting June 12. LIV Sports will show both live and video-on-demand match content with statistics and analysis.

Liv sports features content for football, cricket and basketball, with plans to add tennis, motor sports and wrestling (TNA) sections shortly. The focus is however currently on FIFA World Cup.

T20 World Cup 2014 to break all cricket broadcast records

Television coverage of the Twenty20 World Cup is all set to break all previous ICC events' broadcast records. Covered, produced and distributed by the ICCs global media rights partner and host broadcaster Star Sports, will have a potential reach of more than 1.8 billion viewers with live pictures shown by 29 broadcasters -- both figures the highest ever for an ICC event.

Though it will be shown in more than 20 languages, with pictures going across Europe via Eurosport and as far as Norway, Nepal, Afghanistan and the Pacific Islands, but only one Indian language; Hindi which will see more viewership than any other language.

The production will be among the most sophisticated ever too, with 28 cameras, including seven ultra-motion cameras, Spidercam as well as graphics with key analytics, all of which will take the viewer right to the heart of the action.

Ten Sports to air Sri Lankan cricket till 2020

Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) and TEN Sports have signed a seven year deal to broadcast SLC’s international cricket matches. The deal will run through till March 2020. This includes multi-platform media and sponsorship rights globally. 

Through its network of international affiliates and other broadcasters worldwide, content will be distributed in over 100 countries.  Apart from English, TEN Sports will also be broadcasting the matches in Hindi and other regional languages.

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.

This is what you can watch on Sports TV in 2014

Ten Sports air Asian Games & CWG
& Hockey World Cup

Every next year promises more than the previous year but 2014 is really big. Indian Cricket team will be on two of the toughest & longest tours : England tour with 5 tests & as many ODIs and later in December to Australia which is going to be acid test for 2015 Cricket World Cup. For Indian Football fans IPL-style Indian Super Football league could become a reality; though not all are in favour of ISL.

2014 will also see two quadrennial multi sports events: Commonwealth Games & Asian Games both on Ten Sports in Hindi & English and Hockey World Cup will also be on Ten Sports Network. For these 3 events feeds of selected Indian matches will be shared with Doordarshan.

Star will continue its experiment with Hindi & Indian languages.
Neo Sports is left with Bundesliga only.
Sony Six will be banking on IPL & action sports.

But the event of the year will be FIFA World Cup in June. If reports are to be believed Star Sports has sealed the deal for FIFA World Cup & will air it in Hindi & English.

Wimbledon will be up for grabs so it has not been decided which channel will air it. Hockey India League, Indian Badminton League will be shown on Star Sports & I-League on Ten Sports. This year could see some more leagues coming up, possibly a basketball league & Kabaddi league. EPL, LaLiga, SerieA, UEFA & other big properties haven’t changed hands, so will be on regular channels. Pakistan cricket board rights will be up for sale in next few weeks.  Here is a list of most awaited sporting events of 2014 with their channels & kick off dates. Wishing you a very happy new year !

Happy sporty 2014 on TV:

1.    Australian Open on Star Sports from Jan 13

2.    India tour of NewZealand on Sony Six from Jan 19

3.    Sochi Winter Olympics on Star Sports from Feb 6

4.    Asia Cup Cricket on Star Sports from Feb 24

5.    Formula One season on Star Sports from March 16

6.    ICC T20 World Cup on Star Sports from March 16 (Hindi + English)

7.    Hockey World Cup on TenSports from May 31 (Hindi+English)

8.    FIFA World Cup on Sony Six from June 12 (Hindi+English)

9.    India tour of England on Star Sports from July 9 (Hindi+English)

10. Commonwealth Games on Ten Sports from July 23(Hindi+English)

11.  Asian Games on Ten Sports from September 19 (Hindi+English)

12.India tour of England on Star Sports from December 5 (Hindi+English)

*Star Sports & Ten Sports refers to their network, some of the events will see multi channel broadcast. 

Ten Sports network's India vs South Africa series coverage plan

Three ODIs and two Test matches India’s tour of South Africa series will be live on Ten Sports in Hindi & Ten Cricket and  Ten HD in English. Ten Sports will also be monetising the Internet rights for the series, as it will be live streaming the matches on its website.

“With the viewer becoming more and more demanding like any other nation, and rightfully so, there is a viewer base that is looking forward to Hindi commentary and then the usual English commentary feed. Thus, we are only trying to reach out and satisfy the needs of our viewers and keep everyone glued to the action being played out on their screens in the language of their preference.” says Rajesh Sethi, CEO of Ten Sports Network.

Alvida Sachin Series will be the costliest Test series in the history

Alvida Sachin Series will be the
costliest test series in the history

Sachin’s farewell series will be shown live on Star Cricket in Hindi & on Star Sports, Star Cricket HD in English. And on other platforms starsports.com will live stream Alvida Series online & All India Radio will air running commentary.

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharti’s CEO Jawahar Sircar has also tweeted that ''We will see if we can negotiate'' with Star-BCCI' to air Sachin’s last match on DD National so that terrestrial TV viewers can also watch the legend playing last time.

It's Star Sports Cup now : Star's bid to be cricket's synonym

Star TV has so far forked out over $2.9 billion (Rs 17,800 crore) in buying cricket broadcasting rights, which has made it the undisputed leader in the segment. Now, it wants to go one step forward by grabbing sponsorship rights of cricket tournaments. The reason is simple but elegant: it wants to position the Star brand in such a way that it becomes synonymous with cricket in India. Last week, Star TV just did that when it won the title sponsorship rights for all the 13 international cricket matches to be held in India between October 2013 and March 2014 by agreeing to pay Rs 2 crore a match. It was a steal; Star TV was the only bidder and paid 39 per cent lower than what Bharti Airtel had forked out to win the rights last year. It will be the sponsor as well as the broadcaster of these matches.

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. 

ESPN to telecast Duleep Trophy

One semi-final and the final of India's zonal domestic competition Duleep Trophy will be aired live on ESPN. Final and one of the two semi-finals will be played at Kochi from where the ESPN will air two matches – one semi-final and the final.

India-Aus series to be Fight for No.1, Star Sports scores with cricket again

Fight for No. 1 : Team India will be seen
in action after almost 2 months 

Team India's all home cricket matches will be aired on Star Sports Network. The BCCI has awarded the rights for telecasting all international matches played in India to Star Sports Network for the period October 2013 to April 30, 2014.

The first in line is 7 ODIs and one T20 match India-Australia series starting 10 October till 2 November, marking the total telecast value at Rs 16 crore. India, the leader in ODI currently with 123 points, will fight Australia to retain the top position as the Aussies are 2^nd with 115 points. If Australia topples India with a comprehensive win then they will be the new no. 1 while if India wins the series they will retain their position. 

India vs Australia ODI series : Star Cricket & Star Sports to air Fight for No.1

Star Cricket & Star Sports will air India vs Australia 7 matches ODI series & only T20 international starting October 10. Coverage will be available in Hindi on Star Cricket & in English on Star Sports. However live streaming on starsports.com will be in Engish only. Star Cricket HD will air high definition feed with English commentary.

As all India international cricket matches are categorized as sports event of 'national importance', public broadcaster DD National and All India Radio will also air live action. Here is full schedule of ODI series between No.1 ODI team India and No.2 ODI team Australia.

Star Sports Champions League T20 coverage plan

Opening & knock out matches
will also be shown on Star Gold

This edition of Champion League T20 has something special for Indian fans as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid will be seen playing their last official T20 matches and four Indian teams - Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad will be taking on best of Australia, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

As Star Sports Network is betting big on Hindi, CLT20 will also have bilingual presentation (graphics+commentary) in both Hindi and English. Star Cricket will have it in Hindi while Star Sports and Star Cricket HD will be in English. 

Star Sports 2 to air NKP Salve Challenger Trophy

2013 edition of the one day cricket tournament NKP Salve Challenger Trophy will be aired live on Star Sports 2 & ESPN HD starting September 26. The tournament is played just before the start of Ranji Trophy season, with the purpose of showcasing the talent that the country has, as well as providing opportunities for younger players to make an impression.

The venues and teams for the four day tournament are yet to be announced. Earlier all matches were to be played day-night. But thanks to timings clash with ongoing Champions League T20, all matches will now be played in day.