Star Sports to put international & non-cricket content on Select HD channels from Oct 31

Star Sports is set to launch two premium high-definition (HD) sports channels, Star Sports Select HD1 and Star Sports Select HD2, which will showcase international sporting properties like the English Premier League (EPL), Bundesliga, F1, Wimbledon and French Open. The new channels will most likely be launched in the first week of August ( likely to be on 5th August).

The significant thing about the move is that the two channels will remain the exclusive home for international sporting events. The international events will be available on the existing SD and HD channels till 31 October after they will be exclusively aired on the two new channels. 

The four standard-definition (SD) channels and their mirror HD channels will air cricket (ICC, BCCI, Cricket Australia and England Cricket Board) and local sporting leagues like the Pro Kabaddi League, Indian Super League, Hockey India League and Premier Badminton League, among others. 

A tiered sports offering will help Star India to lift its subscription revenues up. Broadcasters realise that subscription revenue is the key to the growth and profitability of the sports business in India. 

Advertising revenue on cricketing and traditionally established properties has saturated to a certain extent and organic growth will be less brisk. According to market estimates, subscription income from the Star Sports & Ten Sports together is estimated at around Rs 1,400 crore (Rs 14 billion) a year. Star is also planning to put its international properties behind the pay wall on its video streaming service Hotstar.

Pro Kabaddi season 2 to kick off on July 18

Pro Kabaddi League, which was a success in 2014, will be back with its second season on 18 July, 2015 with the opening leg to be held at National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Mumbai.

The opening game will pit the two finalists of last year, U Mumba take on reigning Champions Jaipur Pink Panthers.

The league promoted by Mashal Sports and Star India with the backing of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India and International Kabaddi Federation, will feature 60 games played across 37 days in 8 cities.

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.

It's Kabaddi time for Star - buys 74% stake in Pro Kabaddi

Star has acquired 74 per cent stake in Pro Kabaddi League. The value of the deal is not known. Star, which is the official broadcaster of the league, will now have control over the entire league as a majority owner of Mashal Sports.

This is the second time Star has got itself involved in the league directly. Earlier, it had formed a joint venture (JV) with IMG Reliance to start the Indian Super League (ISL), with 40% stake in franchise-based football league- ISL.

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.

Hero ISL to kick off on Oct 12, Live on Star Sports

Arsenal legend Freddie Ljungberg and Spanish World Cupper Luis Garcia will be the centre of attention when Mumbai City FC kick off the inaugural Indian Super League on October 12, Sunday, 7pm at Atletico de Kolkata, in a tournament that will feature 61 games spread across 70 days.

The opening match will be played at the historic Salt Lake Stadium.

 

The league stage will witness 56 games on home and away format, followed by a two-legged semi-finals and the final scheduled for December 20.

59 matches will be see kick off at 7pm and 2 matches on  December 9 and 10 will start at 5pm.

All the action will be live on Star Sports 3 in Hindi, Jalsha Movies in Bangla, Star Sports 1, HD1 in English and live streaming on starsports.com.

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.

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.

Star Sports unveils hockey game plan, to invest Rs 1500 crore in national game

For Star Sports cricket & football are done, its time to do some hockey scoops. Just 2 days after a deal with International Hockey Federation FIH for all its events, Star Sports has announced ₹15 billion ( ₹1,500 crore) investment in hockey over eight years. With this investment they are all set to become largest hockey broadcaster in the world. 

Star India head of sports business Nitin Kukreja is very clear that the broadcaster is putting its money where its mouth is. “Our aim is to transform the sporting landscape and imbibe a culture of multiple sports in India. Sports broadcasters have traditionally only invested in cricket while shying away from other sports. We are not doing that. There are pockets of passion that still exist for hockey. The question is whether those people are getting a product that matches their expectations. Our investment of ₹15 billion is the biggest in the game globally.”

Star Sports signs 8-year broadcast deal with international hockey federation

Continuing shopping spree, Star Sports  has signed an eight-year broadcast deal with International Hockey Federation (FIH) during which the world sport body will look to host a major event in India each year.
Star Sports, will broadcast key FIH events both in India and throughout the world from January 2015 to December 2022. As of now international hockey federation rights were with Ten Sports & Hockey World Cup 2014 will be shown on TenAction & Ten Sports.

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. 

2013: Sports channels begin to challenge the traditional rules

By Peter Hutton : Joint CEO of sports media rights company MP & Silva

Peter Hutton is Joint CEO of sports media rights company MP & Silva)

Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/2013-sports-channels-begin-to-challenge-the-traditional-rules/ | TelevisionPost.com

Peter Hutton is Joint CEO of sports media rights company MP & Silva)

Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/2013-sports-channels-begin-to-challenge-the-traditional-rules/ | TelevisionPost.com

Peter Hutton is Joint CEO of sports media rights company MP & Silva)

Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/2013-sports-channels-begin-to-challenge-the-traditional-rules/ | TelevisionPost.com

Welcome to the Year of the Star cricket series featuring the Star Indian cricket team on Star Sports. Quite a last 12 months for Uday Shankar and Nitin Kukreja’s team at Star—they’ve built on their inherited sports business with dynamism and an intent to be local and relevant. In the last year, a huge spend on the next three years of the English Premier League football and a leap into the darkness of the hockey franchise world has shown a continued determination to challenge the rules of the Indian sports traditions. 

Those rules certainly needed re-writing with all the sports channels dragged into losses by the relentless inflation of cricket rights. Now we wait to see if Star can rewrite the rules on collections of revenues with sports as the battering ram of their whole entertainment business. What can’t be disputed is the way that they’ve used the entertainment channels to help cross-promote and build the bigger event to a wider audience.

Sachin’s last Test was a human interest story that transcended sport, and I’m sure the support of the Star network helped maximise the value of that emotional goodbye. Star also deserves credit for their investment in digital content that makes multiple games or multiple views of a sports event available.

Hindi & Indian Languages to take sports to next level : Star India Sports Prez

Star Sports presented a unique series of Knowledge Sessions - the India Pro Leagues Forum 2013 in New Delhi. STAR India President – Sports Nitin Kukreja delivered an engaging and insightful keynote address at the inaugural session of the summit, elaborating on the growing appetite of the Indian sports fans and the enormous growth potential of sports in the country.

Does ‘sport’ in India really begin and end with ‘Big Boys’ Cricket’? Or do we just see it that way? Across the length and breadth of India, there are strong communities and pockets of interest where people are passionately engaged with local sports and local players - football in Bengal, hockey in Punjab and Orissa, badminton in Hyderabad, basketball played in schools and table tennis played in clubs, colleges and offices across the country.

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.

Star Sports & IMG-Reliance all set to launch IPL style football Super League

Reliance Industries, Star India and IMG are set to launch the `Indian Super League,’ a football championship that will foster local talent and feature international stars with the aim of making the game one of the country’s flagship sports and India a name to reckon with in the global arena.

Football: India’s Super League all set to kick off

Here is the big news for Indian football fans-the three month football extravaganza, Indian Super League (ISL) is expected to kick off in January 2014 & it will have a total of 8 teams from the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Goa, Pune in its 1st season. The teams will have 22 players including one marquee player, international stars and leading Indian footballers.

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.