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.

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.