ITV

Category: Sports

  • Pro Volleyball League players present Mumbai team jersey to Sunil Gavaskar

    Pro Volleyball League players present Mumbai team jersey to Sunil Gavaskar

    MUMBAI: Pro Volleyball League stars Mohan Ukkrapandian from Kochi Blue Spikets (L) and Ranjit Singh from Ahmedabad Defenders (R) present the official UMumba jersey to Mumbaikar and cricketing legend, Sunil Gavaskar, who is a panellist on Sony Pictures Networks India’s live studio show, Extraaa Innings. The inaugural edition of Pro Volleyball League featuring the best of Indian and international athletes starts on February 2, 2019 and will be telecast exclusively on the sports channels of Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN).

    The inaugural edition of the league will see six franchises vying for the title. Ahmedabad Defenders is owned by Bonhomie Sports Event Mgmt. Ltd., Kerala's Calicut Heroes is owned by Beacon Sports while the Chennai Spartans is owned by Chennai Spartans Pvt. Ltd. U Mumba Volley is owned by U Sports, who also own a team in the Kabaddi league while Black Hawks Hyderabad is owned by Agile Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Thomas Muthoot owns the Kochi franchise called the Kochi Blue Spikers.

    Pro Volleyball League’s first season will be held in two volleyball hotbeds of India i.e. Kochi (Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium) and Chennai (Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium). Each of the six teams will have 12 players including two foreign players and two Indian U-21 players. The league will be played over a total of 18 matches with each team playing each other once in a round-robin format and the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals. All the matches will be broadcasted live on Sony Six and Sony Ten 3 and will be streamed live on Sony LIV.

  • DSPORT to telecast marquee european tour events in india

    DSPORT to telecast marquee european tour events in india

    MUMBAI: DSPORT, a premium sports channel of Discovery Communications, will broadcast live , Marquee events from the European Tour 2019, Europe’s premiere and one of golf’s strongest professional tours featuring some of the world’s top professional golfers.

    The association tees-off with the live broadcast of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship scheduled between Jan 16-19, 2019.

    The first tournament as part of the Rolex Series, the Abu Dhabi event will feature top golfers of the world like world numbers two and three Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka in a strong field .

    Apart from Shubhankar Sharma, who became the first Indian to win the prestigious European Tour Rookie of the Year award last year, other top Indian golfers like Anirban Lahiri, Gaganjeet Bhullar and S.S.P. Chawrasia among others can now be seen in live competition action throughout the year.

    Hero MotoCorp, who already had golf legend Tiger Woods as their Ambassador  and also present the Hero World Challenge Golf as well as the Hero Golf Challenge Events  and the Hero Indian Open, will be the on air live telecast Partner on DSport.

    One of the richest golf tours in the world, the top 19 tournaments of the 2019 season present a total prize money of $35 mn with the DP World Tour Championship scheduled for November in Dubai, carrying a whopping $8 mn prize purse.

    Eight other tournaments will carry a purse of $5 mn or more in prize money.

    Among other top names of the golfing world who can be seen in live action besides those mentioned will be the likes of Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Thongchai Jaidee among others. 

  • Netmeds is title sponsor for the upcoming India Tour of New Zealand

    Netmeds is title sponsor for the upcoming India Tour of New Zealand

    10th Jan 2018, Chennai: Netmeds.com, India's leading online pharmacy is extremely happy to announce its third and biggest cricket association, the ‘Netmeds India Tour of New Zealand’. Netmeds is the title sponsor for the One Day International (ODI) and T20 series scheduled to be held in New Zealand from January 23 to February 10, 2019.

    After a historic win in Australia, Team India is well established as a world-class team, and Netmeds is pleased to lend its name to yet another exciting international tournament that is sure to showcase the squad’s talent to a global audience.

    Pradeep Dadha, Founder & CEO of Netmeds said, “This is a landmark year in Indian cricket, and Netmeds’ commitment to fitness and good health through association with marquee cricket events is testimony to the brand’s investment in activities that showcase excellence. Contributing to Team India’s success at the historic Australia series was a high degree of focus, commitment, leadership and passion, all qualities that Netmeds strives to emulate in its quest to deliver superior healthcare. We are proud to continue to support Team India in New Zealand and the Netmeds Cup tradition.

    Anand Pathak, Director- Marketing, Netmeds said, “This is a golden period for cricket in India, and we have one of the most dynamic cricket teams that is making the country proud with outstanding performances. That is our goal too – outstanding delivery and superior service. Our successful ongoing partnership with MS Dhoni expresses the ethos of the brand through heart-warming campaigns. The message we want to deliver is, like Dhoni for Team India, Netmeds too is always there for India.”

    Lokesh Sharma, Managing Director of Twenty First Century Media (TCM), commercial partners of NZ Cricket said, “We are delighted to have Netmeds as the Title sponsor for the upcoming India’s tour of New Zealand, a series that promises to deliver the highest quality of limited overs cricket. TCM has always believed in creating unique opportunities for brands to leverage their passion for cricket and this association further strengthens our belief that the Indian Cricket team will always be the primary touchpoint for brands to connect with their consumers.”

    Commenting on the association, New Zealand Cricket Spokesperson said “It’s been a brilliant couple of weeks for the BLACKCAPS with Test and ODI series wins over Sri Lanka and as the might of India’s men and women’s teams come to our shores later this month, it promises to be an exciting month of cricket. With health and wellness forming such an integral part of the sport, we’re excited to have as Title Sponsor of India’s tour of New Zealand, Netmeds – a brand which has been taking giant strides in its quest for superior healthcare.”

  • VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season VI, Pushes Boundaries with Innovative Brand Integrations

    VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season VI, Pushes Boundaries with Innovative Brand Integrations

    MUMBAI: The Vivo Pro Kabaddi league in just a short duration of 6 seasons, has been pushing boundaries in creating brand collaborations and partnerships that resonate in valuable outputs for brands and the sport alike. This season, witnessed innovative integrations in comparison to run of the mill advertising. The scope for integrations during a live game are several and the league wanted to bank upon this opportunity to integrate brand solutions using live television as a medium to amplify brand promise.

    Throughout the three months long season of Vivo Pro Kabaddi, the matches provided a perfect platform for brands like VIVO, Thums Up, Gillette, Tata Motors, Honda provided an opportunity to not only advertise but also integrate brand messaging into LIVE content to drive stronger impact. The fan favourite jumbotron (graphic that appears on the screen) evolved this season to further drive editorial narrative of the game, be it building the key battles to watch out in each match or driving hero performance traits. And, in a technology first, the jumbotron was used innovatively wherein the tvc was seamlessly integrated during the broadcast without taking a commercial break.

    Furthermore, Thums Up, became a brand that integrated their brand proposition in gameplay verbiage during a high impact LIVE match moment.  All Super Raids during the season were “Toofani Super Raids” – across all broadcast graphics, commentary and on-ground platforms, this gave the brand stronger recall for their messaging through the three months.

    Honda wanted to build recall value for their corporate anthem, VIVO Pro Kabaddi League provided them an opportunity to build the anthem across 13 cities on-ground and on live television. The teams worked together to seamlessly to integrate the anthem in hero player stories during the Pre-Game Show. VIVO Pro Kabaddi League offered multiple options to create this recall as touchpoints where eventually a fan could connect with the anthem.

    Brand Launches

    For the first time, VIVO Pro Kabaddi was used as a platform to launch the new Honda X-Blade bike, this enabled the brand to reach out to their target audience.  Apart from these innovations, Tata Motors and Dream 11 contextually built their association with the league by creating customized brand specific commercials leveraging well-known kabaddi players.

    Gillette launched the new MACH3 START using VIVO Pro Kabaddi as a platform, with an interesting campaign, during the countdown to start the game, ‘On your mark start’ was replaced with ‘On your Mach Start’ this clearly highlighted brand messaging. Gillette after a long duration launched a new product in the market and bet on Kabaddi to reach a younger audience that the product was targeting. 

    Other innovation integrations included, the Gabbar of Indian Cricket team, popularly known for his Kabaddi thigh-five action and twirling of moustache during Cricket matches, starting a new trend for moustached men on the Kabaddi mat. Shikhar Dhawan shaved off his bearded look to keep his symbolic moustache with a clean-shaven face. His mooch look was an encouragement for VIVO Pro Kabaddi League top players as well and taking his love for the game higher, Shikhar attended a kabaddi match and posed with the players, sporting the moustached look.

    Over the past few seasons, VIVO Pro Kabaddi League has provided the perfect platform for amplification of a brand promise both on-air and on-ground because of the nature of the sport. As the league continues to grow and is a platform for younger players to emerge, it is also turning out to be a platform where brands look at innovatively telling their story.

  • LaLiga 1|2|3 matches to be broadcast via YouTube in over 155 global markets

    LaLiga 1|2|3 matches to be broadcast via YouTube in over 155 global markets

    MUMBAI: LaLiga has announced that all matches from its second division, LaLiga 1|2|3, will now be available for free via YouTube to millions of consumers worldwide.

    Starting today, the LaLiga YouTube channel will provide live English commentary from this season´s LaLiga1|2|3 matches in over 155 countries, bringing the competition to large global territories where no previous transmission had been in place.

    The regions covered in the deal (listed in the below table) include major markets in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, with all content provided via geolocation. The broadcasts, which are due to begin from today, will provide a significant increase in coverage of LaLiga1|2|3, offering thousands of Spanish football fans around the world the chance to follow their favourite teams for free.

    For those not yet familiar with the competition, the channel will provide an exciting new platform to get better acquainted with the historic teams playing in the division, such as RC Deportivo, Real Zaragoza, Malaga, CA Osasuna and Cadiz CF.

    In addition to broadcasting the eleven matches from each game week, a 50-minute highlights programme will also be available to provide a summary of the major events from each match day.

    In Spain, matches will continue to be shown through existing broadcast operators beIN Connect, Orange, Telecable, Telefónica and Sky.

    Melcior Soler, director of the LaLiga Audiovisual department, said: “The way we consume live sports is being changed by a new generation of online broadcasters, and we are committed to using such channels to extend the appeal of our competitions. This move will strengthen the LaLiga 1|2|3 by bringing it to an entirely new global audience, in a format that we think will really appeal to the viewer.”

    LaLiga is continuing to grow its digital environments, having signed a landmark agreement with Facebook in 2018 to broadcast every LaLiga Santander match via the social media network in eight south-east Asian countries. Also in 2018, it increased its social media following to over 65 million, and agreed an OTT broadcast platform together with the Association for Spanish Professional Leagues.

  • Brands with most integrated marketing plans to win as cricket season heats up

    Brands with most integrated marketing plans to win as cricket season heats up

    MUMBAI: Franchises, brands, broadcaster and most importantly the fans were left delighted on Tuesday as news trickled in that the Indian Premier League 2019 will be played entirely in India. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also announced that the 12th edition of the cash-rich league will commence from 23 March 2019.

    This is the first time since the inception of the IPL that all its matches will be played in India during a general election year. In a sense, this is a testament to the humongous popularity of the cash-rich league. It must be noted that the entire 2009 edition was moved to South Africa, while in 2014, some matches were played in the UAE.

    Season 11 of the IPL was a runaway success on every front. Broadcaster Star India leveraged 17 of its channels, including Star Plus and Star Gold, to make the finals a smash hit. It was aired in eight languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi and Malayalam.

    Last year, the IPL was broadcast in six different languages – Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Bengali. While Star was unable to get full-fledged Telugu, Kannada and Bengali channels up and running at that time, it ensured that viewers from these regions didn’t miss out on the experience. It aired the matches on Suvarna Plus (Kannada), Maa Movies (Telugu) and Jalsha Movies (Bengali).

    The thrilling final powered the network’s growth by 34 per cent with 52.9 million average impressions. The final between Chennai Super Kings and SunRisers Hyderabad was produced with 11 live feeds across the TV network and Hotstar.

    Brands have long recognised the power and popularity of cricket in India.  However, with video proliferation and regional language market expansion, more avenues seem to have opened up for the marketers to position their products.

    With India kicking off the year with a historic 2-1 Test series win against Australia, 2019 could be the year the nation is hooked on to cricket like never before.

    PwC India partner- media, entertainment and sports Raman Kalra says, “India is always a cricket hungry nation and will always continue to be cricket loving nation. A lot of diversified brands will be seen participating. The important thing is how they weave this story into a much more deeply integrated marketing plan. It is not just about running one campaign or two campaigns, can they really integrate the storyline throughout the ATL and BTL and do something beyond what is being done.”

    Barring series (ongoing Australia versus India and West Indies versus India in the month of July and August) Star is bound to be the home of cricket for India’s cricket-loving public.

    The broadcaster’s offering in 2019 commences with New Zealand versus India series followed by Australia’s visit to India, followed by the IPL and the all-important 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup among others.

    Sports advertising expenditure is largely driven by cricket with other sports contributing a minor share. According to India Sports Sponsorship report 2018 by ESP properties and SportzPower, media spending in sports as a whole grew 15.8 per cent from Rs 3511 crore ($ 516 million) to Rs 4065 crore ($ 616 million), driven even more strongly in 2017 by Television On Air, which grew an incredible 42.7 per cent from Rs 2376 crore ($ 348 million) to Rs 3379 crore ($ 512 million). The other reason for sports adex increase is the annual increase in ad rates, especially on IPL.

    “The crux would be which brand has the most integrated marketing plan and go beyond the TV, digital campaign to engage with the audience and convert them into fans,” Kalra adds.

    The marquee cricket season is also an opportunity for new brands to tap into a wider audience and amplify their reach and communication.

    Some of new brands that associated with the IPL last season were AMFI, Asian Paints, Berger Paints, Blue Star, Ceat Tyres, Crompton, Dollar, Ford, Haier, Luminous, Pidilite, Sleep Well, Vanessa, Vimal Pan Masala and Voltas joined the existing ones like Vivo, Colgate, Amul, Dream11, Elcia, Kent, Parle Agro, Polycab to name a few.

    When it comes to the big ICC events, the likes of Oppo, Nissan, MRF Tyres, Emirates, Uber, Bira, Dream11, and Royal Stag do not miss a chance to grab the audiences’ attention.

    Some industry experts believe that advertisers could be looking at an option that includes featuring both during the IPL and the World Cup as part of a combo deal.

  • Discovery acquires majority stake in Play Sports Group to form global cycling platform

    Discovery acquires majority stake in Play Sports Group to form global cycling platform

    MUMBAI:  Discovery Inc, the global leader in real life entertainment, today announced the purchase of a 71 per cent controlling stake in Play Sports Group – the digital sports media company behind market-leading cycling brands Global Cycling Network, Global Mountain Bike Network and Global Triathlon Network.

    The deal underpins Discovery’s ambition to build the number one cycling media ecosystem worldwide, leveraging its position as the global leader in live sports and a premiere rights holder for cycling events in Europe – through its principal sports brand Eurosport. In partnership with Play Sports Group, the world’s leading cycling community and digital destination of choice for cycling technology, training, tutorials, behind the scenes content and more, Discovery will create the first global ecosystem combining the best of community, content, lifestyle and events for the large and growing number of cycling enthusiasts – a $50bn global market.

    Discovery originally took a 20% stake in Play Sports Group in February 2017. This additional investment increases Discovery’s ownership of Play Sports Group, which will become a subsidiary of Discovery. Play Sports Group Founder and CEO, Simon Wear, and his team of 140 world class cycling experts across content, creative, digital, marketing and sales services, will join Discovery, forming a new global cycling-focused division in the company.

    Founded in 2012, Play Sports Group owns and operates eight cycling video channels generating over 45 million video views every month, with 5.7 million social followers and 3.1 million subscribers. During 2018, Play Sports Group launched five new international channels, a consumer retail division and fan club, and broadcasts live racing on its YouTube channels and via Facebook Watch.

    Discovery’s investment in the Play Sports Group strengthens the company’s strategy of powering people’s passions by developing brands and products that super serve global communities of fans and enthusiasts. The new proposition creates opportunities to develop a significant direct-to-consumer offering for cycling fans around the world. Discovery has recently announced a pioneering strategic alliance with the PGA TOUR to create a new international multi-platform home for golf. The company has since launched GOLFTV and expanded its rights portfolio as it moves towards becoming the established digital home of golf for fans around the world.

    Eurosport, part of the Discovery Sports family, is the number one sport destination in Europe and the leading TV rights holder for key cycling events, establishing an unrivalled portfolio which includes all three Grand Tours, more than 35 UCI World Tour races, including all five Monuments, and the UCI World Championships. In 2019, cycling fans will enjoy over 200 days and 2,500 hours of live cycling on Eurosport and its all-access, live and on-demand, streaming service, the Eurosport Player.

    Commenting on the deal, Discovery International president and CEO JB Perrette said, “This is another important step in Discovery’s strategy of being the global leader in brands and products that power people’s passions.  I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Simon, a fantastic entrepreneur, and his terrific team to help turbo charge the expansion and globalisation of the Play Sports Group.”

    Discovery Inc., CEO global direct to consumer Peter Faricy said, “Our partnership with Play Sports Group accelerates our global direct-to-consumer sports strategy and gives us an unprecedented opportunity to create a single global cycling destination for fans around the world. Discovery and Play Sports Group share a consumer-obsessed philosophy centered on a deep understanding of super-fans and creating content that inspires, informs and entertains, taking them closer to the sports they love.

    “We know the value Play Sports Group bring to our portfolio and we’re excited by the possibility of building a 360-degree proposition that combines the strength of their digital-first, fan-centric content, alongside Eurosport’s premium live broadcasting rights and existing direct-to-consumer platforms.”

    Play Sports Group founder and CEO Simon Wear said, “I am tremendously proud and excited for Play Sports Group to join the Discovery family. As a fan and community-focused business, we could not be more perfectly aligned with Discovery’s deep-rooted history in serving passionate, specialist audiences with super high-quality content.

    “Since Discovery’s initial investment in PSG, we have worked closely with JB Perrette and his team and it has become increasingly clear that, as innovative direct-to-consumer businesses, we have a shared vision of how to super-serve fans’ ever-evolving needs. The combination of Discovery and Eurosport’s leading package of cycling rights, its resources, infrastructure and company philosophy, combined with Play Sports Group’s massive community of cycling fans means we have a phenomenal package. The opportunity to build a world class digital destination, in multiple languages, for cycling fans the world over is one that’s just too good to miss.”

    Discovery Sports is the global leader in live sports with extensive brands and exclusive partnerships with premium sports and events including: Eurosport and the Eurosport Player, the Olympic Games, the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, La Vuelta a España, The Championships – Wimbledon, US Open, Roland Garros, Australian Open, ATP Tour, Bundesliga, English Premier League, UEFA Europa League, Eliteserien, PGA TOUR, Six Nations Rugby, FIS Ski World Championships, Moto GP and Formula E to name only a few.

  • Good news for Star as IPL 2019 to be played entirely in India

    Good news for Star as IPL 2019 to be played entirely in India

    MUMBAI: The 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held in India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced, allaying fears of franchises, brands, fans and most importantly the broadcaster Star India. The cash-rich league will kick off from 23 March 2019 said the Indian board after the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) met on Tuesday to discuss the tournament’s venues and window.

    "Based on the preliminary discussions with the appropriate central and state agencies/authorities, it was decided that the 12th edition of the world's most popular and competitive T20 tournament will be scheduled to be played in India," a statement issued by the BCCI read.

    The CoA will have detailed discussion with all the stakeholders before releasing the IPL 2019 schedule.

    "It is proposed that the IPL 2019 will commence on 23 March 2019. The detailed schedule will be finalised in consultation with the appropriate authorities," it added.

    The BCCI’s announcement put an end to months of speculation about IPL’s venue given the possibility of it clashing with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the dates of which are yet to be communicated by the Election Commission.

    “Franchises, sponsors and broadcast rights holders, and more importantly the fans, will be delighted,” tweeted veteran sports commentator Harsh Bhogle after the development.

    The last time the IPL was held in March was way back in 2010. Since then, the league has always commenced in the first half of April and ended in May.

    Spatial Access CEO Vineet Sodhani said, “The elections give better reach to brands than cricket at a far lesser cost. It may be a good alternative or some kind of blend that brands can do with little bit of elections and little of cricket.”

    The dates have been changed due to the ODI World Cup in England from May 30. According to the new BCCI constitution, it is mandatory to have a 15-day gap between the end of the IPL and India's international engagements.

    The IPL has hosted outside India twice due to general elections. The entire 2009 edition was moved to South Africa, while in 2014, some matches were played in the UAE.

  • Pro Wrestling League 4 Promotional Campaign Features Champion Wrestlers Bajrang, Pooja, Sakshi & Vinesh

    Pro Wrestling League 4 Promotional Campaign Features Champion Wrestlers Bajrang, Pooja, Sakshi & Vinesh

    MUMBAI: The much awaited fourth season of Pro Wrestling League #PWL4, the biggest Olympic wrestling league in the country is scheduled to start from 14th January and will go on till 31st January.

    In its fourth season, the Pro Wrestling league is becoming bigger and better as during the players draft, the top Indian wrestlers were picked up by the franchisee teams- Bajrang Punia was picked up by NCR Punjab Royals for 30 lacs; Vinesh Phogat was chosen by Mumbai Maharathi for 25 lacs and Sakshi Malik by Delhi Sultans for 20 lacs respectively. The league offers a price purse of Rs 1.9 crores for the winning team and Rs 1.1 crore for the runners-up team. There are totally six competing teams – Delhi Sultans, UP Dangal, Haryana Hammers, MP Yodha, Mumbai Maharathi and the NCR Punjab Royals.

    The promotional campaign of the Pro Wrestling League – season four was launched across all offline and online mediums including TV, Print, Radio, Outdoor and Digital media. The TVC campaign features top Indian champion wrestlers including –Bajrang Punia, Sumit Malik, Pooja Dhanda, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat.

    The league will be telecasts live and exclusive on SONY SIX (English) +HD, SONY-TEN 3 (Hindi) +HD, SONY WAH and for sports lovers on the move, the league is also being streamed LIVE on SONY LIV App.

  • Tata Communications and NEP pioneer the remote production of VIVO Pro Kabbadi League 2018 for Star Sports

    Tata Communications and NEP pioneer the remote production of VIVO Pro Kabbadi League 2018 for Star Sports

    MUMBAI: Tata Communications, a leading global digital infrastructure provider, and NEP Broadcast Solutions, a division of NEP Group, are together enabling the remote production of  VIVO Pro Kabbadi League (PKL) for Star Sports, the number one sports broadcaster in India and subsidiary of  21st Century Fox. Now in its sixth season, this is the first time that PKL is being produced remotely by harnessing superfast connectivity.

    The PKL is the largest league in the nation in terms of footprint, and the second most popular sports league in terms of viewership after the Indian Premier League (IPL). The 2018 season consists of 138 matches taking place over 91 days (October 7th 2018 – January 5th 2019). It is being streamed across six channels and in five languages – Star Sports English, Star Sports Hindi, Star Sports First, Star Sports 1 (Tamil), Star Suvarna Plus (Kannada) and Star Maa Gold (Telugu).

    Given the back-to-back schedule of events in multiple locations, Star Sports has partnered with Tata Communications and NEP to streamline and reduce the cost of the broadcast of PKL with remote production.

    This means that production teams don’t need to travel to each venue, and the different localised broadcasts can be brought to audiences more efficiently.

    During each match, the remote production team (the director, vision mixer, audio engineers, EVS operators, producers and graphics team) operates out of the Star Sports facility in Mumbai, whereas the production crew along with NEP’s engineering team (cameramen, sound assistants, talent producers and the production management) are on-site. They collaborate seamlessly in real-time to deliver every moment of the action to more than 200 million viewers using Tata Communications’  Video Connect network. It ensures the smooth transmission of a combination of signals and camera feeds from each fixture because of its ultra-low, four- frames-per-second latency and hitless switching capability. NEP’s flight pack Broadcast Lite – which allows a quick set-up in minimum space without any compromise in functionality and quality – makes it easy for Star Sports to produce both the world feed and regional language feeds. These consist of 27 unilateral camera feeds that are sent from the venues to its Mumbai hub, and 4 return feeds that are sent back to the venues, along with associated AES audio feeds.

    “As India’s number one sports broadcaster, we have always pushed the boundaries of what’s possible,” a Star India spokesperson said. “Harnessing the joint capabilities of NEP and Tata Communications allows us to bring this incredible — yet logistically complex — series of matches to millions of Kabaddi fans across India without a glitch. And, thanks to the efficiencies gained through remote production, we can focus our efforts on enhancing how people are able to enjoy and engage with their favourite sport.”

    “The millions of kabaddi fans across India don’t want to miss a millisecond of the on or off-court action, which means that the production of each PKL match needs to be completely seamless,” said Brian Morris, Vice President and General Manager, Media & Entertainment Services, Tata Communications. “At the same time, broadcasters are under pressure to increase efficiencies and reduce costs to ensure good return for their sports investments. To deliver the highest-quality content to audiences and create a TV experience that is closest to witnessing a match live in the stadium, more and more broadcasters globally are following in Star Sports’ footsteps and embracing remote production.”

    “We are delighted to partner again with Star Sports and Tata Communications on enhancing the viewer experience by seamlessly broadcasting sporting events to millions of fans using remote production. This teamwork demonstrates that leveraging the unified force of leading organisations can drive innovation in the broadcasting industry while improving efficiencies,” said Saeed Izadi, President, Broadcast Solutions, NEP. “Together, we are redefining the production of kabaddi in India.”

    In less than a year, this is Star Sports’ second major remote production project with Tata Communications and NEP. Earlier this year, the two companies joined forces for the remote production of the entire VIVO IPL 2018 league that consisted of 60 matches taking place over 50 days in nine cities.