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Category: Sports

  • ESPN’s “The Last Train to Russia” to premier on SONY TEN 2 channels

    ESPN’s “The Last Train to Russia” to premier on SONY TEN 2 channels

    MUMBAI: The venue of the 2018 FIFA World Cup has a train that travels all over its territory, from St. Petersburg to Siberia. Russia can be traversed onboard the carriages of the Trans-Siberian railway, a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East, also known as the longest railway line in the world. In an unprecedented global initiative, leading up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, ESPN and Sony Pictures Sports Network presents The Last Train to Russia – a 12-episode series that explores the country of Russia through the eyes of ESPN international soccer reporter Martín Ainstein and his visits to the 11 World Cup host cities. The daily series will premiere on SONY TEN 2 SD and HD channels on June 1, 2018 at 9 P.M.

    The series captures the culture, the people, the food and the mores via Ainstein’s journey onboard the Trans-Siberian railway beginning in St. Petersburg; snaking through the country to cities as far east as Ekaterinburg; Sochi on the west; and concluding with two episodes on Moscow. 

    “The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia is the most anticipated tournament in the world, and as the official broadcaster, we are committed to offering our viewers a unique experience. Our build up to the World Cup has focused on giving our viewers in depth information on the teams, past winners, and the path taken by each team to qualify for the World Cup,” said Rajesh Kaul, President, Sports & Distribution, Sony Pictures Networks India. “The Last Train to Russia is an exclusive series by ESPN that gives viewers a taste of Russia and the host cities with a sagacious narrative of the greatest show on earth.” 

    “We are excited to present The Last Train to Russia, the first in our comprehensive global news and information coverage of the World Cup in Russia,” said Jasdeep Pannu, Head of ESPN India Television Initiatives. “Russia is a country with rich culture and unique traditions. We expect that through Martin’s style of storytelling, we are able to offer a sense-of-place experience to World Cup fans in India.”

    Ainstein added: “Traveling through the largest country in the world allowed me to get to know the real Russia: a rich, diverse, and ever-changing country. On the train, you begin to understand the country’s history and the lifestyle of its people by sharing and exchanging experiences. It was a fascinating journey.”

    Ainstein’s reporting for this series lasted for six weeks as he traversed the vast country, one train station at a time. The ESPN international soccer reporter captures the traditions and historic centers of each of the 11 World cup cities in Russia, including the stadiums where the matches will be played.

  • Pro Kabaddi League makes first ever player auction of Rs 10 mn

    Pro Kabaddi League makes first ever player auction of Rs 10 mn

    MUMBAI: India’s second most watched sporting league –Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) – has entered its sixth season auctions. Riding on the back of five phenomenal seasons, the auctions are taking place on 30 and 31 May 2018 in Mumbai.

    The salary purse of the franchise remains the same as Rs 4 crore per team with a minimum of 18 players mandatory in the squad. The teams are strategising to build their strongest teams.

    A total of 422 players will be drafted into the auction pool of which 58 are overseas players and 87 are players from the Future Kabaddi Heroes Programme (FKH), a nationwide talent scouting programme. The auctions will witness player representation from 14 other countries including Iran, Bangladesh, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

    iQuest CEO Nitin Kukreja came in for the support of Tamil Thalaivvas and said, “Previously there was not enough economic opportunity for people but with the likes of IPL and PKL the opportunities have been unlocked. We are setting up our first local residential academy in which we will provide free education to 70 children with the training which might help them to play for any franchise in PKL.”

    Mashal Sports director Charu Sharma said, “I’m very mesmerised with the response we got in the first five seasons of this league. We have a long way to go and need to be patient to take this revolution forward.”

    Jaipur Pink Panthers owner Abhishek Bachchan pointed out that the viewership goals were surpassed over 10 times till the past season and so have auction rates. “Last season we thought Rs 70 lakh will be the highest bid but it went till Rs 93 lakh. This season there will be 2-3 players crossing the Rs 1 crore mark.”

    Fazel Atrachali the costliest player bought for Rs 1 crore said, “I’m happy to be back in my second home UMumba after two seasons.”

    On day one six players crossed the Rs 1 crore mark out of which five are Indian domestic player.

    The bigs buys of day one from the domestic list is lead by Monu Goyat who was bought by Haryana Steelers for Rs 1.51 crore. The franchise has put Kabaddi in the rich and elite professional sports league with Rs 1.51 crore for the 26-year-old.

    Rahul Chaudhari is retained by using Final Bid Match (FBM) by Telugu Titans at Rs 1.29 crore. Deepak Nivas Hooda is the third player in the crorepati list with Rs 1.15 crore to Jaipur Pink Panthers. Nitin Tomar previous years highest earner was sold for Rs 1.15 crore to Puneri Paltans followed by Rishank Devadiga for Rs 1.11 crore to UP Yoddhas.

    The first player auctioned for season six was Irani defender Abozar Mohajermighani who was sold to Telugu Titans for Rs 76 lakh and the second was Atrachali.

    USports co-founder Ronnie Screwvala also thinks that three to four players will cross the Rs 1 crore mark. UMumba has not retained a single player from its previous squad.

    PKL league commissioner Anupam Goswami said, “It has been a historic day for VIVO Pro Kabaddi and it’s wonderful to see so many talented players who are under the radar, make such a difference to franchisee decisions at VIVO Pro Kabaddi S6 auctions. Kabaddi has proven to be a viable career option for emerging talent and with 6 players crossing the Rs 1 crore mark, it is a defining moment in VIVO Pro Kabaddi history, setting a benchmark for inspiring youngsters who look to make a difference in the game.”

    UMumba CEO Supratik Sen told Indiantelevision.com that they are going to focus on Defender and Raiders after the day 2 lunch. Staying true to what Supratik said, UMumba bought some C category raiders at a higher price. Siddharth Desai went for Rs 36.4 Lakh and Abhishek Singh at Rs 42.8 Lakh to name a few.

    Monu Goyat commentating on being the highest bid player said “I am extremely happy to be the highest paid player this season, there is a huge responsibility to deliver and I am glad to receive this opportunity. I will now focus on increasing the standard of my game and playing the best, I can.

    Rahul Chaudhari speaking on being retained with Telugu Titans said “I am very happy that my team has retained me and I am glad to be back to Telugu Titans. Every year the league witnesses’ massive jumps along with a tremendous growth in fan following and I am extremely happy to be a part of the Pro Kabaddi family. I have started my training and am looking forward to this season. It is a growing period for kabaddi and I think by the time the younger generation will step into the auctions, the bid may start at 6-7 crores. Kabaddi is only going to grow and I urge parents to send their children to play kabaddi.”

    Speaking on the anticipated outcome of the auctions, Patna Pirates owner Rajesh Shah said, “Being three-time champions we are looking forward to building a team that will retain the trophy again this year. We are looking at players who will complement the four retained players and bring in their strengths to build a strong winning team this season. I am very proud to be associated with Patna Pirates and am ecstatic that they won. But most importantly I am happy to be a part of this club of 12 teams owned and managed by people I know and respect. It’s a unique opportunity to be part of this group not only promoting Kabaddi but a great sense of competition in the game as well.

    Also Read :

    VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6 gives fans the power to choose their players

    PKL franchises retain 21 elite players for season 6

  • VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6 gives fans the power to choose their players

    VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6 gives fans the power to choose their players

    MUMBAI: Riding on the back of 5 phenomenal seasons, VIVO Pro Kabaddi, scheduled to take place on the 30th and 31st of May 2018 in Mumbai, will witness a stronger fan engagement this season. VIVO Pro Kabaddi launched a contest on their official website by giving fans a chance to don the owner’s hat this season. Fans get a chance to pick players for their favourite team,  fans can select 3 players for their team – a Raider, a Defender and an All-rounder. Fans can log onto https://www.prokabaddi.com/fan-voice, select their favourite team and choose players who they think will make it to their favourite team till May 30th –  the first day of the auction.

    VIVO PKL Season VI Player Auction from the broadcasters perspective:

    Taking the player auctions a notch higher is the introduction of the Bid-o-Meter, a graphical representation, similar to a speed-o-meter with three distinct ranges (Steal| Fair| Ambitious) for television only. While a bid for a player is active, the needle of the “Bid-o-Meter” will move along the range according to the current bid price till it settles on the final bid, this is done through a backend algorithm that has been tried and tested. The Bid-o-meter uses an analytical algorithm to determine the fair price range for only “Category A Domestic Players” who will be part of the auction process.

    Total Number of players:

    A total of 422 players will be drafted into the auction pool of which 58 are Overseas players and 87 are players from the Future Kabaddi Heroes Programme (FKH), a nationwide talent scouting programme. The auctions will witness player representation from 14 other countries including Iran, Bangladesh, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka. The two-day auction will mark the first event for Season VI, with the franchises coming together to build their teams. Out of the 12 franchises, 9 have chosen their Elite Retained Players and the remaining 3 will construct their teams from scratch.

  • Ceat UTT gets Kellogg’s as powered by sponsor

    Ceat UTT gets Kellogg’s as powered by sponsor

    MUMBAI: Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) season 2 is just around the corner as the dates are clashing with the FIFA World Cup 2018, on 14 June 2018. The 18 day-long tournament will be held in Pune, Delhi and Kolkata. This season, breakfast and cereal brand Kellogg’s has come on board as a sponsor in the ‘powered by’ category. With this new association, the league will be called CEAT UTT Powered by Kellogg’s.

    The six-franchise tournament has lined up India’s top stars, including Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal, to play alongside and against some of the finest players in the world. Opening matches will be played in Pune and New Delhi, with the grand finale in Kolkata.

    Kellogg’s India chief marketing officer Sumit Mathur said, “It is an honour to be associated with UTT, and we wish that all the athletes reach their full potential and achieve their dreams in the upcoming season.”

    “We are delighted to welcome Kellogg’s onboard. Their involvement is a testament to the widening reach and growing popularity of UTT. It will give a huge fillip to the league as well as to the sport of table tennis in the country. We look forward to a fruitful association with Kellogg’s,” said UTT co-owner Vita Dani.

    Six franchises will battle it out for the coveted trophy, with Falcons TTC coming in as the defending champions. With the continued support of various stakeholders, the Table Tennis Federation of India & the official league broadcaster, the Star Network, CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis Powered By Kellogg’s Season 2 promises to take the sport to greater heights and newer audiences.

  • NBA, Times Studio partner to promote basketball

    NBA, Times Studio partner to promote basketball

    MUMBAI: Times Studio, a digital video content company of Times Group and The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced a partnership to deliver game highlights and produce original programming for fans in India through Times Internet Limited (TIL) platforms that reach more than 45 million unique visitors each month.

    As part of the deal, Times Studio will deliver short-form videos focusing on on-court storylines, player profiles, and the history of the NBA, and will also produce original localised content exploring basketball culture in India and teaching the game to new fans. Additionally, Times Studio will launch NBA-dedicated sections on MensXP.com and Indiatimes.com, featuring extensive coverage of the NBA by Times’ editorial team.

    “We are excited to partner with the Times Studio to bring original, localised NBA content to our growing fanbase in India,” said NBA India senior director of content and media distribution Mairu Gupta.“The Times Group has a proven track record of developing and producing engaging content that resonates with audiences, making them an ideal partner to help us further connect with our fans.”

    “We are thrilled to partner with the NBA to create and deliver impactful stories of the game for our young audiences across these two digital platforms,” said Times Studio CEO Rajesh Bahl. “This partnership will feed the fans’ growing demand for the game and expose our existing audience to the world of the NBA.”

    Also Read:

    Social media most significant for snackable content: NBA India MD

    NBA to broadcast primetime games in India for the first time 

    NBA, Perform announce multi-year digital media deal

  • Arnab Goswami to lead IPL finale debate on Star Sports

    Arnab Goswami to lead IPL finale debate on Star Sports

    MUMBAI: Prior to the IPL finale, viewers will witness an interesting debate led by Republic World co-founder, MD and editor-in-chief and TV most prolific face Arnab Goswami. The theme of the debate is who will win the world’s toughest finals? The show will see cricket experts led by team Dean Jones, Kumar Sangakkara, Darren Sammy against team Scotty Styris, Brett Lee and Anil Kumble to predict the winner of Vivo IPL 2018. Jones and Styris will play against each other in aT20 format and collaborate with Republic TV.

    It will be a one hour show that will go be aired on Star Sports 1/HD, Star Sports 2/HD, Star Sports Select 1 (HD), Hotstar as well as on Republic TV.  

    Speaking on this debate, Jones said “Kumar Sangakkara and Darren Sammy are both extremely professional individuals. We are going to debate and prove why my team is going to win in this season of Vivo IPL. We will spend time going through analytics and the Red Book in detail. Kumar Sangakkara is a lawyer and Daren Sammy won two T20 world cup championships and is one of the best players of all time. So we are going to WIN THIS for sure!”

    Commenting on that, Styris responded, “The debate is going to be awesome! Dean Jones is going to lead one team and I am going to lead another with my team-mates Anil Kumble and Brett Lee, with the idea being that we debate all sections of the game – the powerplay, the middle overs and in the death. We will try and break it down into three experts in each time with the idea to prove why our team will win the Vivo IPL. I’ve got Anil Kumble and Brett Lee on my team who are the most knowledgeable cricketers I have met and I look forward to taking on Dean Jones’s team – who know nothing!”

    Select Dugout has a completely new concept for intense cricket fans. It highlights the what, why and how of the playing teams and players and their strategies that go into winning a match.

  • Star India mulls adding VR to PKL 6

    Star India mulls adding VR to PKL 6

    MUMBAI: Star India is taking the Indian Premier League (IPL) experience to other sports. After a  phenomenal reception for using virtual reality (VR) in IPL 2018, it is diversifying into Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season six.

    Along with VR, wearable technology is another main attraction for PKL. As the next step, wearable devices, artificial intelligence and smart analytics are needed for seamlessly integrating technology with application to guide the next stage of evolution and to ensure higher relevance to human society.

    Star India spokesperson said, “We may experiment with wearable technology like catapult devices which helps to measure heart rate, distance run, force extracted. We are actually deploying technology at the back end. We have some bit of artificial intelligence which is powering our analytics on cricket and we may use the same thing on kabaddi as well.”   

    Hotstar was viewed by 5.5 million viewers in VR in week six of IPL 2018, out of which 30-35 per cent of the viewers watched it live and remaining watched it in highlights. According to the spokesperson, the viewers almost watched 100,000 hours of VR content. For the IPL, it made Hotstar compatible with VR devices giving people the option of 360-degree rotation to get a view of the entire ground. People can even pick the language and camera of their choice for viewing.

    PwC India partner and leader, entertainment and media Frank Dsouza said, “VR does provide an enhanced experience which is immersive technology but the thing that people are grappling with is sports a community experience or not. Therefore, in a VR situation, it can be consumed singularly. The question remains, at what scale you are going to implement it.”

    With 4K adoption in India being marginal, last mile access is limited. “You need to have the infrastructure and the programming to be able to view on 4K. As we have moved from SD to HD, we can now shift to 4K because the experience has been better in HD. Then the question arrives of pricing,” said the spokesperson.

    US’ Fox Sports will be streaming live 4K video from the US Open using 5G wireless technology, with the help of Fox Innovation Lab, Ericsson, Intel, and AT&T.

    A pair of Fox cameras will transmit 4K HDR video to a nearby production truck, and then 5G, which provides multi-gigabit speeds with low latency, will be used to get that footage out to viewers. In the future, Fox could use this setup to stream live virtual reality from the US Open.

  • DSport reaches 110 mn households in a year

    DSport reaches 110 mn households in a year

    MUMBAI: DSport, the sports TV channel by Discovery Communications, has achieved the milestone of reaching 110 million households in India. The channel was launched on 6 February 2017 and achieved the milestone within one year of operations in India and has expanded its distribution across all DTH and cable platforms.

    It has broadcasting rights for some of the elite sporting events with 4000 hours of live programming.

    The channel claims to have grown consistently across the country and has been ranked among the top channels in motorsports and golf this year. In the car and bike racing genre, DSport has a 72.9 per cent market share. Moreover, in Golf the channel says it enjoys the second spot with a comfortable 32.2 per cent market share. Even in combat sports, the channel has witnessed a growth of close to 200 per cent in viewership. 

    In cricket, DSport brought the live action from the 2018 Nidahas Trophy and Pakistan Super League 2018 to the Indian audiences. In football, it has the exclusive rights to the Brazilian League, Major League Soccer and Chinese Super League. In golf, it telecasts three out of the four major PGA tours around the world including the historic British Open, PGA Championship and Augusta Masters.

    Also Read:

    Star spending up to Rs 2 cr on production per IPL match

    Dsport not in the running for BCCI’s media rights

    DSPORT to Broadcast Augusta Masters 2018 featuring Indian Golf Prodigy Shubhankar Sharma

  • Star spending up to Rs 2 cr on production per IPL match

    Star spending up to Rs 2 cr on production per IPL match

    MUMBAI: After having bought rights for almost all important sporting properties in India, Star India had the massive task to ensure that it sets a new benchmark for cricket. In February, it won the audio-visual production rights for IPL 2018, making it the first time that a broadcaster is producing IPL as till last year, the production rights was with the BCCI.

    Star hired ‘Why Project’ a management company based in London. About 28-32 cameras are being used for every match include drones swooping around all stadiums but Kolkata (where it didn’t get the permission) for the first time. A total of 16 DSNG OB vans are used for the live telecast of a match. Eight vans work on the world feed, four on the Hindi feed and rest on the regional feeds. The English feeds are being transmitted to other countries like the US and New Zealand. Two levels of quality check are done on the feeds, firstly the ground check then comes the Star India’s office and then goes on to uplink.

    Star has added Marathi and Malayalam feeds for the IPL finale as well. On the decision to do so, a Star India spokesperson said, “On social media there was a lot of demand for the Marathi commentary. The attempt is to make the broadcast of the finals available to the widest possible audience. Any region that we felt was potentially underserved by our current offering, we decided to add it to the mix which is Marathi and Malayalam.” Star Pravah and Asianet will be the channels to host the respective languages.

    It also provides tailor-made content for core cricket followers contextualised with a deep and passionate understanding from expert commentators and panellists through Select Dugout on Star Sports Select. It is an experience that extends beyond traditional ball-by-ball commentary, providing fans with a richer analytical experience, interactive demos with experts, before, after as well as during the matches. Star even added new arenas like a gaming experience WatchN’Play as well as virtual reality feeds.

    “We want the IPL finals to be a landmark event in Indian television, 17 channels will be airing it in eight different languages. The production cost of a match in IPL ranges from Rs 60 lakh to Rs 2 crore depending on the match. 700-800 people together are working hard towards the production of IPL 2018 including the regional feeds,” the spokesperson added.

    Being practical, Star doesn’t hope to sell much inventory on the newly added feeds. 

    The IPL finals will be telecast on 17 different feeds across the Star network – Star Sports 1 English, Star Sports 1 HD English, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Select SD English, Star Sports 1 Select HD English, Star Plus SD, Star Plus HD, Star Pravah SD, Star Pravah HD, Star Gold SD, Star Gold HD, Star Suvarna Plus, Star Maa Movies, Star Jalsha Movies and Asianet Movies.

    According to the numbers provided by the broadcaster, its OTT platform, Hotstar was viewed by 5.5 million viewers in virtual reality (VR) in week six. 30-35 per cent of the viewers watched it live and the remaining watched it in highlights.

    The same team is ensuring that content is being churned out on both TV and digital. Reports suggest that Star may also want to rein in homemakers by airing playoffs and finals on Star Plus.

    It introduced several regional feeds to hook new viewers but sources say that the incremental from there will not be more than 10 per cent. On Hotstar, it found that the highest concurrency in a match was around seven million and it has increased the bandwidth to 10 million. The highest concurrency which Star India has witnessed apart from IPL was in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 of around 5.5 million.

    Nevertheless, any technical work is bound to have some glitches and Star isn’t immune to them. Viewers have mentioned about screens freezing and the DRS review replay being that of a different match. But the agility that Star is known for will ensure it resolves these as they crop up.

  • Star to telecast IPL finale on 17 channels, adds Marathi Malayalam feeds

    Star to telecast IPL finale on 17 channels, adds Marathi Malayalam feeds

    MUMBAI: On the evening of 27 May, Star India wants to ensure you see nothing but IPL on your TV screens, no matter where you are or what language you speak. It has roped in Star Pravah and Asianet movies to add two new language feeds for better reach of the IPL 2018 in Marathi and Malayalam respectively.

    Star Pravah will carry the first ever Marathi language broadcast of the IPL with Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Swwapnil Joshi joining the celebrations on the channel while the Malayalam language feed will be broadcast on Asianet Movies. Star Gold will also join in with the Hindi broadcast.

    The showdown will be telecast on 17 different feeds across the Star network – Star Sports 1 English, Star Sports 1 HD English, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Select SD English, Star Sports 1 Select HD English, Star Plus SD, Star Plus HD, Star Pravah SD, Star Pravah HD, Star Gold SD, Star Gold HD, Star Suvarna Plus, Star Maa Movies, Star Jalsha Movies and Asianet Movies.

    Star Plus will telecast a two-hour prelude Cricket Finals…Party to Banti hai hosted by Ranbir Kapoor. Other celebrities joining the party include Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandes, Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. 

    The Dugout on Star Sports Select will continue to cater to core cricket fans who want to stay ahead of the game. The ball-by-ball coverage of the playoffs will entail predictive and prescriptive analysis – covering deep insights, rich data and video analytics and demonstrations by Dean Jones, Scott Styris, Anil Kumble, Kumar Sangakkara, Darren Sammy, Brett Lee, Mike Hesson etc.   

    Also Read:

    Star to share select IPL matches with DD with an hour’s delay

    Nielsen on changing landscape of global sports