Category: Sports

Star brings Gurjeev Singh Kapoor home to head distribution

MUMBAI: The industry has been abuzz about TV distribution veteran Gurjeev Singh Kapoor shifting base back to India. Well, that buzz is indeed turning out to be true. Last evening, an announcement was made in the Star India office in Mumbai stating that the London-based head of international business at the company would be leaving Blighty to come back to Bharat, a source at Star said.

Gurjeev’s return clearly indicates Star India CEO Uday Shankar’s intent to have a senior professional who understands and has solid relationships in India’s complicated distribution sector. One of the main planks of Uday being able to do well and get a return on the high prices he has agreed to cough up for the IPL for the next five years is affiliate revenues. And bringing the affable but tough-as-nails Gurjeev on board will greatly strengthen the distribution team by attracting executives from other companies and help Uday get closer to the target.

Sources in the industry at indicate that Gurjeev will also play an important role in licensing and distributing the global rights for the IPL, which Star has acquired.

Gurjeev was earlier the business head of SET Discovery and later CEO of the dissolved joint venture Star DEN Media Services. He was also the COO of Star Den-Zee Turner joint venture Media Pro before making a shift to London to look after Star’s international business.

The company had earlier this year hired a former Marico executive Sridhar Balakrishnan to head the distribution of Star’s extensive bouquet of 53 odd channels.

Industry sources indicate that Star has been asking anywhere between a 15-30 per cent hike in revenues from distribution affiliates, signing both fixed fee and RIO aka à la carte deals, a process that has been taking time for distribution platform operators who have been loath to agree to the hike in content costs.

Clearly, Kapoor and team should prove themselves up to the task to speed up the process.

Please watch this space for further news.

Also Read:

Gurjeev Singh to head Star India international business

Comment: The rise and rise of Uday Shankar

Star’s Uday Shankar on distribution challenges, IPL, FTA vs. pay TV, innovations, Made in India content…and much more

January 10, 2018
Sony Pictures Sports Network to telecast the third season of Pro Wrestling League

MUMBAI: The Pro Wrestling League (PWL), the world’s biggest wrestling league, returns to Sony Pictures Sports Network in its third season. The event will take place at Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi and will be broadcast exclusively on SONY ESPN, SONY ESPN HD & SONY WAH from 9th to 26th January 2018.

PWL was instituted in 2015 and has successfully completed two editions. In its third season, Pro Wrestling league will feature a squad of 6 teams – NCR Punjab Royals (defending champions), Haryana Hammers, Mumbai Maharathi, Delhi Sultans, UP Dangal and Veer Maratha – with 54 players. PWL will create history as they present one of the largest contingent of Olympic wrestlers competing in a league. Keeping in mind the popularity of the tournament, PWL will present Olympic style Greco Roman Wrestling to give fans a chance to witness their wrestling heroes contending against the world’s elite in an international format in India. For the first time in Pro Wrestling League, wrestlers from China, France, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia and Egypt will be competing in the coveted league.

The third season of Pro Wrestling League will feature two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, reigning Asian Champion Bajrang Punia and 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik among the other Indian stars. World Champions like Haji Aliyev, Helen Maroulis and Petroshivli Geno will be participating along with 10 medal winners from Rio Olympics and four continental champions.

January 9, 2018
Sony Ten1 starts regional feeds for Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Network (SPN) India is all set to launch regional language feeds for Sony Ten1 HD and SD. The languages are Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam.

It was about time Sony took a bite of the regional apple, an opportunity rivals haven’t wasted time in invading. According to FICCI-KPMG report 2016, regional makes up 33 per cent of India’s TV viewing pie. Sony has already attempted several regional-focused attempts recently such as broadcasting the El Clasico in Hindi, Malayalam and Bengali and the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Hindi and Bengali.

This move will give sports viewers the choice to pick their language any time of the day. The test signal of the Hindi feed was visible during the first test match in the ongoing India versus South Africa series.

According to sources, the channels will be available on all pay DTH operators and some cable networks.

Also Read :

Sony Ten to broadcast El Clasico in 4 languages

ISL piggybacks on EPL’s popularity to gain viewership

January 8, 2018
IPL 2018: Virat Kohli retained by RCB for Rs 17 crore

MUMBAI: As the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 inches closer, the excitement level is set to burst through the roof. The player retention window, which was closed on 4 January 2018, has only served to amped-up proceedings as the hysteria surrounding the auctions takes hold. The auctions are scheduled for 27-28 January 2018.

Marking the beginning of IPL’s innings with Star India, the player-retention announcement was broadcast for the first time on the network, when eight franchises announced the names of the players that were retained.

The most valuable player in the retention window was Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who will continue to serve the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The franchise has retained Kohli for Rs 17 crore while Chennai Super Kings has kept MS Dhoni in a Rs 15 crore deal.

The retention window also saw some notable exits with some big names such as Chris Gayle (RCB), R Ashwin (CSK), K Pollard (MI) and G Maxwell (KXIP) not being retained by their respective teams.

Also Read:

Star India to introduce VR for IPL 2018

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MIB mulls IPL telecast on Doordarshan

January 5, 2018
Dsport to telecast Poker Sports League’s season 2

MUMBAI: Dsport, Discovery Communications India’s sports TV channel, has acquired the exclusive rights to broadcast season two of the Poker Sports League (PSL), the world’s first franchise-based poker league. The tournament will be covered in English to begin with. This will be the first-ever broadcast of the globally popular sport of poker in India. PSL’s choice of broadcast partner was made after careful evaluation involving multiple bids.

PSL co-founder Amit Burman said, “PSL’s biggest challenge has been to overcome preconceived notions and change people’s perception with regards to poker. Hence, our positioning has been clear from the very start and this will get established further by getting the league broadcasted on a sports channel. Dsport’s wide coverage of international sporting properties made it the natural choice.

With this partnership announcement, PSL has clearly distinguished itself from other leagues in India. For Season two, PSL has franchised 12 teams with each team committing close to INR 15 crore over the next eight years. For the season, the organisers have announced a prize pool of INR 3.6 crores, which is a significant increase from the previous edition.

TS Panesar, head of business at Dsport, said, “Poker is broadcast on sports channels across the globe since 1978. In India, this will be a first and considering that PSL is the world’s first franchise-based poker league, we are excited to partner with them. The PSL team is committed to creating an excellent broadcast-friendly show to reach out to sport lovers across the subcontinent and make this an exceptional experience for them.”

The teams this year will consist of a total of 10 players each, comprising one mentor/playing captain, two pro-players, two from free live qualifiers, three from free online qualifiers and two wild-card entries. While the first season saw 140 players getting drafted, this year the drafts will see close to 170 players, who can be eligible for participation.

Based on the design, PSL is eliminating the factor of luck by ensuring the players get to prove their poker skills over multiple events. For instance, players who want to make it to the online draft need to play 24 out of 72 deep-stack online events and need to perform well across all the events in order to stand a chance of getting drafted.

“We are very excited to have DSport as our broadcasting channel partner this season. Season 1 was a proof of the concept year as we wanted to test the potential of converting an individual sport into a team sport. Season 2 requires us to multiply PSL’s reach much beyond the online platform in order to connect with every possible poker enthusiast out there,” PSL co-founder Pranav Bagai said. “Anybody who knows the ‘p’ of poker can prove his/her skill by qualifying through free live qualifiers or free online qualifiers, which began last month and will continue until March 2018.”

When asked about this association, Viswanathan Anand, chess maestro and brand ambassador of PSL, said, “Poker as a sport has ample potential and it is about time that we Indians realise it and give the sport the kind of attention that it deserves. PSL joining hands with DSport sure looks like a step in the right direction.”

Also Read:

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January 4, 2018
LaLiga’s most passionate derby ‘The El Gran Derbi’

MUMBAI: The derby between Real Betis and Sevilla FC is undoubtedly one of LaLiga Santander’s greatest clashes. The rivalry between these two clubs from the city of Seville means that this derby is much more than just a game of football. The Seville derby is not just about the 90 minutes out on the turf. It is a duel that lasts all season. As soon as the fixtures come out in July, the two sets of fans take note of the dates and the city awaits the matchdays as the biggest sporting occasions of the year.

Few matches in the world divide a city the way this derby does. The fourth most populous city in Spain lives and breathes it like no other. The atmosphere does not just permeate the stadium. It is also felt in bars, restaurants, office blocks, out on the street, at schools and universities… because it is a derby for all ages and sexes.

Since the inception of LaLiga Santander, the rivalry between the two sets of fans means that they constantly keep an eye on the ups and downs of the other side in preparation for what, for them, is without doubt the main event of the year: #ElGranDerbi..

It does not matter whether Sevilla’s objective is to achieve a place in the upcoming edition of the Champions League or whether Betis are looking to consolidate their position in LaLiga Santander and scale the table season by season as they seek to regain their status of years gone by. When the Big Derby comes around, the two teams only have one thing on their minds: beating their opponents, making their fans happy and ‘ruling supreme’ in the picturesque city of Seville – at least until the return fixture in the second half of the season.

The fans are preparing for this match like no other during the season. For Seville and its two football clubs, winning the duel on 6 January will be the ideal way to kick off the New Year. The atmosphere inside and outside the stadium is always electric. The long-held and never-ending rivalry between these two teams can be felt out on the pitch and across the entire city. And it will not end with the final whistle. It will last all week, all month, all year. When #ElGranDerbi starts, the city grinds to a halt. Only the game matters. Seville’s more than 700,000 inhabitants treat the match like a cup final. The streets are empty. The lucky ones are watching the action from the stands. The rest are glued to the television. But not a single soul in Seville misses either of the two crunch games that await them each year and which divide a city that lives for #TheBigDerby.

January 2, 2018
Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) acquires exclusive telecast rights of Tata Open Maharashtra 2018

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has acquired the exclusive telecast rights for Tata Open Maharashtra 2018, part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour, taking place in in Pune from January 1 to January 6, 2018. The deal will cover television and digital broadcast in eight countries; India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.

The Tata Open Maharashtra 2018 will feature top names including world number six and fourteen, Marin Cilic and Kevin Anderson respectively and Spanish player Roberto Agut amongst others. The tournament will also feature Indian entrants Yuki Bhambri, Arjun Kadhe and Ramkumar Ramanathan. The tournament is to be played at the Shree Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune.

Comments:

Mr. Rajesh Kaul, President, Sports and Distribution Business, Sony Pictures Networks India

“We are proud to be the official broadcast partners of India’s premier ATP event, which is also the biggest tennis tournament in South Asia. The Tata Open Maharashtra will feature top ranked International and Indian players on our network. This is a valued addition to our line-up of major tennis events in January starting with Hopman Cup, Brisbane International 2018, Sydney International 2018 and Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2018 leading up to the first grand slam of the calendar year, Australian Open 2018, making our sports network the one stop TV destination for tennis enthusiasts.”

Mr. Uday Sodhi, Executive Vice President and Head, Digital Business, Sony Pictures Network India

“We are delighted to stream South Asia’s biggest tennis tournament, Tata Open Maharashtra 2018, part of the ATP World Tour 250 series. Consumers can stream live or catch up on the highlights of the matches exclusively on SonyLIV. This further strengthens our commitment to provide diversified sports offerings to our viewers.”

Watch the LIVE and EXCLUSIVE coverage of the tournament beginning at 5:00 P.M. on January 1, 2018 on SONY TEN 2 and SONY TEN 2 HD channels. Viewers on the go can also live stream the matches on the SonyLIV App and website.

Schedule for the next week:

December 29, 2017
Gautam Thakar new Star Sports CEO

MUMBAI: At long last the post left vacant by Nitin Kukreja has been filled. Gautam Thakar has been appointed as the CEO of Star Sports. Thakar replaces Kukreja, who quit the company in March.

Currently working with Washington DC-based investment firm Revolution LLC, Thakar will take up the new role on 15th January.

Thakar started his career as a brand manager with P&G in India, then led baazee.com as a founding management team member to become the No 1 e-commerce company in India. He then spent 10 years in eBay in a variety of leadership roles before leading the turnaround at LivingSocial.

Thakar has an MBA from IIM, Lucknow.

The Star Sports network is home to some of the best sporting properties in India. The upcoming year is especially critical for the network with Star India bagging the rights for the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL).

Also Read:

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Sony Ten to broadcast El Clasico in 4 languages

December 26, 2017
Sony Ten to broadcast El Clasico in 4 languages

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Sports Network will broadcast football’s biggest rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona dubbed as El Clasico in four languages across Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 2 channels for the first time.

The game will be played at the legendary Santiago Bernabeu stadium on 23 December and the telecast will be in English, Hindi, Malayalam and Bengali with live coverage commencing at 4:30 pm. The world English feed will be on both Sony Ten 1 and 2 channels while the other three will be on Sony Ten 2.

SPSN’s programming initiatives also include the return of Football Extraaa, the live studio show presented by Marc Edwards and panellists like former Liverpool, Manchester City and Bolton defender Mark Seagraves, and current Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri, who is also the fourth highest active goal scorer in international football with 56 goals at present.

In addition to this, Football Extraaa will also feature other guest panellists via satellite link. Michel Salgado, former Real Madrid defender, winner of four LaLigas, two UEFA Champions League and one UEFA Super Cup will join the show live from Bernabeu stadium. Former Manchester United and Everton defender Phil Neville, the winner of six Premier League titles, three FA Cups and one UEFA Champions League will join the panellists from England. Joining Salgado and Neville live from New Delhi from the venue of the live screening will be the former Juventus, AC Milan and Barcelona defender Gianluc Zambrotta.

Also Read:

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December 23, 2017
SPSN to broadcast ‘Rajasthan Rumble’- Vijender Singh’s double-title defense against Ghana’s Ernest Amuzu

MUMBAI: Undefeated Indian knockout king, Vijender Singh is set to defend his WBO Oriental and Asia Pacific Super middleweight titles against African Champion Ernest Amuzu on 23 December, 2017 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN) has acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights to this sporting event ‘Rajasthan Rumble’- WBO Oriental and Asia Pacific Super Middleweight Championship from IOS Boxing Promotions that will be telecast at 7.00 PM on Saturday,23 December, live and exclusive on SONY SIX (English) & SONY TEN 3 (Hindi).

Earlier this year in August, SPSN broadcasted ‘Battleground Asia’ where Vijender defeated China’s Zulpikar Maimaitiali in a double title to win the WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental Super Middleweight belts. Vijender Singh 32, has enjoyed a great run in his fledgling professional career, winning all his nine fights of which seven were knockouts. He has played 40 rounds in his nine fights. In his last three title fights held in India, Vijender has won all three bouts including a knockout. Amuzu, the 34-year-old boxer from Ghana, has 23 wins under his belt including 21 knockouts out of 25 fights. The fight against Vijender will be Amuzu’s first fight in India.

‘Rajasthan Rumble’ will also feature Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Amandeep Singh who will take on Manoj Kumar from Punjab while two-time Asian Boxing champion, Kuldeep Singh will face Amrinder Singh from Haryana. ‘Rajasthan Rumble’ will also see participation from other young talented Boxers like Pardeep Kharera, Kuldeep Dhanda, Dharmendra Grewal and Asad Asif Khan.

SPN India president, sports and distribution business Rajesh Kaul said, “We are delighted to broadcast ‘Rajasthan Rumble’ which will be Vijender’s second fight on our network this year. It has always been our aim to provide our viewers with the best of marquee events across sports and build a multi-sport viewing culture. Seeing Vijender represent India has augmented awareness about boxing and our network is delighted to be the broadcast partner for promoting the sport of boxing in the country.”

Vijender Singh, WBO Asia Pacific and WBO oriental super middleweight champion, “This is my overall fourth fight that will be broadcast on Sony Pictures Sports Network and I am thankful to the network to help widen the reach of our fights across various platforms, which helps me get support from all over the country. Viewers can watch my 10th pro-fight against Ernest Amuzu and the rest of the match card on Sony Pictures Sports Network as well as livestream it on the SonyLIV App and website.”

IOS Boxing Promotions promoter Neerav Tomar, “We are happy and thankful to Sony Pictures Sports Network for their extended support in our fight nights. In the last three fights we have seen an increase in the viewership and in the upcoming last fight of this year; we are looking forward to see the same momentum for Rajasthan Rumble.”

December 22, 2017