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Category: Sports

  • SC sacks BCCI chief; question mark on telecast rights, other issues

    SC sacks BCCI chief; question mark on telecast rights, other issues

    NEW DELHI: Cracking the whip on a defiant BCCI, the Indian cricket board, the Supreme Court on Monday removed its president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke, saying they should “forthwith cease and desist from” the board’s work.

    The move puts question marks on several issues related to Indian cricket in particular, including IPL’s 207 version, telecast rights and the investments that companies like Star India and Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) have made in Indian cricket.

    According to a PTI report, the apex court also decided to initiate contempt proceedings against Thakur by seeking his response as to why he should not be held liable for obstructing the implementation of the court’s directions aimed at reforming BCCI.

    A bench headed by the Chief Justice T S Thakur said that working of BCCI will be looked after by a committee of administrators and requested senior advocate Fali S Nariman and senior advocate Gopal Subramanian, who was assisting in the matter as amicus curaie, to assist the court in nominating persons of impeccable integrity as the members in the committee of administrators.

    While stakeholders are evaluating the effect can have on their investments in Indian cricket, Justice Lodha, who headed the SC-mandated panel suggesting sweeping reforms in BCCI and Indian cricket, termed the apex court’s latest directive as a victory for the sports.

    Keep tuned in for updates on this soap opera.

    ALSO READ:

    Sports TV 2016: Digital explosion, player consolidation & confusion

  • SC sacks BCCI chief; question mark on telecast rights, other issues

    SC sacks BCCI chief; question mark on telecast rights, other issues

    NEW DELHI: Cracking the whip on a defiant BCCI, the Indian cricket board, the Supreme Court on Monday removed its president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke, saying they should “forthwith cease and desist from” the board’s work.

    The move puts question marks on several issues related to Indian cricket in particular, including IPL’s 207 version, telecast rights and the investments that companies like Star India and Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) have made in Indian cricket.

    According to a PTI report, the apex court also decided to initiate contempt proceedings against Thakur by seeking his response as to why he should not be held liable for obstructing the implementation of the court’s directions aimed at reforming BCCI.

    A bench headed by the Chief Justice T S Thakur said that working of BCCI will be looked after by a committee of administrators and requested senior advocate Fali S Nariman and senior advocate Gopal Subramanian, who was assisting in the matter as amicus curaie, to assist the court in nominating persons of impeccable integrity as the members in the committee of administrators.

    While stakeholders are evaluating the effect can have on their investments in Indian cricket, Justice Lodha, who headed the SC-mandated panel suggesting sweeping reforms in BCCI and Indian cricket, termed the apex court’s latest directive as a victory for the sports.

    Keep tuned in for updates on this soap opera.

    ALSO READ:

    Sports TV 2016: Digital explosion, player consolidation & confusion

  • 2017 UFC action begins on NYE, tune in SonyLiv & ESPN

    2017 UFC action begins on NYE, tune in SonyLiv & ESPN

    MUMBAI: The beginning of 2017 rings well for MMA fans as they keenly await the return of Ronda Rousey in the Octagon after over an year. The return would be marked on New Year eve, with Rousey getting a dynamic fight card. The match is set to take place at Las Vegas, Nevada on 31 December starting at 830am IST and will broadcast on Sony ESPN and its HD channel. The fight will also stream live on Sony Liv and the website. The fight has been headlined as the Batmanweight championship.

    2016 has been an extremely exciting year for MMA fans with some explosive action in the Octagon with fight cards like UFC 200 and UFC 205 amongst others. UFC 207 promises a historic end to 2016 with one of the most awaited fights since the beginning of the year. In a recent exclusive with indiantelevision.com, SPNI Sports and distribution president Rajesh Kaul had said that UFC has seen a substantial growth in 2016, adding, “Over 100 million viewers sampled UFC this year.”

    MMA fans are set to have an exciting year ahead, with a plethora of excitement already on the table. Ronda Rousey vs Amanda Nunes, Dominick Cruz vs Cody Garbrandt, TJ Dillashaw vs John Linekar and Dong Hyun Kim vs Tarec Saffiedine in other fights.

  • 2017 UFC action begins on NYE, tune in SonyLiv & ESPN

    2017 UFC action begins on NYE, tune in SonyLiv & ESPN

    MUMBAI: The beginning of 2017 rings well for MMA fans as they keenly await the return of Ronda Rousey in the Octagon after over an year. The return would be marked on New Year eve, with Rousey getting a dynamic fight card. The match is set to take place at Las Vegas, Nevada on 31 December starting at 830am IST and will broadcast on Sony ESPN and its HD channel. The fight will also stream live on Sony Liv and the website. The fight has been headlined as the Batmanweight championship.

    2016 has been an extremely exciting year for MMA fans with some explosive action in the Octagon with fight cards like UFC 200 and UFC 205 amongst others. UFC 207 promises a historic end to 2016 with one of the most awaited fights since the beginning of the year. In a recent exclusive with indiantelevision.com, SPNI Sports and distribution president Rajesh Kaul had said that UFC has seen a substantial growth in 2016, adding, “Over 100 million viewers sampled UFC this year.”

    MMA fans are set to have an exciting year ahead, with a plethora of excitement already on the table. Ronda Rousey vs Amanda Nunes, Dominick Cruz vs Cody Garbrandt, TJ Dillashaw vs John Linekar and Dong Hyun Kim vs Tarec Saffiedine in other fights.

  • Pro-wrestling: SonyLiv, Max & ESPN to beam live from 2-19 Jan

    Pro-wrestling: SonyLiv, Max & ESPN to beam live from 2-19 Jan

    MUMBAI: 2017 is set to start with a bang for Indian sports audiences. After the Aircel Chennai Open and Super Fight League already lined up, Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) is all set to broadcast the second season of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL), starting from the 02 January. The event is set to take place at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi and will be beamed live on Sony Max, Sony ESPN channels and the digital sibling, SonyLiv.

    For fans of wrestling, one of the main attractions of the second edition of PWL is the impressive line-up of home-grown talent that includes Olympic Bronze medallist, Sakshi Malik, the Phogat sisters: Geeta, Ritu Sangeeta and Babita Kumari, Bajrang Punia, as well as Sandeep Tomar to name a few. In addition to this, some of the top International wrestlers like Olympic Gold medallist Erica Wiebe, Odunayo Folasade, Sofia Mattsson, Togrul Asgarov and Vladimir Khinchegashvili will also be seen battling it out in their respective weight categories.

    This season PWL will have six teams – Jaipur Ninjas, Delhi Sultans, Mumbai Maharathi, CDR Punjab Royals, Haryana Hammers and UP Dangal, which is making its debut this season.

    With the staggering success of the recently released movie Dangal, which chronicles the journey of the Phogat sisters, this season of the PWL has already generated high levels of interest. 2017 is definitely going to begin with a bang with this high octane season of PWL as wrestling fans all over India eagerly wait for what is expected to be one of the biggest wrestling events to watch out for.

    The event is scheduled from 02 January with the final on 19 January. The first season of the league was a success in terms of viewership, and the promoters will be hoping to encash on the ever-rising popularity of the sport. The first season was won by Revanta Mumbai Garuda.

  • Pro-wrestling: SonyLiv, Max & ESPN to beam live from 2-19 Jan

    Pro-wrestling: SonyLiv, Max & ESPN to beam live from 2-19 Jan

    MUMBAI: 2017 is set to start with a bang for Indian sports audiences. After the Aircel Chennai Open and Super Fight League already lined up, Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) is all set to broadcast the second season of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL), starting from the 02 January. The event is set to take place at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi and will be beamed live on Sony Max, Sony ESPN channels and the digital sibling, SonyLiv.

    For fans of wrestling, one of the main attractions of the second edition of PWL is the impressive line-up of home-grown talent that includes Olympic Bronze medallist, Sakshi Malik, the Phogat sisters: Geeta, Ritu Sangeeta and Babita Kumari, Bajrang Punia, as well as Sandeep Tomar to name a few. In addition to this, some of the top International wrestlers like Olympic Gold medallist Erica Wiebe, Odunayo Folasade, Sofia Mattsson, Togrul Asgarov and Vladimir Khinchegashvili will also be seen battling it out in their respective weight categories.

    This season PWL will have six teams – Jaipur Ninjas, Delhi Sultans, Mumbai Maharathi, CDR Punjab Royals, Haryana Hammers and UP Dangal, which is making its debut this season.

    With the staggering success of the recently released movie Dangal, which chronicles the journey of the Phogat sisters, this season of the PWL has already generated high levels of interest. 2017 is definitely going to begin with a bang with this high octane season of PWL as wrestling fans all over India eagerly wait for what is expected to be one of the biggest wrestling events to watch out for.

    The event is scheduled from 02 January with the final on 19 January. The first season of the league was a success in terms of viewership, and the promoters will be hoping to encash on the ever-rising popularity of the sport. The first season was won by Revanta Mumbai Garuda.

  • India-Eng test catalyses Star Sports’ top viewership

    India-Eng test catalyses Star Sports’ top viewership

    MUMBAI: Star Sports Network continued its domination over Broadcast Audience Research Council (India) ratings in the penultimate week of the year. The 51-week data for the sports genre placed Star Sports 3 on the top spot in the channels’ ratings, to be followed by Star Sports 1. It is clear that these numbers have been obtained by the recently-concluded India-England test series, which saw the home team winning 4-0 after Karun Nair and R Jadeja’s exploits in the final test.

    Star Sports 3 was beaming the India-England fifth test live in Hindi, and got a total of 190571 impressions. Collated on an all India basis with 4+ audiences, the ratings proved that Test cricket, when exciting, will ensure good viewership. The second spot was owned by Star Sports 1 with 152792 impressions, a channel which broadcast the match with English commentary. In the third and fifth place were Ten network’s Ten 1 and Ten 2 with 9477 and 14031 impressions, respectively. The fourth spot was held by Star Sports 2, which got a total of 45625 impressions.

    The period in consideration is 17 December to 23 December and the last test was played from 16 December at Chennai. It was a mammoth innings from Karnataka batsman Karun Nair, who scored a record-breaking 303. The third day of the test saw Karun scoring the bulk of his runs, with Lokesh Rahul also getting out on a heart-breaking 199. The batting testimony got the highest viewership in terms of programs as the third day got 3013 impressions on Star Sports 3.

    The fourth day of the fifth test stood second, with 2978 impressions. Karun Nair had completed his triple century on this day, breaking several records on the way. The third spot went to the final day of the test with 2478 impressions, which saw Ravinder Jadeja picking up seven wickets to derail England batting and win the test. Both the second and third highest viewership were garnered on Star Sports 3.

    In the fourth spot is WWE Roadblock, featured on Ten 1. The program got 2390 impressions. The fifth and the final spot was sealed by the India-England series, garnering a healthy 2220 impressions on Star Sports 1. Star Sports network have benefited a lot from this highly exciting test series, getting good numbers in the last two tests which India won handsomely.

  • India-Eng test catalyses Star Sports’ top viewership

    India-Eng test catalyses Star Sports’ top viewership

    MUMBAI: Star Sports Network continued its domination over Broadcast Audience Research Council (India) ratings in the penultimate week of the year. The 51-week data for the sports genre placed Star Sports 3 on the top spot in the channels’ ratings, to be followed by Star Sports 1. It is clear that these numbers have been obtained by the recently-concluded India-England test series, which saw the home team winning 4-0 after Karun Nair and R Jadeja’s exploits in the final test.

    Star Sports 3 was beaming the India-England fifth test live in Hindi, and got a total of 190571 impressions. Collated on an all India basis with 4+ audiences, the ratings proved that Test cricket, when exciting, will ensure good viewership. The second spot was owned by Star Sports 1 with 152792 impressions, a channel which broadcast the match with English commentary. In the third and fifth place were Ten network’s Ten 1 and Ten 2 with 9477 and 14031 impressions, respectively. The fourth spot was held by Star Sports 2, which got a total of 45625 impressions.

    The period in consideration is 17 December to 23 December and the last test was played from 16 December at Chennai. It was a mammoth innings from Karnataka batsman Karun Nair, who scored a record-breaking 303. The third day of the test saw Karun scoring the bulk of his runs, with Lokesh Rahul also getting out on a heart-breaking 199. The batting testimony got the highest viewership in terms of programs as the third day got 3013 impressions on Star Sports 3.

    The fourth day of the fifth test stood second, with 2978 impressions. Karun Nair had completed his triple century on this day, breaking several records on the way. The third spot went to the final day of the test with 2478 impressions, which saw Ravinder Jadeja picking up seven wickets to derail England batting and win the test. Both the second and third highest viewership were garnered on Star Sports 3.

    In the fourth spot is WWE Roadblock, featured on Ten 1. The program got 2390 impressions. The fifth and the final spot was sealed by the India-England series, garnering a healthy 2220 impressions on Star Sports 1. Star Sports network have benefited a lot from this highly exciting test series, getting good numbers in the last two tests which India won handsomely.

  • Sony Six/HD, SonyLiv to broadcast Chennai Open live

    Sony Six/HD, SonyLiv to broadcast Chennai Open live

    MUMBAI: Aircel Chennai Open has tied up with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) as the official broadcast partner for its upcoming edition. The tournament is starting on 2 January 2017 and will be hosted at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam.

    The tournament is into its 22nd year and will be also be beamed live on SPNI’s digital platform SonyLiv. Sony Six and Sony Six HD will be broadcasting the matches live in India, presenting fans with another world class tennis experience.

    SPNI has added the Aircel Chennai Open in its already elusive list of tennis shows which includes Australian Open, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, ATP World Tour 500 events and the prestigious season-ending Barclays ATP World tour finals. Tennis is one of the most followed sports in the world and SPNI’s constant efforts in the sports prove their focus on tennis.

    Aircel Chennai Open director Tom Annear said, “We believe in getting better with each edition of the tournament. All of the Centre Court matches will be broadcast for our viewers to enjoy the action of the new season’s opening tournament. We want to provide a special experience for Aircel Chennai Open fans worldwide and our association with Sony Pictures Networks India is another step in that direction.”

    The tournament this year promises to be a bigger and better affair with top of the line players

    including World No. 6 Marin Cilic (Croatia), Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain), Borna Coric (Croatia), Tommy Robredo (Spain) and Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) going head to head. Indian Players on the roster include Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Saketh Myreni and Ramkumar Ramanathan vying to begin the new tennis season with a flying start.

    SPNI distribution and sports business president Rajesh Kaul added, “The Aircel Chennai Open is yet another significant addition to the SPN’s line-up of live tennis properties that validates our network as the premier destination for tennis fans. We are pleased to showcase India’s only international live tennis tournament which is a part of the prestigious ATP World Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour. Our viewers will get to watch some of the finest Indian & International players in men’s professional tennis during prime time on our on-air and digital platforms.”

    The matches are scheduled to start at 5pm IST and would be expected to tap into the ever-growing frenzy in the Indian sports audience.

  • Sony Six/HD, SonyLiv to broadcast Chennai Open live

    Sony Six/HD, SonyLiv to broadcast Chennai Open live

    MUMBAI: Aircel Chennai Open has tied up with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) as the official broadcast partner for its upcoming edition. The tournament is starting on 2 January 2017 and will be hosted at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam.

    The tournament is into its 22nd year and will be also be beamed live on SPNI’s digital platform SonyLiv. Sony Six and Sony Six HD will be broadcasting the matches live in India, presenting fans with another world class tennis experience.

    SPNI has added the Aircel Chennai Open in its already elusive list of tennis shows which includes Australian Open, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, ATP World Tour 500 events and the prestigious season-ending Barclays ATP World tour finals. Tennis is one of the most followed sports in the world and SPNI’s constant efforts in the sports prove their focus on tennis.

    Aircel Chennai Open director Tom Annear said, “We believe in getting better with each edition of the tournament. All of the Centre Court matches will be broadcast for our viewers to enjoy the action of the new season’s opening tournament. We want to provide a special experience for Aircel Chennai Open fans worldwide and our association with Sony Pictures Networks India is another step in that direction.”

    The tournament this year promises to be a bigger and better affair with top of the line players

    including World No. 6 Marin Cilic (Croatia), Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain), Borna Coric (Croatia), Tommy Robredo (Spain) and Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) going head to head. Indian Players on the roster include Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Saketh Myreni and Ramkumar Ramanathan vying to begin the new tennis season with a flying start.

    SPNI distribution and sports business president Rajesh Kaul added, “The Aircel Chennai Open is yet another significant addition to the SPN’s line-up of live tennis properties that validates our network as the premier destination for tennis fans. We are pleased to showcase India’s only international live tennis tournament which is a part of the prestigious ATP World Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour. Our viewers will get to watch some of the finest Indian & International players in men’s professional tennis during prime time on our on-air and digital platforms.”

    The matches are scheduled to start at 5pm IST and would be expected to tap into the ever-growing frenzy in the Indian sports audience.