ITV

Tag: Abdulrahman Bukhatir

  • Taj Sports’ Bukhatir assures efforts to give Pakistan TV cricket feed

    Taj Sports’ Bukhatir assures efforts to give Pakistan TV cricket feed

    MUMBAI: Will it, won’t it (Ten Sports)? Hold firm on the Pakistan cricket telecast rights issue that is.

    Dubai-based Taj Television, which manages Ten Sports and holds telecast rights for Pakistan cricket, has so far resisted pressures from India’s Prasar Bharati (managing Doordarshan and All India Radio) to get the matches telecast on DD as well.

     
    But if the news emanating from Pakistan is anything to go by, day by day, that pressure is building. Chairman of Taj TV Abdulrahman Bukhatir today had a three-hour meeting with the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Shaharyar M Khan over what else but Indias forthcoming tour of Pakistan. PCB chief executive Ramiz Raja, Taj TV chief executive Chris McDonald, CBFS chief executive Zahid Noorani and PCB marketing consultant Riaz Mahmood were also present at the meeting.

    According to a statement released the PCB, Bukhatir has been quoted as saying: “I assure the PCB of the sensitivity to the need for the people of Pakistan to which these matches on television in the largest possible numbers, and I assure that efforts are already well underway for PTV to carry the signal.”

    The question of course is if the matches can be shown on PTV, what happens if DD also demands the same “courtesy”. Stay tuned for more on the high-stakes game that is being played out over this issue.

  • “We want to make an emotional and marketing connection with Indian viewers” : Chris McDonald CEO of the Abdulrahman Bukhatir-promoted Ten Sports.

    “We want to make an emotional and marketing connection with Indian viewers” : Chris McDonald CEO of the Abdulrahman Bukhatir-promoted Ten Sports.

    Chris McDonald has seen it all in sports television in Asia and India. He was one of the key senior professionals in launching sports TV services such as ESPN and Star Sports as basic pay TV services in India and was also involved in the rationalisation of both which resulted in ESPN-Star Sports. Today he is facing a fresh challenge as CEO of the Abdulrahman Bukhatir-promoted Ten Sports.

     

    His charge has not managed to develop partnerships with the MSOs in the major metros, despte a marketing push and a distribution ally. That should be worrisome with a big property like the World Cup football hardly a fortnight or so away. But McDonald is not letting these problems bog him down. In a free wheeling conversation with indiantelevision.com, he says things are on course and that Ten Sports is here to stay.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    On Ten Sports‘ distribution in India.

     

    I won‘t say I‘m satisfied. We are in about 10 million homes currently, which is quite good coverage for a month old television channel. Yes, there are holdouts in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore but we are in discussions with the MSOs in these areas.

     

    I am expecting greater progress every day with the big push that we are givng Ten Sports. With the World Cup coming soon, I expect to finalise the discussions and reach our target of 20-30 million homes by then.

     

    I won‘t call what we are facing as problems, rather it is a natural process of growth for a new service. Our partner HMA Udyog – yes, Modi Entertainment is one of the promoters – has placed a signficant number of Irdeto Atlanta DTH boxes in India. Yes, there are minimum guarantees in the contract and achievements, but I don‘t want to dwell on that now.

     

    “We are a big player and cricket is a sport we will have on our plate”

     

    On Ten Sports, the channel.

     

    We have a very good product in Ten Sports, we have very high production values and I want to improve the product further. Yes, we don‘t have cricket this year, which is the biggest thing in India. But from next year, we have loads of it. Additionally, we have the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) fights which are the next most popular sport in India after cricket. There is a positive buzz in the market after we aired the first of the fights last week.

     

    On specifics about the sports properties lined up.

     

    We have lots of cricket lined up for 2003. Two tournaments in Morocco, two in Sharjah, and the tours of cricket playing nations in Sri Lanka. The CSI cricket covering Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe and Pakistan rights are up for grabs. We are pursuing all these rights aggressively. We are a big player and cricket is a sport we will have on our plate. We expect the bid results to be out in the next one or two months.

     

    But it is not as if Ten Sports will be just about cricket, like the other channels. It‘s an expensive game, mark my words. We want to make an emotional connection with Indian viewers, we want a marketing connect with the viewer. We want to promote Indian sport like go-karting, golf, racing.

     

    The response to Ten Sports from advertisers has been good. So we are on track in India.
     

  • Ten Sports scores big with 2002 Fifa World Cup rights

    Ten Sports scores big with 2002 Fifa World Cup rights

    Taj Entertainment Network (Ten) Sports is not letting any grass grow under its feet in its bid to make a mark on the sports broadcast arena. The new kid on the sports block gave notice to rivals ESPN Star Sports (and Sony Entertainment Television) when it announced today it had secured all cable, satellite and terrestrial rights for the 2002 Fifa World Cup to be hosted by Korea/Japan in June.

    Abdulrahman Bukhatir’s Taj Television Ltd won the rights after placing a higher bid than both ESPN Star Sports and Sony Entertainment.

    A total of 64 matches is what will be showcased in what is without doubt the biggest sporting spectacle in the world, ahead of even the Olympic Games in sheer size of audience terms. The World Cup kicks off on 31 May and is a month-long soccer extravaganza. This is the first time that the event will take place in Asia, a real boost as far as viewership is concerned. The 1998 World Cup in France garnered pathetic viewership essentially because the live telecast, prime time in Europe, was at unearthly hours of the morning in India.

    Another major advantage that Ten Sports will have as far as getting a return on its investment is concerned is that it has got the terrestrial telecast rights as well. This in effect means that there will be no split in the ad revenues between it and national broadcaster Doordarshan.

    This is also significant as far as pushing distribution numbers is concerned because Ten will have a much stronger bargaining position vis-a-vis cable operators for its subscription rate of Rs 12 which it expects to have fully rolled out by the World Cup’s kick-off date.

    This is not to say that it can totally deny DD the rights to telecast matches due to clauses that Fifa has built into all deals regarding broadcast by the national terrestrial broadcaster. So it may well be that from the last eight onwards (including the semi-finals and the finals) the matches will be available on DD.

    According to an official release, Taj Television has signed an agreement with KirchMedia WM GmbH, the worldwide rights holder for the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, for the exclusive live telecast of the World Cup. KirchMedia WM GmbH is a subsidiary of KirchSport AG, the Swiss-based sports marketing company responsible for overseeing the marketing, sales and production responsibilities for the 2002 and 2006 World Cup.

    Taj Television CEO Chris McDonald says: “It is indeed an honour for the channel to have acquired the world’s greatest sporting event. As promised, we are providing the best of world sport on the channel and we assure soccer fans that Ten Sports will capture every bit of the excitement and euphoria that is synonymous with World Cup Soccer.”

    Says Oliver Seibert, Head of Television Sales for KirchSport AG: “This is a landmark deal. We are extremely happy that Ten Sports will be telecasting the 2002 Fifa World Cup live to this significant part of Asia. We are certain that Ten Sports, who have recently started operations, will do great justice to the world’s largest sporting event.”

    The World Cup will have 32 teams participating, including debutantes Senegal and Tunisia. The teams are divided into eight groups of four teams each. The preliminary stage of the World Cup is the Group league phase wherein the top two teams move into the next round-the round of 16. Following the round of 16 is the quarterfinals (round of 8) followed by the semi-finals and the finals.

    Along with the World Cup, the Ten Sports programme line up also features cricket triangulars from Morocco, Classic India-Pakistan Cricket, The Sharjah Cup and The Sharjah Champions Trophy as well as all international cricket from Sri Lanka. Ten is also in efforts to secure the television rights contract of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

    Ten Sports also has WWF (World Wrestling Federation), The English FA Cup, Manchester United Football, the WTA (professional women’s tennis), ATP Dubai Tennis Open, The Ryder Cup, The British Open, Champions Trophy Hockey and Champions Challenge Hockey.

    Another property that Ten is hoping to cash in on in a big way is the WWF series. The cartoon element that is a part and parcel of the whole thing has made superstars out of the lead players. But at least as far as the US is concerned the craze is clearly waning. The Ten Sports team must be hoping that is not the case in India.

    Meanwhile, Taj Sports is just setting up its distribution arm in Pakistan and will be available there through a private cable operator company. In India, it is Modi Group company HMA Udyog that is handling distribution.

    And that’s where, more than anything else, Ten clearly hopes to score with the World Cup. On distribution.

  • Modi Entertainment close to deal with Taj Sports?

    Modi Entertainment close to deal with Taj Sports?

    “Everyone is talking to everyone.” That was all Lalit Modi, vice-chairman and president, Modi Entertainment Network, would offer other than a “no comments” when asked about a strong buzz in the industry that MEN was close to signing a deal as the distribution platform for the soon-to-be-launched Taj Entertainment Network (Ten) sports channel.

    Ten is being launched by promoter of Sharjah cricket Abdulrahman Bukhatir through his company Taj Sports, and is expected to be unveiled on 6 April, just ahead of the start of the next tri-nation Sharjah cricket tourney. The kick-off date of the tournament involving Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand is 8 April.

    MEN chief executive Rajan Kaaicker was equally noncommittal when asked to respond to industry reports that Ten would be offered as part of the MEN bouquet at an a la carte subscription rate of Rs 8 per month after an initial free trial period. The other channels on the MEN bouquet are DD Sports, Hallmark, FTV and MCM (the last two are French fashion and music channels respectively).

    According to industry sources, there are three possible bouquets that Ten could hop aboard – MEN, Zee and Sony Entertainment. At this point MEN appears to have the best chance of signing the deal, the industry buzz goes.

    This is quite a turnaround from what Bukhatir had late last year been quoted as saying that while he was negotiating with different bouquets for distribution and marketing, Zee was the preferred partner.

    At this point it looks as if MEN is promising a larger subscriber number delivery than what Zee can guarantee because of the DD Sports reach. This appears to be the reason that the pendulum is swinging more MEN’s way.

    Sony Entertainment cannot be ruled out of the equation either, especially after it bagged the India broadcast rights for International Cricket Council-promoted events for the next six years.

    One network Bukhatir has ruled out though is the Murdoch-led Star TV because of the ESPN Star Sports connection. There is just too much overlap between the two in the kind of fare on offer.

    Ten is expected to launch with a footprint spanning Australia to England. Taj Sports CEO Chris McDonald, earlier with ESPN Star Sports as senior V-P, advertising and integrated sales, was down in Mumbai recently with his full team looking into distribution and marketing issues, sources aver.

    There is more to Ten than just cricket though. While cricket will dominate, it will also have wrestling, tennis, football and rugby. The company has rights for NBA and WWF events, Bukhatir has been quoted as saying.

    Aside from Sharjah rights, Taj reportedly also has Sri Lanka cricket rights which was earlier with WSG Nimbus.

  • Sports channel on Zee bouquet soon?

    Sports channel on Zee bouquet soon?

    ESPN Star Sports may finally have some decent competition. There has been talk in the industry for a while now that a sports channel – backed by Sharjah cricket series’ head honcho Abdulrahman Bukhatir – may be launching in the near future.

    National broadcaster Doordarshan’s DD Sports channel is there of course but being government backed, the equation is not quite the same.

     

    Industry sources indicate a deal is in the final stages of negotiations which will see the channel being launched as part of the Zee bouquet. No dates have been fixed though.

    Taj Sports, the company that Bukhatir set up to produce sports television programming out of Sharjah, which includes cricket, is said to be the channel’s promoter company. Chris McDonald, former ESPN Star Sports senior V-P, advertising and integrated sales, and the man Bukhatir hired to head Taj Sports, will be running the show, the sources say.

    What the channel will be providing – if and when it takes off – as far as programming is concerned is still unclear (other than the Sharjah cricket series that is). One could of course argue that that would still be better than what Sony’s MAX offers by way of cricket (Bangladesh and Seven’s cricket in Hong Kong).

    With HBO, Cartoon Network and CNN having just been added to Zee’s bouquet with the announcement of a joint venture with Turner International (India) Private Ltd, Zee will be able to offer a complete subscriber package if the Sports channel takes off.

    It should be recalled however, that Zee has been trying unsuccesfully to launch a sports channel for well on two years now. This time the tale may be different though; what with Bukhatir supposedly bankrolling the channel.