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Tag: BCCI

  • ‘We are not in talks with anybody to sell stake’ : Rajasthan Royals CEO Raghu Iyer

    ‘We are not in talks with anybody to sell stake’ : Rajasthan Royals CEO Raghu Iyer

    Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals has had a topsy-turvy journey in the last five years. It had a dream start when it won the inaugural IPL trophy under Shane Warne. Another high point in its five-year journey was when British-born businessman and actress Shilpa Shetty‘s husband Raj Kundra bought 11.7 per cent stake for $16.8 million, valuing the franchise at $140 million.

     

    Just when everything was going hunky dory, the BCCI threw a bombshell by terminating its franchise contract with Rajasthan Royals for breach of agreement. That was followed by a prolonged legal battle that ended in the courts reinstating the franchise in the IPL. That‘s not the end of it. The company‘s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was rejected by FIPB several times. Besides, it was under the scanner of government agencies for alleged Fema violations.

     

    However, Rajasthan Royals has put all that behind it and is now focused on building a strong sporting franchisee. Rajasthan Royals CEO Raghu Iyer believes that the best way to do this is by playing its own brand of cricket so that a fan loyalty is built over the years.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto, Iyer talks about the challenges that IPL franchises face and how Rajasthan Royals can grow to the next level.

     

    Excerpts:

    Q. The Rajasthan Royals franchise was bought for $67 million in 2008. What would be its estimated worth today?

    A. I don’t know what it would be valued at. But there are figures varying from $150-200 million.

    Q. Are the promoters considering selling stake?

    A. There are no talks with anybody at this stage. We are focused on delivering a very good product.

    Q. There have been allegations about lack of adequate corporate governance and transparency. Do you feel there is scope for improvement?

    A. If you are asking whether we lack in corporate governance, I would completely disagree. I would say that we were probably the only guys who went out and voluntarily made disclosures, including when we applied to the FIPB. Corporate governance is top priority for us and we would like to believe that we have ticked that in the box.

     

    There might have been some procedural misses here and there, which happens in any business. This is something that we want to address. When income tax and other government authorities ask questions, then you realise that you might have missed a couple of things here and there. We are being advised by top professionals.

    Q. Is it fair to say that the BCCI would not have terminated the franchise had there been more transparency?

    A. I would like to believe that we were transparent and so were the BCCI. The reason that the whole thing came up was something I don’t want to comment on as it is subjudice.
    ‘There will be some revenue growth this year but not exponential. Though more brands are coming in for sponsorship opportunities, their outlay is not as high as expected‘

    Q. The enforcement directorate has slapped a Rs 1 billion fine on the franchise. Have you appealed against this decision?

    A. Yes! We have appealed to a tribunal in Delhi.

    Q. What is the gameplan to grow the franchise’s brand value going forward?

    A. You have to focus on the product to grow the brand value. The quality of cricket the team plays is your product. We have won only three or four less games than the Chennai SuperKings.

     

    As long as you keep playing cricket well, the brand value will take care of itself. Obviously you add to that different things like licensing and merchandising.

    Q. What sort of revenue growth you expect this year?

    A. There will be some growth but not exponential. This will be impacted by the slowdown. The key is to go out and look for far more opportunities and not wait for them to knock on your door. You also need to be astute in terms of how you spend. That is what the franchises are trying to do.

    Q. What impact is the economic slowdown going to have in terms of revenue generation for the IPL?

    A. I would be lying if I said that it has not had an impact. There are more brands coming in for sponsorship opportunities. We have 15 sponsors and partners, including local brands like the State Bank of Jaipur and Bikaner. But the outlay the sponsors are putting in is not as high as expected. Earlier if a deal with a sponsor was worth say Rs 150 million, will he renew it for Rs 200 million? Probably not! But then you will get five smaller local guys who are each willing to pay Rs 10 million. So you will have to look at playing the volume game.

    Q. Is the situation as bad as 2009 when revenue fell by over 10 per cent for franchises?

    A. No! 2009 was a different situation. There was a complete global crisis going on. Currently that is not the case.

    Q. Who are the sponsors that are on board?

    A. We have prided ourselves on having a team that delivers value to sponsors. The only way that you can judge whether that is true or not is to see if sponsors keep coming back. The top notch brands have kept coming back like Ultratech (which remains the lead sponsor), Supertek, Garnier, Valvoline and Tata Consultancy Services.

     

    We ensure that what sponsors and partners want out of the IPL are met. We play our part in that whole thing. We have a fantastic client servicing team that ensures that this happens. We offer innovative products like investing in digital content. You have to give sponsors more value.

    Q. Could you talk about the YouTube initiative?

    A. The YouTube channel of ours has clips and behind the scenes stuff that cricketers do. Fans find this exciting. Is there a way in which sponsors can tap into that and do something innovative? Yes! Everybody acknowledges that digital will grow and be the medium of the future. Digital allows you to do different things in a cost effective manner.

    Q. What are the licensing and merchandising efforts made this year?

    A. Besides flags, T-shirts and bells and whistles, we are looking at an innovative merchandising option. This is about grassroots Rajasthan. Licensing and merchandising is a long term play. It takes four to five years and will depend on making sure that there is year round visibility for the franchise. Once that happens, licensing and merchandising will take off.

    Q. In terms of marketing, there doesn‘t seem to be much activity till two weeks before the IPL starts. Is two weeks enough of a time frame to generate fan interest?

    A. As a call to action, two to three weeks is enough. People know about the IPL already.

     

    We also look at innovative opportunities that come our way. Earlier this year we associated with the Jaipur Literary Festival and organised matches there. When important events happen in your city, you need to find a way to participate in them. But for focused marketing, two to three weeks of activity is enough.

    Q. Reports indicate that the IPL franchises are increasing ticket prices. Isn‘t this tricky given the economic slowdown?

    A. We haven’t increased the basic ticket prices. The hospitality prices have gone up. But we have enhanced the hospitality product offering so that the viewing experience is much better. We are negotiating with a five-star hotel for different kinds of food.

    Q. Are the Rajasthan Royals being remembered as a brand having famous faces like Shane Watson?

    A. The loyalty factor from our perspective is to ensure that fans remember the brand of cricket that we play. We have achieved this. We remain the underdog team but we have wooed fans by the quality of cricket we play. Hopefully, retention of a few players will be allowed.

    Q. Is it a good idea to keep having auctions every few years?

    A. There may be some confusion about who plays for whom, but it will even out over time. The key is that the brand of cricket that the different IPL franchises play has to be distinct. So the teams that are selected will reflect the brand of cricket played by that franchise.

     

    You need auctions so that the league remains competitive. Team composition strategies have to be built to reflect the team personality. There are also transfer windows which ensure that gaps can be filled.

    Q. The IPL will have a new team owned by a television media company. What impact will this have?

    A. It is a major development. When they (Sun TV) go out and sell sponsorships, there will be cross synergies that they can offer.

     

    From the league’s perspective, it is cool that franchises like this will use their platform to advertise their team. It means more visibility for the IPL. The challenge, though, is that the Hyderabad team is still associated with ‘Deccan‘. So a complete re-branding exercise will have to be done by Sun TV.

     

  • Star Plus hops on to the IPL bandwagon

    MUMBAI: Star Plus, Star India’s flagship Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC), has signed on as the official on-ground associate sponsor of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) as it seeks to keep its numero uno position intact by riding on the popularity of the tournament.

    With Star Plus on-board, the BCCI will also heave a sigh of relief as it was having a tough time in filling the on-ground sponsorship slots left vacant by the exit of Hero MotoCorp, Citi, Karbonn Mobiles and Volkswagen. The BCCI has now locked in three associate sponsors which includes Vodafone, Yes Bank and Star Plus in addition to title sponsor Pepsi.

    According to a top sports marketing executive, the sponsorship deal between Star Plus and BCCI is in the region of Rs 300 to Rs 350 million annually.

    This is not the first time a television channel has used IPL to reach out to its audience. Last year, Star India’s newly launched Hindi GEC Life OK had associated with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to raise its brand awareness.

    “We are happy to be associated with the IPL primarily to drive our flagship channel, Star Plus. We saw a great opportunity to use this platform to communicate our brand promise of “Rishta Wahi, Soch Nayi”. We are also very keen to deepen what is
    already a strong relationship with the BCCI. The power of Star‘s platform is unique and we are keen to leverage this to support BCCI’s efforts to increase the reach and popularity of IPL,” said Star India CEO Uday Shankar.

    “Since its inception in 2008, the tournament has provided a platform to organisations, which are as passionate about achieving and maintaining standards of excellence as the IPL itself. Star India belongs to this elite fraternity. We look forward to a fruitful association with them,” said IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla.

    The Pepsi IPL 2013 will be played from 3 April to 26 May. Nine teams will play each other twice – at home and away, in a total of 72 league matches. The top four teams, in terms of points, at the end of the league stage on 19 May will qualify for the Playoffs. The final will be played on 26 May at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

  • Court passes landmark judgement to protect digital sports rights holders against telcos

    Court passes landmark judgement to protect digital sports rights holders against telcos

    NEW DELHI: In a landmark judgment that will have long term effects on revenue sharing and monetisation, the Delhi High Court has said mobile phone companies cannot provide to their subscribers live match updates for sporting content for which Star India has the rights.

    Mobile operates can offer updates of cricket scores with a lag of 15 minutes or by obtaining a license from Star.

    The Court upheld the petition by Star India against Crickbuzz, On Mobile and Idea Cellular.

    “We had moved the court against these companies and the verdict could be a harbinger of change in monetising digitised content,” Star India CEO Uday Shankar said.

    Star India paid Rs.38.51 billion in 2012 for exclusive media rights to cricket matches organised by the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) between 2012 and 2018. This included all international cricket matches in India and domestic competitions including the Ranji Trophy and the Irani Cup. The Star deal also includes Internet and mobile rights and covers 96 matches.

    Shankar said this was the first time that such an order had come and it would lay the foundation on how the rights can be exploited and monetised on mobile platforms.

    “When we bid for the cricket rights last year, our idea was to create a homogenous high quality consumer experience. We had bid for all rights, including mobile and digital, where there was no monetisation. We pay Rs 5 million per match for the digital rights, but have not monetised so far”.

    Shankar added that the lack of clarity on this was severely compromising the ability of rights owners to invest to create great experiences for sports fans. “This decisive verdict finally creates clarity on who owns the rights and a mechanism for monetisation and fair revenue share. For me, this is a huge boost to the entire digital and mobile space.”

    In his judgment, Justice M L Mehta issued a limited interim injunction restraining the defendants from disseminating contemporaneous match information in the form of ball-by-ball or minute-by-minute score updates/match alerts for a premium without obtaining a license from the plaintiff.

    At the same time, the Judge said: “There shall be no restriction upon the defendants to report ‘noteworthy information’ or ‘news’ from cricket matches, as and when they arise, because ‘stale news is no news’.”

    Furthermore, there will be no requirement for the license if the telecom operators ‘do it gratuitously or after a time lag of 15 minutes’, he added.

    The Court reiterated that ‘there is a difference between contemporaneous dissemination of match information in the form of ball-by-ball or minute-by-minute score updates/match alerts and reporting noteworthy information or news.’

    While hearing Star India’s petition, the High Court also observed that providing live score updates prevents Star India from effectively monetising its exclusive rights.

    “It would be just and reasonable for the defendants to either obtain a license and gain equal rights to their subscribers, or make them wait for some time, in order to not prejudice the right of the plaintiff (Star India) to earn revenue from the match information,” the court said in its order.

    “Those who do not obtain a license from the plaintiff, may not disseminate the score update or match alert before 15 minutes from the moment such score update or match alert is telecasted or broadcasted by the plaintiff (Star India).”

    The Court rejected the argument that the moment the match goes live on television, it is in the public domain. “I find that match information has not entered ‘public domain’ that is, it is not readily available to the class of persons who do not have access to TV/radio, who also happen to be the target consumers.”

    However, he said there was ‘considerable merit’ in the argument that the operators had a fundamental right to disseminate such information as demanded by the public.

    But he said that “it is imperative for this Court to balance the right of the organiser of an event to monetize his own event as against the right of the public to receive information regarding such event and the right of the media to provide access to such information demanded”.

  • Prime Focus to showcase its Clear and digital content services technology at Nab show

    Prime Focus to showcase its Clear and digital content services technology at Nab show

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus said it will showcase some of its newest Cloud technologies, made in India for the world, at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show 2013.

    At the annual industry event, scheduled to be held in Las Vegas in April this year, Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, will highlight how the organisation is bringing the best of its Clear Hybrid Cloud technology platform and Digital Content Services to address a new enterprise digitisation opportunity – multi-platform content production (TV, feature film and digital media).

    Created at the company’s R&D centre in Bangalore, PFT’s new solution aims to bring the production process on to a single digital platform, transforming the very manner in which producers interact with their content, partners and vendors.

    “As the technology evolves and businesses transition to the ‘new normal’, PFT continues to invest heavily in its R&D to provide solutions to its customers that put them ahead of the technology evolution curve,” says Prime Focus Technologies Founder, President and CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan.

    He further adds “Currently, Clear is managing more than 250,000 hours of content for the broadcast industry. Our 200+ R&D employees have now brought alive the latest innovation from the PFT stable –a fully integrated content, workflow and project management solution that addresses the customer’s production process, enabled by our Hybrid Cloud technology platform. It will allow content producers to leverage digital technologies, and gain control over the production process, thereby leading to a considerable reduction in cost, and greater efficiencies.”

    India is the hub for Prime Focus’ innovation and product development. Set up in 2008, the company’s R&D centre develops the Clear Hybrid Cloud enabled enterprise digitisation platform. PFT’s focus areas include multi-platform content operations, enterprise digitisation, mobility, contextual advertising, cloud editing and content analytics.

    PFT aspires to be the unified content hub for media firms leveraging its global technology infrastructure. Since its launch major functionalities and features like cloud editing, iPad access, HTML5 player, and B2B sales and fulfillment portal have been added to the current solution at the same time developing new solutions ground-up for clients. The current investment in R&D by Prime Focus is $6 mn, and is expected to increase year-on-year over the next few years as the business scales up further.

    For content producers, the content has become digital, but the supply chain is still offline, posing challenges to unlocking inherent efficiencies. Prime Focus Technologies’ platform Clear and digital content services help broadcasters, studios, advertisers, sports bodies, news agencies, government or service providers, drive creative enablement, and enhance ecosystem efficiency.

    Prime Focus Technologies works with major content owners such as News Corporation owned Star TV network, Eros International, Sony Music, Viacom 18, MSM, BCCI, Indian Premier League, Hindustan Unilever Limited, The Associated Press, A+E Networks, Netflix, Schawk!, and WPP.

  • Star Sports campaign for Oz series focuses on new Team India

    MUMBAI: As the India-Australia series approaches, Star Sports has launched a full-fledged campaign, with the core theme ‘Asli Test Baaki Hai‘, to promote the India-Australia Test series which gets under way in Chennai on 22 February.

    McCann Worldwide Tag Ideation has designed the campaign for the series called as Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The television ads in the campaign have been shot by Red Ice Films.

    The campaign is based on the concept that for Indians to idolise next generation of cricketers they need to prove their mettle on field with the Test series against Australia. It highlights the fervour of budding cricketers who would not take anything lying down.

    The advent of new stars like Pujara, Ashwin, Kohli, Maxwell, Starc and Pattinson ensure that the series still remains a stern test of cricketing excellence. Hence the campaign line – ‘Asli Test Baaki Hai‘.

    Star India COO Sanjay Gupta said, “Through the BCCI season we have been focusing on a new team India with its new set of heroes. While we applaud the new talent we are also cognizant that in the future they will have to face a lot of stern tests before they can truly become world beaters. The overarching creative thought comes out from this – ‘True heroes only emerge from the toughest battles‘.”

    The sports broadcaster has also lined up an expert panel of cricketing stars for commentary as well as studio analysis on every match day in English (Star Cricket and Star Cricket HD) and Hindi (Star Sports). The commentary line-up includes legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border.

    “We‘re delighted to welcome VVS Laxman on board the Star Sports commentary, presentation and analysis team. He is famous for his prolific record against the Aussies,” Gupta added.

    MWG Tag chief creative Ashish Chakravarty said, “The idea of the campaign is to highlight the increasing expectations of the viewers from the new team India. It is time for them to step up and showcase the nation that they can stand up to their expectations. In their unique and simple way, Red Ice Films translated this vision to reality.”

    Red Ice Films‘ owner and founder Gary S said, “This campaign was challenging as it was an attempt to bring out the mindset of the audience. That they need to choose the first among equals, so the trick was to communicate that without passing a judgement on any talent.”

  • Star India claims solid engagement levels on its cricket portal

    Star India claims solid engagement levels on its cricket portal

    MUMBAI: Star India, which recently launched Starsports.com, says that the site has recorded the highest time spent by users on any sports website per visit.

    Cricket fans, the broadcaster says, spent as much as 19 minutes per visit and viewed 342 years-equivalent of video in the first month of launch.

    The average time spent per visit in December, as per Comscore, despite the site being active for only five days that month, was 17.8 minutes and increased to 19 minutes in the first month.

    The 5.5 million unique viewers to the site across devices are enough to fill 83 `Eden Gardens‘ that, according to BCCI, has a capacity of 66,349. Starsports.com crossed 100,000 concurrent users consuming video during the third one-day international between India and England.

    The cricket timeline allows users to pull out past matches, view top moments, play around with the scorecard, while all the while enjoying unmatched video streaming.

    Star India COO Sanjay Gupta said, “Sports content in India has not seen much innovation across mediums. We want to change that and give fans the control to engage even more deeply with their favourite content. Through the world‘s first cricket timeline, viewers can pick the exact moments they want to see, during or after the live match.”

    “In fact we want to seamlessly integrate data and video throughout the site so that it‘s an unmatched viewing experience. We are excited about this leap and the response so far, and look forward to scaling it up further,” Gupta said.

    The broadcaster said every feature of the site aims to engage the consumer – from the video timeline to the reinvented commentary section that focusses on the action ball-by-ball, while pulling in real-time conversations on social media. The site boasts of a video scorecard bringing alive the statistics with video clips, analytics and graphics.

  • Star India launches video portal starsports.com

    Star India launches video portal starsports.com

    MUMBAI: Star India, which holds the BCCI media rights, has launched an India-focussed online platform starsports.com to exploit the digital media rights that it owns along with its sister concerns.

    The website which flagged-off with the Pakistan tour of India will provide a video experience for cricket fans that includes high definition video streaming, an advanced player that can be individually controlled and the ability to catch up on the game through both a video scorecard and a video timeline that marks the key moments of the game.

    Commenting on the launch, Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, "At Star, we have always focused on dramatically enhancing the overall consumer experience. Smart technology, combined with powerful content, can be disruptive and we are excited about offering Indian fans an entirely new way of experiencing their favorite game."

    The live streaming and video content will playback on select iOS devices and Android OS version 3.0 and above. However access to video content is currently limited to select operators.

    The non-video sections of the website pages will work on all tablets. The Live streaming and Video content will play back on select iOS devices and Android OS version 3.0 and above.

  • Sun TV gets JWT to build its IPL team brand

    MUMBAI: Kalanithi Maran-promoted Sun TV Network Ltd. will soon start building the brand of its recently won Hyderabad IPL team. For this exercise, the company has mandated the creative duties to JWT India.

    JWT will handle the entire launch communication package for the yet-to-be named Hyderabad IPL franchise. This will include developing a new identity for the team including jersey colours and a 360 degree multi-media campaign.

    The account will be serviced out of the agency’s Chennai office.

    Sun TV had bought the Hyderabad IPL team for Rs 4.25 billion for a period of five years till 2017. From 2018, Sun will own the franchise in perpetuity and will pay 20 per cent of the franchise revenue every year as fee to the BCCI.

    For the record, the Sun Group has its presence in cable and satellite television, FM radio, newsprint and aviation.

    JWT Chennai‘s recently won the creative business of GRT Jewellers. It also handles accounts of brands like MRF, Univercell, GRT Hotels, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, TI Cycles and Renuka builders.

  • BCCI invites tenders for IPL title sponsorship

    MUMBAI: With the Delhi-based real estate firm DLF declining to renew its deal as the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the BCCI has floated a fresh tender for awarding title sponsorship.

    The title sponsorship rights will be awarded for a period of five years, from 2013 to 2017. DLF had held the title sponsorship rights of the tournament from 2008 to 2012 and had paid Rs 2.5 billion. Now the BCCI is said to be looking for at least double that amount.

    The IPL title sponsorship tender document will be available from 27 October 2012 at the BCCI, Cricket Centre, Mumbai.

    The cost of the tender is Rs 200,000. DLF in the past had said that any deal that it does has to make business sense. The last date for renewal of the contract was 28 July and the company did not do it.

  • ‘Sun will breake ven from the first year of IPL operations’ : Sun TV Network CFO V.C. Unnikrishnan

    ‘Sun will breake ven from the first year of IPL operations’ : Sun TV Network CFO V.C. Unnikrishnan

    Kalanithi Maran-owned media conglomerate Sun TV Network has won the Hyderabad Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise putting in the highest bid that was 23 per cent more than the second bid for the same team.

     

    Sun bid Rs 850.5 million a year while the next bid was for Rs 690.3 million from PVP Ventures.

     

    Sun will get to own the franchise for a period of five years till 2017 paying Rs 4.25 billion as franchise fee to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

     

    Sun plans to invest in the region of Rs 1.3-1.4 billion in a year and bets on leveraging its popular television and FM radio stations to make a success of the newly acquired IPL property.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto, Sun TV Network chief financial officer V. C. Unnikrishnan talks about what led the company to bid for the IPL team and how it plans to profitably run this new line of business.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    Q. Sun TV Network‘s bid at Rs 850.5 million was 23 per cent higher than the other bidder PVP Ventures. In hindsight, do you think you bid a bit higher?
    We are comfortable with the price that we bid. Our strength is in the south market. Our ability to leverage the property on TV and radio is much higher. We are confident that we will be able to make money.

     

    Q. How much does Sun plan to invest annually in the IPL property?
    A. We know our franchisee fee amount but other expenses like the IPL players are not frozen yet. Our early estimate is that our spends would be in the region of Rs 1.3-1.4 billion a year. Even given that broad number, I don‘t think that making ends meet would be an issue for us at all.

     

    Q. Does that mean that you will breakeven right from the start?
    We expect to breakeven from the first year itself. The profits may be small but will grow as we go along. We have proven our track record when we have entered into other lines of business like movie production. The major difference between us and the other players is that we have stepped into different domains quite successfully. We have strength in other areas of entertainment. IPL is just another major area of entertainment that we have stepped into.

     

    Q. For an IPL team franchise, there isn‘t much scope to drastically up the turnover. Will Sun stand to gain in valuation rise of this property say within the next three years?
    Sun has a market cap of Rs 140 billion and ended on a consolidated revenue of Rs 18.47 billion for the fiscal ended 31 March 2012. We won‘t depend on the IPL to add sizeably to our top line growth. The big growth driver will be digitisation. For every broadcaster, digitisation will trigger big growth.

    ‘We won‘t depend on the IPL to add sizeably to our top line growth. The big growth driver for us will be digitisation‘

    Q. The IPL franchisee purchase will also lead to a confidence among the investment community that Sun is going to be aggressive in its media business despite all the recent controversies. Do you see the share prices getting corrected because of the new IPL team purchase?
    The stock price getting affected is something of a market sentiment and perception. We were always very focused about our business. The IPL is a new line of business and we will draw in a lot of synergies. We are in the entertainment and media business. And cricket is entertainment.

     

    Q. Why didn‘t Sun bid for the Deccan Chargers when it came up for auction under the aegis of the BCCI? Was Sun waiting for a clean IPL francise?
    The BCCI came out with a tender. And we decided to participate in a direct offer.

     

    Q. Will Sun‘s team consist of players from the Deccan Chargers?
    We will take some players from that team. There are also some players that were not sold during the earlier auction but who have potential. We will look at them as well.

     

    Q. How will this process of getting players work?
    The BCCI has to decide on the modalities for the process and we will follow it. After the next season, the players go back for an auction.

     

    Q. In terms of revenue many franchises still heavily depend on the central pool. How do you plan to grow the local revenue pool?
    We have a clear business plan. It is too early to reveal details. But the business lines have been drawn.

     

    Q. Only two parties including you bid. Was this a surprise?
    It was a surprise. In the market the names of Videocon, Jaypee Group and Adani were floating.

     

    Q. Is Sun TV looking at making a play in the sports broadcasting business?
    We have no interest in entering the sports broadcasting genre. Sports channels are not profitable. That is why while we are present in a variety of genres, sports is an area that we have stayed away from. We are not interested in getting the telecast rights for any sports property. In any business decision, the aim is to make money.