ITV

Tag: Champions Trophy

  • India to play Australia, Windies in September

    India to play Australia, Windies in September

    MUMBAI: This is one series that should have Zee Sports seriously pushing it as a prime property. Just ahead of the Champions Trophy in October, India will be playing a tri-series against Australia and the West Indies in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

    “The triseries of seven One-Day Internationals between India, Australia and West Indies [is] scheduled to be played in September this year in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur as part of the newly formatted Neutral Venue Schedule,” Zee News quoted the BCCI as saying in a statement issued here.

    The series falls under the neutral venue matches that Zee had secured rights to in April with whopping $219.15 million bid (average of $ 8.77 million per match) for 25 matches spread over the next five years. .

    The triseries was approved by the Marketing Sub-committee which met in Mumbai on 28 July, Zee News quoted the BCCI statement as saying.

    The format of the tournament is a league where each of the three teams will play each other twice and the top two will go through to the Finals.

    Singapore will host the first three ODIs while Kuala Lumpur will host the following four matches (including the Finals).

    The Indian board will handle the marketing and sale of television rights, while Cricket Australia will manage and consolidate all ground handling for the series, the BCCI statement adds.

  • SET to simulcast key Champions Trophy & World Cup matches on Max, Sab

    SET to simulcast key Champions Trophy & World Cup matches on Max, Sab

    MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India is gearing up full on for the Champions Trophy in October and the World Cup in West Indies early next year. The target this time round is to be armed cap-a-pie, thus leaving no stone unturned to garner maximum eyeballs and revenues.

    With an aim to eat into the viewership of Doordarshan, SET will simulcast key India matches, the semi-finals and the finals of both tournaments on Max and Sab.

    While the feed on Max will be in English with its own set of commentators for Extraaa Innings, the feed on Sab will be in Hindi. “Today DD gets 30 per cent of its viewership from cable and satellite homes, where people prefer to watch the matches because of the Hindi commentary. Now with Sab having a Hindi feed, we will be able to eat into the C&S share of DD during the matches. It is a huge chunk of the market, which we want to own,” SET India executive vice president (ad sales & revenue management) Rohit Gupta tells Indiantelevision.com.

    “DD was getting its viewership for cricket matches not just from UP and MP but even from Delhi. Our aim is to own the entire Hindi C&S space with the upcoming tournaments in our kitty and that is the proposition we are giving to advertisers. In a way we are also looking at eating into the revenue shares of DD,” he asserts.

    Apart from this, a lot of brands that were buying air time space on Max, were also doing so on DD during the earlier matches. But now with a combination of Max and Sab, they don’t need to do that barring some brands like Lifebuoy, which have a specific rural focus, Gupta argues. The Champions Trophy, it is worth noting, will be held during the festive season (7 October to 5 November), which is when most brands will be active to the hilt. Even the World Cup in March-April will see a slew of brands upping their advertising before the peak summer months, he adds.

    Brands such as Maruti and Hero Honda, to name a few, who were buying 300 – 500 seconds of advertising time on DD, need not buy more than 100 seconds now because of the package that they will be getting in Max and Sab, is the point that Gupta and his team will be trying to drive home to advertisers in the coming months.

    “While the television universe extended to 35 million homes the last time the Champions Trophy was played, this time it has increased to 70 million homes. We expect to see Sab hitting a different level with this because of the sheer viewership,” says Gupta.

    What’s more, in order to encash on the scaled viewership post the Champions Trophy, Sab will be launching a slew of new shows. “The idea is to use cricket as a platform to take Sab to a different level,” he states.

  • Champions Trophy hockey live on Ten Sports

    Champions Trophy hockey live on Ten Sports

    NChampions Trophy hockey live on Ten Sports

    Six top hockey teams to battle at Terrasa, Spain

     

    MUMBAI, July 21: Ten Sports, the world’s number one sports channel for south Asians, will be the home for live telecast of world-class hockey action when the top six teams in the world clash in the Sahara Champions Trophy.

     

    The premier FIH tournament will be held in Terrassa, Spain from July 22-30, with the top six hockey nations in the world – Australia, Pakistan, Spain, Germany, Netherlands and defending champions Argentina battling it out for top honours.

     

    The Champions Trophy this year assumes added significance considering that the World Cup will be held in Monchengladbach, Germany, in less than six weeks time. Each of the six teams are sure to put up fierce competition in order to get a psychological boost, and the players will give more than their 100 per cent to impress their respective selectors ahead of the World Cup (which will also feature India and will be available live and exclusive in the India, Pakistan and Middle East on Ten Sports).

     

    Ten Sports will cover a majority of matches live and these can also be watched later as highlights, as well as full re-runs. Three round-robin matches will be played every day except for Monday and Wednesday (rest days).

     

    The final will be live, starting from 9:15 pm IST on Sunday, July 30. This will be preceded by the third-fourth place playoff match, the live telecast of which starts at 6:45 pm IST.

     

    Australia will start the tournament as overwhelming favourites. They hold every major trophy in world golf except for the World Cup, and hence this tournament will be of major importance to the Kookaburas. Netherlands will be the other team to watch, especially after their stunning 6-2 win over Australia in the Azlan Shah Trophy final last month.

     

    The Spaniards who like to go one step better than their second-place finish last year, while Pakistan still remains the most beautiful team to watch in world hockey, given their sublime stick skills. Germany has always been strong competitors.

    ABOUT TEN SPORTS: Only launched in April 2002, Taj TV’s Ten Sports is watched by more viewers than any other sports channel in the sub-continent and is available in nearly 50 million cable/ satellite households worldwide. In just a short span of three years, Ten Sports has also become the world’s biggest producers of cricket. The Channel broadcasts cricket from Sharjah, the West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Morocco throughout the Indian sub-continent and Asia, as well as in Europe and the Middle East. Other cricket properties broadcast by Ten Sports in certain territories include internationals from India, the World Cup 2003 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2004.

     

     

    For further information please contact:

     

    Lavanya Iyer
    Ten Sports
    Tel: 022 56623101/6289
    Email: lavanyai@tajtv.com

    Neha Parab / Canta Dadlaney
    ZZEBRA, Mumbai
    Tel: 022 26496712/6713
    Email: neha@zzebra.net/ canta@zzebra.net

  • Visa official sponsor for ICC World Cup, Champions Trophy

    MUMBAI: Credit card major Visa International has been awarded the regional official sponsorship rights for the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in India in October 2006 and the ICC Cricket World Cup to be held in West Indies in March-April 2007.
     
     
    As regional official sponsor, Visa International will receive on-ground sponsorship benefits in the South Asia region including category exclusivity, branding and signage, tickets and hospitality, special events and programs, broadcast and media related benefits and other rights, benefits and protections.

    For this territory, Visa becomes the second after Indian Oil to get (by virtue of the oil major’s deal covering all broadcast territories globally) official sponsorship status. According to sources close to the developments, two more official sponsors are expected to be signed on for the south Asia region, which will take the number of official sponsors up to four.

    Before this deal, ICC had four official global partners in LG, Pepsi, Hutch and Hero Honda and two official sponsors Indian Oil and Cable & Wireless.

    The sponsorship deal with Visa was negotiated by Nimbus Sport, acting as worldwide exclusive marketing agency for Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), the commercial partner of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
     
    Visa International Asia Pacific EVP Marketing Rajiv Kapoor said that the company would be rolling out a series of campaigns, promotions and supporting marketing activities to make use of the occasion.

    “We plan to make the most of our sponsorship as our principal marketing platform for the next year, as we believe it will deliver incomparable exposure for the Visa products and services in the region. Visa is committed to this sponsorship and we are ,” Kapoor said.
     
    ICC president Ehsan Mani said, “Cricket’s ability to attract a world-renowned brand such as Visa to become an official sponsor is a demonstration of the game’s robust health and its global appeal. This agreement is excellent news for all concerned and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial association with Visa.”
    GCC MD Ian Frykberg said, “We are delighted to welcome Visa to the family and have them add the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 to its impressive list of major sports sponsorships.”

    Nimbus Sport CEO Digvijay Singh said, “This is the first time that a major payment card has been an ICC cricket sponsor and Nimbus is proud to have played a key role in securing this path-breaking new sponsorship”.

    Adds Visa International country manager Santanu Mukherjee, “We believe this is a great opportunity for Visa to enhance the visibility of our brand and cut across borders and boundaries. Visa has nearly 40 million cardholders in South Asia and we plan to reach out to them in unique ways to build on their passion for the game over the coming months.”