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Tag: Cricket

  • Cricket reality show ‘Cricket Star’ to kick off on DD & Zee on 14 January

    Cricket reality show ‘Cricket Star’ to kick off on DD & Zee on 14 January

    MUMBAI: Cricket based reality talent hunt show called Cricket Star will hit television on DD National and the Zee Network on 14 January.

    The show will run for eleven weeks, with three weekly simulcast episodes on DD National and Zee Sports, on Sundays at 11:30 am, Mondays and Tuesdays at 8:30 pm and a weekly episode on Zee TV on Saturdays from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm.
    Investors In Cricket, a company specializing in the creation and management of sports rights that have relevance to the Asian Sub continent has conceptualized the show Cricket Star. The company then signed on cricket gurus Kapil Dev and Saurav Ganguly to be the selectors while Ajay Jadeja has been appointed as a cricket analyst and co-anchor. The show will be hosted by TV personality Shweta Salve.

    After weeks of mini and regional auditions conducted across the nation in 11 cities including Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Rajkot, Lucknow, Mysore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore, 23 participants were shortlisted. These 23 will now be competing with each other to be the Cricket Star of India.

    The winner of the first series, Cricket Star India, will win a one-year all-expenses-paid contract with Leicestershire County Cricket Club and attractive cash prizes and will also achieve international celebrity status. The final 11 contestants will also have the opportunity to participate in the global rollout of Cricket Star, which is slated for a UK launch in summer 2007 and a subsequent launch in Pakistan, where there is significant interest in the format, informs an official release.

    With Sourav being away in South Africa, the selection was conducted under cricket gurus Kapil Dev (Selector) and Robin Singh (Director of Academy). Ajay Jadeja (Cricket Analyst) was present throughout the regional rounds providing support and tips to the young cricket participants. Cricket Star aspirants will play a series of 20:20 cricket matches as part of the programme, which will be telecast on Zee Sports on Sundays at 3 pm – 6 pm.

    Each week at the Cricket Star Academy contestants will be subjected to specialized cricket tests, personal challenges and master class inputs from legends of the game, along with cricket coaching and fitness training. Based on their performances each week, the judges will nominate the bottom four performers, out of whom the other contestants will evict two. Following which, the final eleven contestants, will be voted by television by phone or SMS. The contestant receiving the maximum votes cumulatively will be declared the Cricket Star. The show will culminate in the final episode in the end of March.

    The IIC has signed on Miditech Pvt. Ltd as the production house for the show.

  • Trai orders access providers to comply with SMS short code guidelines

    MUMBAI: Sector regulator Trai has issued an order instructing all access providers to comply with the DOT’s guidelines issued recently for allocation of short codes by the access providers to the content providers including SMS based services.

    It is mentioned that the short codes are being used by service providers/ content providers for variety of applications including downloading ring-tones, contests, quiz, polls, information and enquiry service, entertainments, SMS Games, Astrology, Cricket updates etc.

    Access providers particularly mobile operators are allocating short codes to their content providers for various value added services including SMS based services within their network. Trai observed that some of these short codes were not in accordance with the National Numbering Plan-2003 and DOT’s earlier orders on this issue, asserts an official release.

    As per the license agreement access providers should adhere to the National Numbering Plan in this context Trai had asked access providers to stop use of these prohibited levels vide its direction dated 31 July 2006. Subsequently this issue was examined by DoT and necessary guidelines in this regard were issued.

    As per the guidelines issued by DoT five digit code starting with level five is to be used by access providers for allocation of short codes to their content providers including SMS based services within their network and accordingly all existing four digit short codes are to be prefixed by five to convert the same to five digit codes.

    Further the existing five and six digit short codes are to be migrated to five digit codes by replacing the first digit or first two digits respectively by five and so on.

    Trai has sought compliance of the DoT guidelines fro amll the access providers as and when the same is implemented but not later than 31 May 2007, adds the release.

  • ‘Consolidation good for the sports broadcasting business’

    ‘Consolidation good for the sports broadcasting business’

    2006 has been a rocky year for sports broadcasters. Cricket properties were acquired at humungous prices, SET India decided to walk out of bidding wars, Harish Thawani made his entry into the broadcasting arena and Zee bought 50 per cent in Ten Sports.

     

    ESPN Software India MD RC Venkateish offers his views on the consolidation in sports broadcasting, the challenges broadcasters face in pushing sports other than cricket, the need to come out with sports entertainment programming, and the Cas issue.

     

    Over the past few years we have seen a proliferation of sports channels but 2006 was a year when we saw consolidation. You had Zee buying a stake in Ten Sports while Sony opted out of sports. Nimbus is also in the process of aligning itself. This happened because earlier you had an unsustainable situation where a lot of people jumped onto the sports bandwagon thinking that it was an easy play.

     

    People have realised that it is not that easy to run a sports channel. This is because of the kind of skill sets that are required, the capabilities that are required and also the kind of investments that need to be sustained.

     

    Going forward you will see moderation in the sports business. You will see the crazy escalation in rights prices starting to cool down a bit. People are starting to get more realistic. In terms of overall developments of the business, consolidation is good.

     

    You earlier had smaller players jumping in and bidding the rights prices to crazy levels. There was a destabilising factor in terms of asset valuations. When asset valuations reach a ridiculous level you are bound to have a correction. This sort of a boom-bust cycle is not good for anybody’s business. People who tried to take acquisition prices up, have realised that it is not an easy game to play. Now the players who are standing are serious and committed. The environment is stable with players who are in it for the long haul and looking to increase their brand equity rather than a quick fire in and out situation.

     

    Consolidation means that the model of let me set up something sell it and get out is gone. A stable environment will allow the players to invest in broadcast quality, programme content. We can focus on better quality of coverage for the viewer rather than saying,”Hi I am blowing your brains out on the rights acquisition costs.” From a five-player field it has been reduced to three and possible eventually to two.

     

    Sports Entertainment

     

    Sports is entertainment. There are wrap around shows around content. What we have sought to bring to the viewers is 360 degree spectrum of sports. We have always had magazine programmes, informative shows. We recently launched a lighthearted programme revolving around sports. The main theme, though, will always be live sports. Around that we try to build properties and shows. Anything that seeks to enhance the understanding of sports and inform the viewer provides a different angle.

     

    This space needs to surround the live programming. It cannot act as a substitute. As an exclusive standalone as a channel or as a genre I do not think that sports entertainment will have any legs. Recently, one of the players launched a live sports channel and another channel on sports entertainment. Yet if you see the second channel it too has live sports. They probably couldn’t find enough software. That is not to say they will not create software but it is important to find a proper balance. At ESPN we have added concepts like dream job, Full Toss to the live experience.

     

    Sports federations need to get their act together

     

    International football is doing well with the soccer World Cup and English Premier League. The World Cup gave ratings that have not been seen for a non cricket sport. We had all India ratings of 2.6 and 3.1 for some of the league games. Unfortunately, the ratings for the rest of the stuff has been middling. That has to do with the lack of performance at the international level by sportspeople. I remember that two years ago when Sania Mirza came to the third round of the Australian Open the ratings shot up to 1.1.

     

    Unfortunately she has not been able to maintain that sort of form and the ratings have dipped. Premier Hockey League has given us ratings but because the national side has not been performing their matches have not fared well. Unless you perform at an international level it is hard to capture the imagination of the public.

     

    People want to emulate winners not losers. If you do not do well then there is no new pipeline of young talent who wants to play the sport. Eventually the sport dies out. We are doing our bit to push hockey and soccer. Having said that, sports federations need to have a deep, hard look at themselves. People need to fundamentally overhaul the system. Otherwise it is not going to go anywhere. It has been like this for the last 40 years. It will be like this for the next 40 years. Cricket at the moment does not face challenges. You have a good set of players as well as youngsters who want to take it up. So the pipeline is active.

     

    Certainly in other sports when it comes to marketing it is a challenge. With hockey we have to fight the dice a little bit as the national team’s performance has been bad. If India had won the Asian Games or even finished as runners up, there would have been a positive groundswell of support for the game. Marketing is a lot easier if the national team is doing well. Hopefully, people will put the bad performance of the Indian hockey team behind them and watch PHL for the love of the game itself and not for the satisfaction of one team beating another. In the UK local soccer league games have more viewership than some international matches.

     

    2007 A big revenue boost for sports

     

    Sports is event driven. You have the cricket World Cup coming up. So there will be a boost. Then there is the 20/20 World Cup in September. India goes to England and to Australia. We also tour Pakistan. So there is a fair amount of cricket. It compares favourably to this year when there was the soccer World Cup and the Champions Trophy.

     

    Distribution

     

    DTH has been around for quite a while and is a good development. It offers an alternative to the consumer and it is digital telecast. It is good that sports are airing in a format that is clearer to see. We welcome Cas from a technology perspective. The only thing that we are unhappy about is the kind of price regulation that has been forced down our throat. We will get 45 per cent of Rs 5 per subscriber, which is two rupees and forty-five paisa. This is absurdity that defies even basic, cursory logic. It is extremely unfair and we have already appealed to TDSAT. It has always been seen that free market forces are the best even for the consumers eventually.

    To interfere with that is always going to be a recipe for disaster. DTH and Cas address single subscribers and provide content for that subscriber. We are already providing interactive services to both Dish TV
    and Tata Sky. This allows viewers to check out rolling highlights, players statistics, different camera angles. As the transponder capacity goes up, it will afford the opportunity for more data. We have the rights for Euro 2008 and so the DTH service providers will probably come to us to see if we could do something with them.

  • ‘The real value of cricket is now going to show up’ : Rohit Gupta – SET India executive vice president ad sales and revenue management

    ‘The real value of cricket is now going to show up’ : Rohit Gupta – SET India executive vice president ad sales and revenue management

    Cricket, cricket and cricket. That is the exciting scorecard SET India will have for display in the fiscal 2006-07.

    A lineup of eight sponsors that is set to gobble up 50 per cent of the inventory. A bulk deal with Dentsu that eases the pain of selling individually to clients. Sony’s ad target: Rs 5 billion upwards. A figure that many in the industry are sceptical about, but the team at SET India is confident of achieving.

    Centring around the World Cup will also be a slew of high-profile programme launches. The aim: to give SAB TV and Sony TV the much-needed lift.

    In an interview with Sibabrata Das, SET India executive VP ad sales and revenue management Rohit Gupta talks about how media agencies should go beyond ratings and rates to work with broadcasters for deriving value from sports and other big properties. The industry with 70 million cable & satellite (C&S) homes, he says, is under-served and undervalued.

    Excerpts:

    What exactly is the deal with Dentsu?
    Dentsu has bought a high proportion of inventory on Max for the two ICC tournaments. By coming in early, the agency has ensured that its clients get into the World Cup without paying a real high premium (settling between the sponsorship and spot rates). The deal has put less pressure on us to individually sell that many spots.

    Was there a proposal to handle the entire inventory on a minimum guarantee (MG) and revenue share basis?
    Dentsu did make an offer. But we couldn’t have done that in India because of ICC restrictions. Besides, we were clear that we wouldn’t do one block deal. We still have to maintain our relationship with other agencies and clients.

    Is the Dentsu deal going to be a trendsetter in sports selling even as acquisition costs for cricket TV telecast rights go up?
    It definitely is an eye opener for a lot of people. What Dentsu has done, most agencies should start doing – engaging with broadcasters well in advance. Agencies shouldn’t try to beat the ground pricing always. As much as I have to sell, they have to buy. Everything can’t boil down to rates; then you will never get value. Where are the CPRPs (cost per rating point) for Super Bowl in the US? There is something called an ‘impact buy.’ Cricket should be looked at from that perspective; it not only brings in new audiences but is also a religion in the country.

    Is SET India targeting an advertising revenue of Rs 5 billion from the two ICC tournaments?
    I can’t disclose the exact figures. But we are going to double our revenues from the last World Cup.

    How?
    Just look at the cable and satellite (C&S) viewing universe which will have more than doubled from 32.5 million homes in the 2003 World Cup to 70 million by the time the March 2007 edition kicks off in the Caribbean. That would mean a potential viewership of over 300 million glued on to their TV sets.

    Besides, the two tournaments sit on a perfect timing with brands being active from October (festival season) to April (summer spending). Add to this the advantage of the Champions Trophy being played in India.
    ‘We will use the World Cup to lift Sab to the next level. With cricket and Fame X, we have a far more aggressive growth plan for the channel‘

    How much money have you tied up from the eight sponsors?
    I can’t go into the specific details, but 50 per cent of the total inventory is consumed by the two presenting (Reliance Infocomm and Nokia) and six associate (Pepsi, Hero Honda, Maruti, Hewlett Packard, LG Electronics and ITC Foods) sponsors. We have sold the two tournaments together as they involved huge outlays from clients. We will eat into the share of the biggest channel’s revenues.

    What are the brands you target for Extraa Innings?
    This is a very big property for us and we sell it to a separate set of sponsors. We target smaller brands who do not have that kind of budgets to be on the World Cup matches itself. Extraa Innings is not just wraparound programming but is fun and entertainment. We monetise every property that we have.

    How much of a revenue advantage will the Hindi feed on Sab TV be?
    Doordarshan gets 30 per cent of its viewership from C&S homes because of the Hindi commentary. Our aim is to eat into this. We are, thus, simulcasting 18 key matches on Sab in Hindi. We are offering value to the advertisers who would have also bought on DD. We want to own the entire C&S homes.

    During the last World Cup, SET India’s strategy was to push Max. Are you working out a similar strategy with Sab this time?
    We will use the World Cup to lift Sab to the next level. We did that with Max during the last World Cup and raced ahead of Zee Cinema, which had an early mover advantage, in one year’s time. We have planned big launches like Fame X (the refurbished version of Fame Gurukul) on Sab TV. We have also recently put up a clutch of comedy shows.

    Have you changed the positioning of Sab TV after buying it out?
    When we acquired Sab TV, it had a fuddy, duddy image with an appeal in the Hindi heartland. As this old image restricted growth in ad revenues, we felt the need to reposition it as a youthful, light hearted channel. Sony as a network stands for the youth brand. With cricket and Fame X, we obviously have a far more aggressive growth plan for Sab. Our aim is not to make Sab TV a flanking but a strong channel standing on its own.

    Sony is in talks to acquire stake in Ten Sports. Do you feel the need of a complete sports channel?
    I wouldn’t like to offer comments on this.

    Is the time right to hive off Max into a complete movie channel in the changing scenario?
    With so much of cricket happening now, it is certainly good to have a sports channel. Because in a hybrid channel, you are disrupting the viewership and revenues. But it all depends on what properties you are acquiring. For us, Max has worked well as a hybrid channel. We have been able to marry together both the passions – movies and cricket. The ICC property we had offered major tournaments every two years; we could change gears effectively. Max is no more a poor cousin of Sony, but rakes in ad revenues over Rs 1 billion (from around Rs 280 million before the World Cup) purely on its movie strength. Whether we will continue down this road, I don’t really know. I wouldn’t at this stage be able to comment for the future.

    How will revenue support high telecast fees for the next World Cup bid?
    The industry will have to use new ways. As TV telecast rates climb higher and higher, we may have tie-ups with agencies and clients at the time of bid. We don’t know – all that may happen to minimise risks. We will have to explore all options. Cricket, after all, will be a dominant monopoly at least for the next ten years. Of course, other sports like football will emerge. But cricket will continue to rule in viewership and revenues.

    Will advertising back up such acquisition costs or the model be driven by subscription revenues?
    Ad rates will have to go up. When Harish Thawani starts selling this time, he will have to get real pricing because his company Nimbus has paid that kind of money to get the telecast rights for cricket in India. He couldn’t do that last time because he didn’t have a channel. The real value of cricket is now going to show up because the new rights where people have paid huge money are now coming in. So the next 6-8 months in cricket is going to be exciting because you will see the rates go up substantially. Otherwise, somebody is going to get bankrupt.

    We will also see money shift from on ground to on-air advertising. The value of on ground properties is diminishing.

    What about subscription revenues?
    Direct-to-home (DTH) and conditional access system (CAS) will form a revenue component when the ICC bid comes up this time. We had factored in some inflows from DTH when we made the bid last time, but it got delayed by two years. For us, it has been advertisement-led and we have successfully achieved that.

    With Zee TV on a resurgence, how has the slip in Sony TV’s ratings affected the revenues?
    As a network, our ad sales will grow by 30 per cent this fiscal. Sony TV saw a blip last quarter but with the launch of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa we are sorting it out. We will also be using cricket in a big way to promote our properties and are launching Big Brotherimmediately after the Champions Trophy. Unlike the last World Cup, we have planned up big show launches just after the tournament.

    Isn’t Pix slow to take off?
    We have now got the distribution right. We will start focussing on selling. We are looking at premium brands as the positioning of the channel is for SEC A.

    Pix has a library from MGM but lacks new movies which HBO and Star Movies are able to telecast. How do you plan to correct that?
    The two movie channels show premium new titles only once a quarter. We don’t plan to have those titles for at least the next one year. But that won’t affect us. We have a good library. Besides, there is space for three English movie channels.

    What are the plans for AXN?
    We will continue to do at least three big local ground events. That is the advantage AXN has against its competing channels. We integrate events with the local brands. Man’s World is also coming up. AXN is a youth and adventurous channel which telecasts action titles.

    Is there concern that the World Cup almost coincides with the implementation of CAS?
    We see it as an opportunity. The World Cup will drive CAS. Much like brands being born out of the World Cup. We have seen how the top two players in any sector (consumer durables, telecom, automobiles, etc) have used cricket to grow. That is the power cricket has over audiences in India.
  • Headbanger’s Ball

    Headbanger’s Ball

    Usually my Sunday afternoon siestas are broken by Barking Boxer. He lives in the building behind ours and his weekly treat is playing cricket with his human friends on the street. He cheers loudly and unreservedly. Last Sunday, he went ballistic. The size of the ball in the narrowness of the playing area confused him and drove him ecstatic at the same time – that’s right, the kids next door had switched to footer.

    As had the whole country. Not just Kerala and Goa and West Bengal. Finally, cricket fever is abating. Forgive this terrible indiscretion, but I never could understand what millions saw in twenty two men in long pants chasing a tiny ball around a wide open field, every thirty excruciating seconds, and could keep at it for hours, even days, together.

    By now, the evidence that football fever has overtaken cricket is all over the place – the viewership figures of 5.2 million speak for themselves. In a couple of weeks, Intellect will tell us how much out of home television viewing occurred as well, and I would not be surprised if that added a good 50 per cent to the overall.

    Last Sunday gave us the unusual and perhaps unlikely occurrence of two awesome live telecast finals almost back to back. Not middle of the road pop music cricket, but the intense mastery of stroke making jazz music tennis at primetime, and the ultimate headbanger’s ball later that night. From the classy Federer sporting a pristine white jacket bearing his family insignia, to the crassness of a skirmish that a hero will regret all his life, the evening kept audiences glued to their sets.

    In sheer numbers, the total home viewing audience on July 9th in the top six cities went up by 33 per cent over the average Sunday (the average Sunday itself including a live telecast ODI cricket match between home team India and the West Indies at prime time on May 28). One and a half million more viewers were added, with the audience post 11 pm alone shooting up from 2.1 million to 4.1 million viewers. Average viewing minutes post 11 pm nearly doubled from 56 to 92 minutes.

    By now, the evidence that football fever has overtaken cricket is all over the place – the viewership figures of 5.2 million speak for themselves
    _____****_____

    The maximum increase percentage wise was observed among male children aged 4 to 14 years – at 43 per cent. Boxer’s friends sure had a well filled day that day. While the maximum increase in volumes was observed among the 35 plus. 3.75 lakh more men tuned in to watch television on Awesome Twosome Sunday, up from 9 lakh men over 35 in these six cities on an average Sunday in summer. Plus a whole lot more in pubs, clubs and friend’s places.

    And hold your breath – 3.34 lakh more women over 35 too! (One of them being me.)

    All in all it was a sports lover’s treat, of course, but not just limited to the sports lover. And that’s what makes this story all that more interesting. It holds out promise for all the other deserving but so far unsupported sport in this country. Add plenty of eye candy to the promotion of the sport, speed things up a bit, pour in millions of dollars, globalize the players keeping up with the worldly new definition of ‘home’, and who knows – twenty years down the line, Barking Boxer – or his progeny – could well be keeping time to hu-tu-tu.

    (With grateful thanks to aMap for the data and Deepa Menon of Intellect – LMG for the analysis).

    (The author is Lintas India Director of Media Services)

    (The views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)

  • Star News scores big with Wah! Cricket

    Star News scores big with Wah! Cricket

    STAR News scores big with Wah! Cricket
    ” 7 of top 8 cricket programmes amongst the Top 100 news programmes

    Mumbai, May 10, 2006: STAR News, the Channel known for its programming competence and diversity has reiterated its pre-eminence in cricketing news too, proving that when it comes to reporting on cricket, India tunes in to STAR News. The Top 100 programmes for TAM Week 17 (April 23-April 29) include 8 cricket/sports related programmes, out of which 7 are on STAR News. Wah! Cricket and Operation Vijay, the premium cricket properties on STAR News hit the competition out of the ground.

    Wah! Cricket has consistently scored as the top cricket-related programme. It reiterated its top billing in all three time slots for its well-applauded coverage of the recently concluded highly emotive India-Pakistan cricket series. However, for TAM Week 17, which did not have any significant cricketing developments on-field, STAR News scored for its well-rounded reporting off-field too. By presenting an overall analysis and impact on the happenings in the cricket world, including Sachin’s Birthday, Brand Dhoni, Team Selection etc., STAR News scored big to feature 7 of its cricketing programmes in the Top 100 programmes. Amongst the cricketing programmes, Aaj Tak’s cricketing programme came in only at # 6 with a TVR of 0.36. Besides, it also garnered 26% of the marketshare in the 7.30 to 8 pm slot, leaving Aaj Tak behind at 22% and NDTV India far behind at 12%. India TV and Zee News followed next at 10% and 9% marketshare.

    Channel
    Date
    Days
    Time From
    Time To
    Programme
    TVR
    Star News 23/04/2006 Sun 19:30 19:59 WAH CRICKET KHEL KA PEEC 0.5
    Star News 26/04/2006 Wed 8:30 9:00 WAH CRICKET KHEL KA PEEC 0.4
    Star News 25/04/2006 Tue 19:31 20:00 WAH CRICKET KHEL KA PEEC 0.39
    Star News 23/04/2006 Sun 22:31 22:59 KHEL KHEL MEIN 0.39
    Star News 28/04/2006 Fri 8:32 9:00 WAH CRICKET KHEL KA PEEC 0.38
    Star News 24/04/2006 Mon 19:30 20:00 WAH CRICKET KHEL KA PEEC 0.38
    Star News 26/04/2006 Wed 22:31 22:59 OPERATION VIJAY AAKRAMAN 0.34

    Wah! Cricket has been one of the channel’s best performing properties ever since its inception. The programme has enjoyed its position as the highest rated cricket news bulletin on news television for a long time. Little wonder then that the programme has had an enviable guest list with cricketing stalwarts like Bishen Singh Bedi, Zaheer Abbas, Sandeep Patil, and others offering incisive insight.

    The success of Wah! Cricket reinstates and endorses the channel’s proficiency in alternate programming. The discerning and increasingly demanding viewer is always looking for a little more bang from a news channel. STAR News seems to be producing just the right cricketing shots!

    And coming on the very threshold of the India-West Indies cricket series, the recent ratings are an endorsement of the patented excitement to watch for on STAR News. Catch the fever only on STAR News!

    ABOUT STAR NEWS
    STAR News, the first Indian news channel, is a joint venture between ABP TV – a 100 % subsidiary of ABP Pvt. Ltd. – and STAR India Pvt. Ltd., two of the biggest brands in Indian media. The Channel is best defined by a fair and balanced approach that combines prompt reporting with insightful analysis of news and current affairs. Living up to its motto of “Aapko Rakhe Aagey’, STAR News is a people’s channel that focuses on relevant news in a cutting-edge format. Since its conception, the Channel has grown to command a viewership of over 20 million Indian homes. Today, STAR News is available in the Indian subcontinent, South-East Asia, Central Asia, UK, USA and Australia, making it the first and only Global Indian News Channel.

    For further information, please contact:
    Navin Tauro / Swati Sundareswaran
    Vaishnavi Corporate Communications
    Tel: 022 5656 8787 / Fax: 022 5656 8788

  • Government demarcates listed sports events

    Government demarcates listed sports events

    NEW DELHI: The government has come out with a list of sports events, excluding cricket, which would have to be shared with the pubcaster on a mandatory basis whether played in India or outside.

    A government communication to broadcasters states that the list will be valid for five years, though implementation review will be done annually by the authorities.

    If Doordarshan is unable to telecast a listed event due to some reasons, then that game’s possible deletion from the list is likely to be discussed during the annual review meeting.

    Cricket related events have not been specified as there are two cases pending in the courts relating to it and involving ESPN Star Sports and Ten Sports.

    The mandatory sharing of feed of listed events is part of the downlinking norms, which were announced by the government in November 2005.

    Asked about the listed events released by the government, ESPN India managing director RC Venkateish said, “We are comfortable with the non-cricket list of sporting events.”

    The list of sports to be shared with DD include the summer and winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian games and Afro-Asian Games.

    On the soccer front, where the mercury is building up leading up to the Fifa World Cup in a couple of months time, the list includes the semi-final and final matches of Euro Cup and Fifa World Cup. For Asia Cup, it would be the semis, final and all matches featuring India.

    As far as domestic soccer tournaments are concerned, DD will have access to the semifinal and final matches of Subroto Cup, Santosh Trophy, Federation Cup, Durand Cup, National Women’s Football and Junior National Football.

    In tennis, all matches featuring India and the semis and final of Davis Cup will have to be shared with DD. For the Grand Slams and WTA, all the final matches (men’s, women’s, mixed doubles and doubles) feature in the government list, apart from any other matches featuring an India from quarter-final onward.

    In hockey, the World Cup semis, final and India matches will have to be shared with DD. For the Champions’ Trophy, its India matches plus the final, while on the domestic circuit, the Baton Cup and Gold Cup for Women will see the semis and finals on DD.

    In chess, the World Cup final and matches featuring any Indian from quarterfinal onward find mention in the list. Ditto for Chess Olympiad.

    The finals and India games of billiard and snooker World Cups also have made it as listed events.

  • Cricket: BCCI debunks bidders’ objections

    Cricket: BCCI debunks bidders’ objections

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Cricket and controversy in India are synonymous now.

    The latest round of allegation and counter-elucidations relates to overseas cricket telecast rights for Indo-Pakistan cricket matches to be played in neutral venues with one set of bidders alleging “irregularities” in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
    The charge that the Indian cricket board is allegedly biased towards Sahara One Media & Entertainment, which is presently telecasting the ongoing India-England home cricket series on Sahara One channel, however, has been dismissed by the BCCI as “making a mountain of a molehill.”

    If that’s not enough, media reports from Pakistan hint that while the BCCI is going ahead full steam with the proposed cricket matches — 25 in number over a period of few years — actually no formal agreement exist between it and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which is as much owners of the cricket matches as the Indian cricket board.

    On the last day of submission of financial bids for Indo-Pak cricket on neutral venues, some companies like Zee Telefilms, ESPN Star Sports and Nimbus today have alleged that tender documents criteria “seem to have been totally ignored by Sahara in the bid submission process.”

    Not only one of the bidders has written a letter to the BCCI president and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, after marking it to other officials like the marketing head chief Lalit Modi, but a sequence of happenings as it happened have been detailed.

    BCCI has fixed a reserve price of $ 5 million dollars a match and the total revenue generated could be in excess of $120 million.

    The basic thrust of the allegations listed in the letter, a copy of which is available with Indiantelevision.com, is not only the Sahara group submitted its bids after the deadline of 11 a.m. today, but also flouted a condition of bringing the bids in open envelopes.

    “…the Sahara financial bid was in unsealed condition and was actually taken out of the envelope for approximately 10 to 15 seconds,” the letter states, adding that all the other bidders present objected to it and lodged their formal protest on Sahara’s late arrival too.

    While Sahara One Media and Entertainment refused to make any comments when contacted by Indiantelevision.com, BCCI vice-president Modi dismissed the allegations by saying the other bidders were simply splitting hairs over a small issue.

    “There has been no irregularity,” Modi insisted, “If people feel that on a small technical issue, we would disqualify a newcomer (Sahara has never bagged telecast rights till the recent India-England series), then they have to think again.”

    According to Modi, the other companies were attempting to form a “cartel” in an effort to hammer down the prices.

    “It almost seems that some companies are ganging up against a newcomer’s entry. It also seems a cartel is being attempted so that the price (of the telecast rights) could be lowered,” Modi told Indiantelevision.com.

    Asked whether the BCCI has a formal deal with the PCB before going ahead with sale of telecast rights of Indo-Pak cricket, Modi criticized the Pakistani media for raising unimportant issues, which are of “no consequence.”

    “The very fact that we are going ahead with the bidding process shows that PCB and the BCCI have an understanding. Has the PCB said anything formally?” the businessman-turned-sports administrator countered

    Meanwhile, the protest letter concludes by stating, “We believe that the new BCCI administration has conducted the earlier tender processes with complete transparency and fairness. There have been instances in the past, where companies have been disqualified on technical grounds.

    “Keeping these facts in mind, we trust that in all fairness, the Sahara financial bid should not be considered. We are hopeful that the BCCI will take a fair decision on this occasion as well.”

    Whether the BCCI takes note of the protests lodged by the likes of Zee, ESS and Nimbus can only be gauged when the financial bids are opened on Thursday (6 April) and the successful candidate announced