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Tag: ESPN Star Sports

  • ESPN Star Sports extends Spanish soccer rights till 2009

    ESPN Star Sports extends Spanish soccer rights till 2009

    MUMBAI: Sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports has extended its multi-year agreement for exclusive broadcast rights of the Spanish Soccer league in India till 2009.

    This further strengthens ESS’ coverage of international football in India, including rights to broadcast the English Premier League, FA English Football package, the Asian Football Confederation package, in adddition to the Fifa World Cup 2006 coverage live on its network.

    Announcing the acquisition, ESPN India head RC Venkateish said, “We’re pleased to partner with Sportfive once again for broadcasting the league in India. Our effort to build affinity for Spanish Primera Liga has started paying rich dividends. We expect to grow the league even further in the coming three years.”

    The Spanish Primera Liga boasts two of the best known clubs in the world in Real Madrid and Barcelona. ESS has been making special efforts to promote international soccer in the country with live screenings, building viewer affinity for international leagues like the Spanish league and growing knowledge among Indian viewers are some of the steps ESPN Star Sports has taken to enhance the passion associated with the game.

  • Tata Sky adds four regional channels and introduces Actve Games

    Tata Sky adds four regional channels and introduces Actve Games

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, the direct-to-home platform from Tata and Star Group has added four regional channels to its special introductory package of Rs 200 per month (inclusive of taxes). The DTH platform also introduces the fifth interactive service Actve Games.

    The four channels include Star Ananda, DD Chandana, DD Gujarati and DD Punjabi.

    The DTH company has earlier introduced interactive services such as Actve Newsroom, Actve Khabar, Actve Star News and an on-screen Guide.

    Actve Games, this dedicated interactive gaming service will be available free to all its subscribers. The service provides access to play multiple interactive games on television.

    According to an official release, the gaming service caters to all ages with the option of playing six exciting interactive games including Aliens, Trance, Solitaire, Cubix, Bug Blaster and Speed Spell on their television screen.

    This service termed as ‘easy-to-use’ can be played with the help of the Tata Sky remote, eliminating the need of investing in additional hardware, states the release. Further, to maintain the enthusiasm levels of its audiences, Tata Sky will refresh the games periodically.

    Actve Star News service presents the viewer with four screens in a single window allowing him to choose from current news, headlines, top stories and special features, at the press of a button. The service also scrolls text, allowing the viewer to read the headlines, weather updates of 35 cities and a constant update on the stock market.

    Tata Sky CEO and MD Vikram Kaushik said, “Services such as Actve Games and Actve Star News are perfect examples of how television today has transformed into an interactive medium, allowing viewers the opportunity to do more than just watch television. This is only the beginning, we will continue to introduce innovative services to enhance the entertainment choices for our subscribers.”

    Tata Sky recently launched its satellite television service across 300 cities in India on 8 August. Only 15 days from the launch and the service has already penetrated 2000 cities,the company claims.

    At present, the platform has on offer channels includes Star, Sony, Discovery, Disney, MTV, NDTV, ESPN Star Sports, National Geographic, Eenadu, TV Today, Asianet and many more.

  • ESPN STAR Sports salutes Indian Sporting heroes on Independence Day

    ESPN STAR Sports salutes Indian Sporting heroes on Independence Day

    New Delhi, August 10, 2006: ESPN Star Sports, will showcase some of the most memorable moments in the history of Indian sports this Independence Day. Keeping up with the spirit of Independence Day, the leading broadcaster will relive glorious moments in Indian sports for viewers across the country in a specially produced programming initiative.

    Explaining the initiative, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd Managing Director R C Venkateish said, “ESPN Star Sports has always looked at initiatives to redefine its offerings to the audiences. This Independence Day, keeping up with the spirit of patriotism, we will be showcasing some of the most memorable sporting events in Indian history, the moments that have done India and Indians proud at the international level.”

    ESPN will showcase India’s cricketing glory against England, symbolic to India overturning the British Empire to attain Independence. The 1986 series, where Kapil Dev led and Vengsarkar inspired India won two Test matches; the 1971 series, where India’s spin trio had England in a web; the historic 1983 World Cup semi final and the record chase by Indians against England in the NatWest series final, the day will feature some of the best talent in some of the keenly contested matches in the cricketing history of India.

    Star Sports will be showcasing some of modern India’s finest moments with modern day Indian sporting icons such as Narain Karthikeyan, Shiv Kapur, Sonjay Dutt, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi doing India proud at the international level at individual and team sports.

    The schedule as per date, time, event and channel are as follows;

    On ESPN –
    15th August (0800-1200) 1986, England vs. India, 1st and 2nd Test
    15th August (1200-1800) Headingly Special
    15th August (1800-2000) 1971, England vs. India, Test Series
    15th August (2000-2100) News (India and Asia)
    15th August (2100-2200) 1983 World Cup, Semifinal, England vs. India
    15th August (2200-2300) News repeat
    15th August (2300-0030) The Natwest Series, Final, England vs. India

    On Star Sports –
    15th August (0800-0900) TNA Monthly India Specials- Sonjay Dutt
    15th August (0900-1000) 2006 Formula One- Narain Karthikeyan
    15th August (1000-1100) Volvo Masters of Asia- Shiv Kapur
    15th August (1100-1200) Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships- Sania Mirza
    15th August (1200-1800) India Glorious- Adelaide Special
    15th August (1800-1900) TNA Monthly India Specials- Sonjay Dutt
    15th August (1900-2000) Philippines Open- Sneha
    15th August (2000-2100) Indian Legends- 1983 World Cup final
    15th August (2100-2200) Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships- Mahesh Bhupathi
    15th August (2200-2300) TNA Monthly India Specials- Sonjay Dutt
    15th August (2300-0000) 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup

  • ESS Asia MD Jamie Davis to speak at sports television forum in China

    ESS Asia MD Jamie Davis to speak at sports television forum in China

    MUMBAI: The 2006 China International Sports TV Forum takes place in Beijing on 24 August.

    With technology breaking new ground for sports television decision-makers in sports, technology, branding, sponsorship, government and finance will debate and discuss the opportunities and future of sports television.

    The speakers include ESPN Star Sports (ESS) Asia MD Jamie Davis, Total Sports Asia COO Ian Ayre, Beijing Olympic Broadcasting COO Ma Guo Li and BBC Sport head of major events Dave Gordon.

    The topics for discussion include: Using creativity to attract the sports TV viewer, In Practice – A Case Study, A made-for-TV sports event – How and why it worked, The Future of Sports TV Production, Sports TV on the Move, In the Big League – Global sports media rights, Changing the landscape of sports sponsorship for Beijing and beyond and How China is setting the pace with new media solutions.

  • Tata Sky earmarks Rs 1.5 billion for marketing of service

    Tata Sky earmarks Rs 1.5 billion for marketing of service

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, an 80:20 direct-to-home (DTH) joint venture between the Tata’s and Star Group, is moving ahead step by step towards a launch, the date for which is still being closely guarded by the company.

    While most of the money is now riding on an August-September commercial kick-off, the latest on the Tata Sky front is that it has earmarked approximately Rs 1.5 billion for marketing the DTH service across all platforms, traditional and non-traditional. From pilot MDU (multi-dwelling unit) projects in some cities of India to educating an average Indian about the advantages of a DTH service supported by the Tatas and Star, the game plan covers the full gamut.

    Tata Sky sources reveal that a major part of the Rs 1.5 billion marketing budget is likely to be spent during the festival season in India, starting late September and lasting till Christmas-New Year, when consumers have a tendency to splurge on goodies.

    Meanwhile, apart from Zee Turner family of channels, most other major TV channels are almost sure of finding a berth on the Tata Sky platform from day one of launch. Apart from the news channels, the likes of Times Now and Disney are already part of the test signals, people in the know say.

    It needs noting however, that except for ESPN Star Sports, no other broadcaster (and that includes the Star Network channels) have signed commercial agreements wth Tata Sky as yet.

    ESPN Star Sports, a joint venture between Disney and News Corp in Asia managing the two sports channels, have also to take a call on whether to bring in a new interactive sports channel, or confine the interactive aspects to the two existing channels. “We are still weighing all options,” a Singapore-based source in ESS said.

    Zee channels’ appearance on Tata Sky, meanwhile, would depend on how soon (or how late) Star comes to an agreement with Dish TV, now that Discovery-Sony One Alliance has come aboard country’s first DTH platform.

  • ESPN STAR Sports announces Garv campaign for PHL

    ESPN STAR Sports announces Garv campaign for PHL

    MUMBAI: ESPN STAR Sports has taken Hockey in India to a new high with the third edition of the Premier Hockey League (PHL). The premier broadcaster is building PHL, the premier hockey tournament in the country, on regional pride to evoke popular support for the seven teams in the league. After the announcement of celebrities supporting the seven teams, PHL today announced the campaign “Garv Nahin to Kuch Nahin” which will support certain causes for each PHL team from the seven states. PHL will build support and will contribute towards renaissance of sports in the state of Maharashtra.

    Announcing the causes for each state, R C Venkateish, Managing Director of ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd said, “People are passionate about seeing their team win and this regional pride of witnessing your team perform well will motivate them to stand up and be counted. The “Garv Nahin to Kuch Nahin” campaigns look to highlight the regional pride among the seven states and invoke support through the causes that are a part of state we all live in. We plan to celebrate January 4, 2007 as “The Pride Day” across the country when PHL begins as a mark of passion and love for hockey and support and encouragement for your own state team.”

    PHL will encourage regional support through PHL team bands that will sold at ADIDAS outlets across the country. ESPN STAR Sports has also tied up with the music company Sa Re Ga Ma to build a Garv package that will be retailed at stores in the country. Fans across the nation will also be able to download a host of features like ring tones and wallpapers to support their favourite teams. Proceeds from the sale of the bands, the albums and the downloadable services will go towards the dedicated cause of the region. In Maharashtra, the proceeds will be diverted to the sports associations and federations as funds for the resurgence of the Maratha sports community which boasts of an illustrious legacy in India.

    This announcement follows the recent announcement by the brand ambassadors for each team in the league, who were roped in to uplift the team spirit and provide popular support to the teams off the field as a part of the “Garv Nahin to Kuch Nahin” campaign. Southern movie superstar Madhavan will throw his lot behind the Chennai Veerans while the eternal loverboy of Bollywood Jimmy Sheirgill roots for Sher-e-Jalandar. Likewise, VVS Laxman will back Hyderabad Sultans, Ravi Shastri will support Maratha Warriors, Debashish Mohanty will back Orissa Steelers while Prakash Padukone will champion the cause of Bangalore Lions.

    Speaking on the occasion Ravi Shastri said, “PHL will be the genesis of the revival of Indian hockey and will hopefully carry the Indian national hockey side to important victories in tournaments abroad. I am proud to be a part of PHL cause that will look to uplift the sports scenario in Mumbai.”

    Launched with an aim of reviving the glory of hockey in India, the Premier Hockey League has already established itself as one of the most important hockey tournaments in the world. More than 25 international players from 6 countries have taken part in the two editions of the league so far. Commenting on the success of PHL, RC Venkateish said, “The premier hockey league has been a great success and has given a chance to many youngsters to groom themselves in the early stage of their career by rubbing shoulders with the best players in the world. The league will only become bigger in times to come.

  • Satellite interference affects broadcasters & consumers

    Satellite interference affects broadcasters & consumers

    SINGAPORE: We’ve recently seen it happening to Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India during the telecast of a popular film awards ceremony. Star India, too, has faced some minor problems due to this in the past. We’re talking about a growing menace called satellite interference, which affects both satellite operators and the end user.

    Whether deliberate or not, satellite interference means a huge revenue loss for broadcasters, which is eventually recovered from the consumers. 

    With an excess of 300 satellite channels in India and more than 200 in China, satellite interference is becoming an increasing problem as the technical uplinking requirements within these market places are not fully efficiently deployed.

    Satellite interference today are caused by: equipment (40 per cent), unknown (22 per cent), human error (15 per cent), crosspol (13 per cent), antenna (8 per cent), deliberate (1 per cent) and terrestrial (negligible). Apart from this, military interference is also one of the causes.

    “The different types of military interferences are: airborne and ship born radar, which generally affects downlinks; spread spectrum hidden use, which results in higher noise floor and is difficult to identify and transponder hopping. While the military are generally cooperative (except in war zones) as far as airborne and ship born radar is concerned, but in case of transponder hopping, they deny responsibility and hence it is difficult to ensure resolution,” said Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG) chair of the board R James Budden.

    ESPN Star Sports director of engineering Andy Rylance pondered over the economic losses caused by satellite interference. “The economic losses caused by satellite interference are very high and run into millions of dollars. At the end of the day, not just the broadcaster but even the consumer pays for it. The types of interference can be intentional (piracy or political), unintentional (faulty kit, misalignment), terrestrial and limited to channel, transponder or multi transponder,” he said. 

    So what are the costs? In terms of commercials, there is a loss of commercial breaks, which means huge revenue loss of the broadcaster. And if the interference is during prime time, the monies can run even deeper. Ratings is the other factor that are affected if the interference is extended. Apart from this, if the interference is extended, the broadcaster stands a chance of losing credibility in the eyes of the consumer, who will eventually switch to other channel, which have an uninterrupted broadcast. 

    “The broadcaster will also have to pay for extra protection and maybe have a diverse feed, which actually doubles the cost or they can use fibre. But, that needs huge care in engineering to ensure availability. Some of the indirect costs of satellite interference are that the unusable space costs satellite operators real money and locating rogue uplinks is not cheap. What’s more, the losses to satellite operators must ultimately be borne by users,” Rylance said. 

    While most interference is out of our hands, the fact is that it is draining cash from everyone’s pocket. “What ever we can do to reduce the risk, we must do. Operational and engineering best practices will help,” he concluded.

  • Disney Asia Pacific holds its first new media showcase

    Disney Asia Pacific holds its first new media showcase

    MUMBAI: Disney’s distribution arm Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) along with Walt Disney Internet Group, Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN Star Sports, and its US television network ABC hosted its first New Media Showcase in the Asia Pacific region in Singapore.

    Broadcasters, mobile operators, content aggregators, ISPs, and triple-play providers from around the region attended the event at which executives from across the Company showcased how Disney is combining cutting-edge technology with great content to create unique entertainment experiences for audiences allowing them to enjoy content whenever and wherever they want it. 

    Buena Vista International Television (Asia Pacific) senior VP and MD Steve Macallister said, “This is an extremely exciting time to be in the media industry and it’s a particularly exciting time for The Walt Disney Company. We’re buoyed by the rapid developments and change facing the industry and are pleased to be the first US studio to undertake an event of this scale in the region.

    “Disney’s ‘road map to the future’ lay in combining the riches of our entertainment properties with new forms of distribution. Asian consumers have a voracious appetite for both technology and content, and across our businesses we are embracing this sea of change. There really is no other entertainment company better equipped to navigate the changes in our industry than The Walt Disney Company.

    “The New Media Showcase has been a marvellous opportunity for our current and potential clients to view for the first time in one place, the new media content offerings from our many businesses.”
     
    BVITV-AP showcased Desperate Housewives and Lost available for new media platforms such as for mobile, internet and video-on-demand. BVITV-AP says that it was the first studio to launch wireless content in South Korea in October 2005. In this mobile content deal with TU Media, the first-ever with a US studio, over 250 hours of programming including Desperate Housewives and Alias went to air via its linear channel “Blue”.

    In the US Disney-ABC signed a deal with Apple to offer Disney and ABC content on iTunes and ad-supported, full-length episodes of four ABC primetime series on abc.com. Disney is looking after sports fans too. The World Cup soccer tournament currently gripping sports fans everywhere has underscored the international opportunity available in the wireless space.

    ESPN Star Sports’ latest mobile service offering in Asia, includes video, data and WAP services in addition to java games, wallpapers and ringtones. Keeping fans up to date with the action on the pitch is ESPN Here We Go.

    This has the latest match insights, previews, predictions and analysis from the World Cup, and SportsCenter Mobile News, providing the latest in coverage of the top sports stories. Using SMS and Wap services, ESPN Football Live is keeping audiences abreast of the latest breaking news, injury reports, fixtures listings, and half-time and full-time scores.

    ESPN Insider sends fans first hand match development and predictions with expert commentary. ESS recently launched Mobile ESPN. This mobile service brings the best of video, SMS, WAP, games and downloads for sports fans. 

    Younger audiences also have new platforms on which to enjoy and interact with content. Disney Channel’s programming, digital media and marketing teams are working seamlessly to create an engaging experience empowering viewers to connect with the brand across multiple platforms, ultimately reinforcing and supporting the linear Disney Channel.

    Disney Channel’s strategy for creating compelling content for new media channels focuses on providing constant and personalised entertainment at the viewers’ convenience. In June, Disney’s shows That’s So Raven and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody will be available in six different languages, on the re-launched broadband site, DisneyChannel.com. The local language tracks include English, Mandarin Chinese and Hindi. 

    The musical movie High School Musical is doing well among kids, tweens and families in the US. It recently premiered on Disney Channel Australia and New Zealand, followed by international roll-out across over 100 countries this year, and had 1.2 million unique visitors to DisneyChannel.com – the most ever for the site. Distributed by Walt Disney Records, the music album was number one on iTunes Music Store for three weeks and 1.3 million single tracks have been purchased digitally.

  • Delhi High Court restrains 92 cable operators from unauthorised telecast of World Cup

    Delhi High Court restrains 92 cable operators from unauthorised telecast of World Cup

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Court granted stay to ESPN Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the Fifa World Cup, in favor of its application for a civil suit filed against 92 cable operators across the country for unauthorised broadcast of the Fifa World Cup restraining all the cable operators from showing Fifa through any other channel other than ESPN Star Sports.

    The channel has an exclusive deal with Fifa to telecast all the matches of the Fifa World Cup in territory of India. After this order anyone still showing FIFA World Cup through any other channel will be held in contempt of court and liable for prosecution, says an official release.

    Elaborating on this, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd AVP Affiliate Sales Rajesh Kaul says, “No other channel, whether pay, free to air or terrestrial is authorised to provide, show or distribute the Fifa World Cup Germany 2006 in the territory of India. Also carriage, reception or distribution of the Fifa World Cup Germany 2006 by any MSO, Cable Operator, Sub-Operator without written authorization from ESPN Star Sports is a violation of copyrights and hence an illegal activity. Strict and legal action will be taken against the operators who violate the court orders. Post the order; police raids have already been started.”

    The 92 cable operators restrained from the unauthorized telecast are from Tamil Nadu, Jharkand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Tripura, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Punjab, adds the release.

    “The 92 cable operators across the country were broadcasting by means of wireless diffusion the services of free to air international channels like TV 5 Cambodia TV, CC5 Channel, CCTV1, Super Sports, Multi-choice and Dream Satellite, thereby infringing the copyright of ESPN Star Sports. Today after an application in the Delhi High Court, the judge has restrained these operators from carrying and distributing the World Cup by any means whatsoever, without authorized permission from ESPN Star Sports. Operators showing the Fifa World Cup through other channels should stop this to avoid legal court action,” adds Kaul.

  • Sony-Discovery reach agreement with Dish TV

    Sony-Discovery reach agreement with Dish TV

    NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: It’s been a long time coming but after endless rounds of discussions, India’s first direct-to-home service Dish TV has finally reached mutually agreeable terms with the Sony-Discovery One Alliance distribution bouquet to carry their channels.

    The two parties arrived at a memorandum of understanding today and the official signing will happen anytime in the next few days, sources close to the developments tell Indiantelevision.com.

    The One Alliance channels will begin beaming off the Dish platform within the next few days and the billing cycle is effective from 1 July on. The financial terms that the two parties have agreed to were not available at the time of filing this report.

    For Dish TV, this resolves one half of the problem it has been facing ever since its launch – its inability to offer subscribers channels from the One Alliance and Star bouquets.

    With the addition of the Sony bouquet, Dish TV can look forward to a major ramp up in subscriber numbers. Two key events that are expected to drive acquisitions in the immediate term are the ongoing India-West Indies Test series and the Fifa World Cup. The Word Cup kicks off in Munich, Germany, on 9 June while the second Test in St Lucia, West Indies, will take place between 10 and 14 June. ESPN Star Sports (already on the Dish network) has exclusive rights to the World Cup while Ten Sports – part of the One Alliance bouquet – is exclusively airing the cricket in the Caribbean.

    A contentious issue that automatically gets resolved with Sony’s sign-up on Dish is the legal spat that Subhash Chandra’s DTH service has been having with Viacom channels MTV and Nick since last year. Both channels are part of the One Alliance.

    In a letter sent to the information and broadcasting ministry last month, Dish TV had petitioned that despite the sector regulator’s directive on making available content to all platforms and a favourable judgement from disputes tribunal TDSAT, the “conduct of MTV” has been “clearly in violation” of the interconnection regulation of 2004.

    Dish TV’s parent ASC Enterprises’ contention was that despite carrying on commercial negotiations with MTV Networks India for several months, the content provider and its distributors in India (One Alliance) had stalled any fruitful conclusion of such talks.

    ASC Enterprises, an Essel Group company, holds the licence for a DTH service in the country, which is marketed under the brand name Dish TV.