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Tag: IPL

  • N Srinivasan can’t contest BCCI 2015 polls: Supreme Court

    N Srinivasan can’t contest BCCI 2015 polls: Supreme Court

    MUMBAI: After a prolonged period of waiting, the Supreme Court has finally pronounced its verdict on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan’s conflict of interest case. Amongst other things, the court said that Srinivasan cannot contest the BCCI polls till he gives up commercial interest in the Indian Premiere League (IPL) franchise – Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

     

    A bench of Justices including TS Thakur and FMI Kalifulla, which heard the counsel for BCCI and Srinivasan on one side and rival Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) on the other, had on 17 December reserved its verdict on Srinivasan’s re-election plea but had indicated that the judgment could formulate accountability standards for ill-managed sports bodies to eliminate nepotism and conflict of interest.

     

    The key points of the 130 page judgment read by the Supreme Court includes:

     

    * N Srinivasan or any administrator having commercial interest in cricket cannot contest for BCCI till they have those interests.

    * Supreme Court sets up three-member panel headed by ex-CJI R M Lodha to decide quantum of punishment against Meiyappan and Kundra

    * BCCI did not adhere to prescribed procedures while conducting probe in IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal

    * Charges of cover-up against BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan not proved

    * Amendment in BCCI rules allowing Srinivasan to own IPL team, is bad

    * The highest Court of the country said conflict of interest in cricket leads to great confusion

    * SC framed seven questions on which it has passed its verdict

    * Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra and Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan’s role in betting stands proved 

     

    The panel of judges also asked BCCI to hold fresh elections within six weeks. An independent panel would  decide the fate of multimillionaire franchises Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.

  • Cue Sports set to receive a big boost in India

    Cue Sports set to receive a big boost in India

    MUMBAI: The Indian Premier league (IPL) helped in the evolution of cricket by bringing in an interesting format. The format also allowed various other sports like kabaddi, tennis and football to come into the spotlight last year. Joining the bandwagon this year will be cue sports.

     

    The Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BFSI) president PVK Mohan has said that the ‘Cue Masters League’ (CML) will be held this year in India. The league will have six franchises from different part of the country.

     

    “We hope to finalise the format after the second edition of the Indian Open, which gets over in Mumbai and will be held from 10 – 14 March, 2015. The best formula for the tournament is being worked out,” said Mohan.

     

    International Management Group (IMG) has been roped in to work out the different modalities. IMG along with Reliance worked together during the Indian Super League held recently. Each of the franchises will have one marquee player along with a key marquee owner.

     

    In order to taste success at the league, players will be tested for skills for all the three formats – billiards, snooker and pool in the inaugural edition. Speaking about the interest in the league Mohan added, “We have garnered interest from different business houses. We hope to get the final draft ready by April but it is still in a very nascent stage.”

     

    Mohan, who was recently also elected as the International Billiards and Snooker Federation president, informed that plans were also afoot to have an Asian Players’ Tour Championship in snooker in five countries. “Exciting days are ahead for cue sport,” he concluded.

  • “It was time to move on to newer challenges”: Satbir Singh

    “It was time to move on to newer challenges”: Satbir Singh

    MUMBAI: Ending his nine-year long association, Havas Worldwide India managing partner and chief creative officer (CCO), Satbir Singh, has decided to move on.

     

    The man behind last year’s Indian Premiere League (IPL) campaign ‘Come on bulava aaya hai’ has been in the industry for over 20 years. Singh has worked in India’s top agencies such as Trikaya Grey (now Grey), Contract, Leo Burnett, Ulka, Ogilvy & Mather and has also to his credit the ‘Incredible India’ campaign and the long-standing radio tagline ‘Bajaate Raho.’

     

    The advertising industry’s known food-and-drink connoisseur and sportsman at heart, Singh has been associated with Euro RSCG in various roles, before it was rebranded Havas Worldwide in 2012.

     

    The news of him exiting Havas spread like fire and Indiantelevision.com had a quick chat with the man, who will be associated with the agency till February.

     

    After almost 10 years, what prompted you to quit?

     

    10 years is long enough association. And I think it was time for me to move on to newer challenges. Sometimes offers come your way, which need you to mull and decide your next move.

     

    So have you made up your mind on your next move?

     

    Soon, in a week or so should be able to announce my next move.

     

    What do you have to say about your journey with Havas?

     

    It has been a wonderful journey. In 10 years we have accomplished a lot. We have created some memorable campaigns for Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Dainik Bhaskar, Max New York Life Insurance, Red FM amongst many others.

     

    Parting words for your colleagues…

     

    I will miss them all. And they should continue doing the good work.

     

    And clients…

     

    Havas is a good place; stick with it.

  • IPL teams keep their ‘core’ intact

    IPL teams keep their ‘core’ intact

     MUMBAI: A total of 123 cricketers including players were retained by the franchises for the 2015 Pepsi Indian Premier season. Five Indian cricketers including Unmukt Chand and Vinay Kumar have been traded during the window for player trade this year. 

    The window for the franchises to extend the player contracts on existing terms for Pepsi IPL season closed on 15 December 2014. 

     

    The released players now have an option to register for the auction from where they can be picked by any interested club.

    IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal commented, “Teams have the right, at their sole election, to extend player contracts for another season. This allows for teams to make any course corrections to their squads as a way to strengthen their team ahead of the next season. It is a way to balance the need for continuity whilst allowing for churn which is very important from the league’s perspective. The released players will have the option to put their names up for the player auction for the 2015 season.”

    Teams have a total salary purse of Rs 63 crore for the 2015 season (5 per cent increase over the 2014 season purse). The salaries of the players retained will be deducted from this amount. 

    Here are the details of the retained and released players for 2015 season:

     

    CSK (Retained Players): MS Dhoni, Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ishwar Chandra Pandey, Matt Henry, Mithun Manhas, Mohit Sharma, Pawan Negi, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Samuel Badree, Suresh Raina, Ronit More. 

     

    CSK (Released Players): Ben Hilfenhaus, John Hastings, Vijay Shankar, David Hussey.

     

    DD (Retained Players): Jean-Paul Duminy, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Mohammad Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton De Kock, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Imran Tahir, Jayant Yadav.

     

    DD (Released Players): Dinesh Karthik, HS Sharath, James Neesham, Jaydev Unadkat, Kevin Pietersen, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Milind Kumar, Murali Vijay, Rahul Sharma, Rahul Shukla, Ross Taylor, Siddarth Kaul, Wayne Parnell.

     

    KXIP (Retained Players): Axar Patel, Anureet Singh, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karanveer Singh, Manan Vora, Mandeep Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Parvinder Awana, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Shaun Marsh, Shivam Sharma, Thisara Perera, Virender Sehwag, Wriddhiman Saha.

     

    KXIP (Released Players): Cheteshwar Pujara, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Murali Kartik. 

     

    KKR (Retained Players): Gautam Gambhir, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Morne Morkel, Patrick Cummins, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Yusuf Pathan.

     

    KKR (Released Players): Debabrata Das, Sayan Sekhar Mandal, Jacques Kallis.

     

    MI (Retained Players): Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Ambati Rayudu, Corey Anderson, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, Keiron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Marchant de Lange, Pawan Suyal, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Unmukt Chand, R Vinay Kumar.

     

    MI (Released Players): Michael Hussey, Praveen Kumar, Ben Dunk, Pragyan Ojha, Jalaj Saxena, Krismar Santokie, Sushant Marathe, Apoorv Wankhade, Zaheer Khan, C.M. Gautam.

     

    RR (Retained Players): Shane Watson, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ankit Nagendra Sharma, Ben Cutting, Deepak Hooda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dishant Yagnik, James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Karun Nair, Pravin Tambe, Rahul Tewatia, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Stuart Binny, Tim Southee, Vikramjeet Malik.

     

    RR (Released Players): Amit Mishra, Ankush Bains, Brad Hodge.

     

    RCB (Retained Players): Virat Kohli, AB deVillers, Chris Gayle, Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Rilee Rossouw, Vijay Zol, Yogesh Takawale, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Ashoke Dinda, Sandeep Warrier, Manvinder Bisla

     

    RCB (Released Players): Albie Morkel, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravi Rampaul, Sachin Rana, Shadab Jakati, Tanmay Mishra, Yuvraj Singh.

     

    SRH (Retained Players): Shikhar Dhawan, Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chama Milind, Dale Steyn, David Warner, Ishant Sharma, Karn Sharma, KL Rahul, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha, Parveez Rasool, Ricky Bhui.

     

    SRH (Released Players): Aaron Finch, Amit Mishra, Amit Paunikar, Brendan Taylor, Darren Sammy, Irfan Pathan, Jason Holder, Manprit Juneja, Prasanth Parameswaran, Srikkanth Anirudha, Venugopal Rao.

  • Will keep away from IPL, says Srinivasan to SC

    Will keep away from IPL, says Srinivasan to SC

    MUMBAI: International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman and BCCI president in exile N Srinivasan has told the Supreme Court of India, that if he is re-elected, he would keep away from the IPL  governing council, till the proposed council decides on the issue of conflict of interest involving him and his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. Hi son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan is an alleged accused in the IPL betting scam.

    Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing as his counsel told the bench comprising Justice T.S Thakur and Justice F.M.I. Kalifulla, that if the apex court permitted elections and in the probability that Srinivasan wins, he would keep away from the Indian Premier League council and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) meetings wherein issues relating to the IPL will be discussed.

    Meanwhile media reports also suggested that the BCCI is not in favour of an external committee to look into Srinivasan’s conflict of interest suggesting that it would affect the autonomy the board enjoys.

    This comes in the wake of the Cricket Association of Bihar filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that has asked for the disqualification of Srinivasan as being a part of the BCCI and owner of Chennai Super Kings is a direct conflict of interest.

     

  • SC names Srinivasan, Meiyyappan, Kundra and Sundra Raman in Mudgal report

    SC names Srinivasan, Meiyyappan, Kundra and Sundra Raman in Mudgal report

    MUMBAI: The Supreme Court of India disclosed the names of ICC chairman N Srinivasan, his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and former Indian Premier League CEO Sundar Raman among the 13 who were investigated by the court-appointed Mudgal committee to look into the corruption in the Indian Premier League (IPL) scam.

     

    The Apex court has also asked that findings of the Mudgal committee report on non-cricketers be disclosed and that a copy of the report be provided to BCCI, Srinivasan and other non-players. Meanwhile BCCI, Srinivasan and other non-players who are named in the report have been asked to file their objections within four days of the receipt. The next hearing will be on 24 November.

     

    Some media reports quoted the court saying, “Certain findings recorded by committee are understood to have indicted some individuals whose conduct has been investigated. We have seen the report and it did suggest some misdemeanour on part of certain individuals.”

     

    Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for the Mudgal committee, had submitted that the report does not name any player and they are referred as numbers whose key is kept in a separate report.

     

    It is not clear whether Srinivasan who is seeking to contest the BCCI elections once again will be able to contest the same. The Board AGM, which was scheduled on 20 November has once again been deferred by four weeks and it is the first time in the boards history that it has been put off twice said a report.

     

  • Bombay HC dismissed conflict of interest petition against N Srinivasan

    Bombay HC dismissed conflict of interest petition against N Srinivasan

    MUMBAI: Narayanaswami Srinivasan can breathe for a while now. The Bombay High Court has dismissed a public international litigation (PIL) that had challenged the current International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman’s conflict of interest while running the affairs of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

    In September, the Cricket Association of Bihar, which had filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court, seeked the appointment of an independent Governance Review Committee that would review the rules and regulations of the cricket body in India.

    The PIL allegedly stated that the BCCI was being used as a platform to serve the personal interests of few people including that of Srinivasan, who has been stood down from his position till the Supreme Court adjudicated on the ongoing hearing on corruption in the Indian Premier League.

    The PIL has been filed by Cricket Association of Bihar secretary Aditya Verma, who has stated that the rules and regulations of the BCCI have also been allegedly tampered with in such a way that the people could use for their own purposes and points out towards   the spot-fixing scandal in the IPL.  Meanwhile, on 10 November the Supreme Court of India raised a question if Srinivasan could be allowed to head the BCCI in case his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was found to be involved in IPL-6 betting and spot-fixing scandal.

     

  • From IPL to BCL, Sony continues its love for cricket

    From IPL to BCL, Sony continues its love for cricket

    MUMBAI: Cricket is nothing less than a religion in India and when mixed with a high-dose of glamour and drama, it serves as the ultimate form of entertainment.
    So, what happens when reality television meets the passion of the nation, cricket?

    Giving viewers the combination of both, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is all set to launch India’s first ever sports reality show – Box Cricket League (BCL).

    However, this is not the first time that Sony is associating itself with cricket. Who can forget the launch of Indian Premier League (IPL), which saw entertainment and cricket getting hitched? However, the host Mandira Bedi’s noodle-strapped sari blouses made more headlines than the pre and post match show.

    “Everyone criticised us and we did not receive good responses for the same. I was there at Sony at that point in time and today after 14 years, we are back at it but with a twist,” says SET SVP and business head Nachiket Pantvaidya.

    For Pantvaidya, the show conceptualised by Marinating Films and produced by Balaji Telefilms, is like coming back full circle. When he heard the concept, he immediately locked it. “Cricket toh sirf bahana hai (cricket is just an excuse), there is a lot more than just cricket,” he says.

    BCL consists of eight teams, comprising of 120 popular television celebrities, who will compete against each other, playing a total of 19 matches of 14 overs each. The teams would be divided into two groups, A and B.

    For Ekta Kapoor, who will make her debut in reality with BCL, sports has alienated itself from women, so with this she wants to get all the bahus and girls get into the game and play with the boys. “I have never touched reality shows. So today I am doing a combination of both. Kudiyon ka zamana hai, cricket toh sirf ek bahana hai,” laughs Kapoor.

    Marinating Films director Sunny Arora aims to deliver a very good product. In the month of April, it had conducted a trial season with more than 100 actors and received a good response.  He believes that cricket is seen for entertainment and played for entertainment.

    “We had organised a trial to understand how the format will work. Men and women playing together, what are the flaws…so now we have come up with a concrete plan. We have just increased the scale,” says Arora.

    He further believes that the major reason why it worked in the trial was because of the presence of female players.

    Matches will commence with a face-off between the two playing teams, where they will perform signature moves on their team anthem. Giving the mundane coin toss a skip, BCL has introduced a ‘filmy toss’ with options like ‘Jai or Veeru’, ‘Basanti or Dhanno’. Upping the glam quotient will be two BCL titlis, Noorin Shah and Vrushika Mehta, who will perform acts during time outs and the ball change.

    Making the game more entertaining, viewers will also get to see behind the scenes action, locker room gossips and some extremely creative awards like Gentleman of the Match and Most Stylish Player of the Match amongst others.

    While the spirit of cricket remains intact, the introduction of new twists in the game is sure to keep the audience entertained. To step up the excitement, during the sixth and tenth overs, the batting captain will challenge the bowling captain to hit a certain number of runs in a single over with a particular bowler.

    If they manage to hit the number of runs they have challenged them for, then they earn double the runs. If not, they will lose the number of runs they challenged the bowling team. The seventh over will also see a ball change procedure where the players can strategise their next game plan.

    Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sameer Nair shares the genesis behind the entire concept of the show. “When Ekta first heard about it was through a friend of her who owns a team and Marinating Films, she wanted to buy a team with the marinating team boys. Then she thought, why to buy a team when we can invest in the league.”

    Balaji Telefilms has a joint venture with Marinating Films and have invested in the company. “Cricket is India’s most popular sport. Daily soaps are most popular form of television entertainment and the marriage of these two promises to be quite electric and exciting,” believes Nair.

    The shoot for the series will start from 20 November and will take place in Filmcity, Reliance Studios.

    So how does one qualify to be a BCL player? “Out of 11, nine have to be actors. How do you qualify as an actor? There is a bible to it. For example, depending on the number of shows he/she has done. And if one is a non-actor, he/she has to be either a director or a producer. The selection is done by the individual team captains and the owners. They should have experience,” answers Arora.

    Apart from the formal announcement, the channel has not started any marketing activities yet. According to SET SVP marketing head Gaurav Seth, eight teams have created their own anthems and he plans to pitch it in a different way. “The series is six weeks away. We have some interesting ideas in our heads and will soon execute them when the right time comes. In this country, you can never be short of celebrities. Fans will come to see the fights, victories, high and low moments.”

    Digital will be a special focus for Seth considering the amount of fan clubs each of the celebs own on the digital platforms. “One star will tweet, others will pick it up. There will be war, fights but at the end it’s all about entertaining viewers,” he says.

    Initially the project was pitched to Sony Six, but Sony realised the power of the concept and thought it will be apt for a GEC channel. “The moment we came to know it would be aired on a GEC channel, we had to change the entire look and feel to ensure that it’s up to the mark,” states Arora.

    The promos of the series will go on-air from end November. Though the date is not finalised yet, it will run for four weeks and be a weekly property.

     

  • “Any model that guarantees 70% of your revenue is a great business to be in”: Fraser Castellino

    “Any model that guarantees 70% of your revenue is a great business to be in”: Fraser Castellino

    In April 2014 he was appointed as the COO of Kings XI Punjab, the team that sparkled on field during the seventh season of the Indian Premiere League (IPL). Fraser Castellino has over a decade of experience of working in the sports industry.  Besides leadership roles in IPL teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, he was also instrumental in setting up the Sahara Group’s polo and other non- cricketing ventures. Castellino is a marketing graduate from Mumbai and also holds a bachelor’s degree from St Xaviers College.

    Ahead of the upcoming Champions League Twenty2O, Indiantelevison.com’s Herman Gomes talks to him about the franchises plan ahead and the factors that have contributed to the team making a profit this season.

    Excerpts…

    It was one of the best seasons for Kings XI Punjab having reached the finals. What are your thoughts?

    Yes, you’re absolutely right. We went on to win 11 out of the 14 games in the home stretch which was great. I think what was most exciting for me was the fact that Kings XI Punjab this year, demonstrated a brand of cricket which people identified with. People actually wanted to come and watch us play the games, because they loved the entertainment factor around our team.

    There were teams, who set up scores of 200 but we chased those down. There were teams that put us in to bat first, we scored and defended it. When I spoke to some cricket experts, one of them mentioned to me that teams did not know what to do with Kings XI Punjab. Opposing captains didn’t know whether to put us to bat or whether to make us chase or what to do at all because we guys seemed to tackle anything that came our way. That was a great and pleasant feeling.

    It wasn’t also that we were going overboard with it, but it was great to know that so many people identified and wanted to watch Kings XI Punjab.

    Earlier this year, KPH Dream Cricket showed a profit of Rs 78 lakh before tax. So you have finally broken even and made a profit. What has been the winning combination for your team?

    Yes, we have made a profit this year. There were a couple of reasons that contributed to this. We made a lot of smart decisions about the way we spent money this year. One of the first things was with player costs. A lot of people don’t know this but 60 to 70 per cent of the cost is actually the player cost which is the amount of money you spend on buying the players.

    If one spends Rs 60 crore, that’s 70 per cent of the budget. I think Kings XI Punjab this year was very smart in purchasing players and thus saved money. But having said that, we still bought a great team.

    Secondly, our team performed well. When a team performs well, people want to buy the tickets and come to watch the matches.  In India, there is a typical problem. People want to come for the games but in exchange for a free ticket. But this time we had people who actually were willing to buy the tickets and come and watch because they were enthused about the kind of brand of cricket that we played.

    Then there was sponsorship money. When a team is doing well, it makes money because the structure of the sponsorship contract ensures that when a team moves into the playoffs, the sponsor pays bonuses.

    Then finally is the prize money you win. The winning team as well as the runner-up make very decent sum money which comes to the franchise.  These factors have contributed to our winning combination.

    How well is the team preparing ahead of the upcoming Champions League?
    The Champions League is a very clear tournament. We get a participation fee for qualifying and participating in the tournament. And we pay 10 per cent of the player cost for the team. So one is already in a very good position, since they are making some money even without doing anything. The rest is taken care by the organisers. The travel etc is all paid by the organisers so there is no cost to the franchise. The big upswing is winning the tournament because the prize money is half million dollars. So that is the target for us. So in terms of preparing, we are looking at the apple and saying let’s go and shoot it.

    Have you looked at new deals with sponsors?

    We have signed two new sponsors ahead of the upcoming Champions League which is Air Asia and HTC. There are also a couple of other brands that will be announced in a couple of days. It’s simple business actually. All brands want to associate with the winning combination and many do well and perform.

    How difficult is it for a franchise to get a sponsor on board?
    The IPL is a successful property. Brands, want to be associated with it. But there are only those limited number of teams. So I think as long as we see the IPL remaining prime, every team will receive sponsorship. The amount of sponsorship one earns will depend on how the team performs and the stars one has. We have done well this season and we hope to continue doing it.

    How much of your local revenue comes from sponsorships?

    Sponsorship would be about 60 per cent of our local revenue. The rest comes from gate revenues.

    How is the team now approaching licensing and merchandising and how important is it for you?

    Licensing and merchandising should be looked at a greater context. Licensing is still progressing but if one looks at merchandising and the amount that teams make from it, I think there is a lot of potential to grow further. For Kings XI Punjab there is great potential. The Punjabi fan base is large. Our catchment area is not just Punjab or Himachal but everywhere the Punjabi exists.  This can be UK, Toronto, Canada Dubai or Australia. Punjabis are everywhere and these are our fans. The answer to your question is if we can take our merchandising internationally, then I think we will have a different story to tell.

    How much amount do you allot to digital marketing to interact with fans?

    There is a small team that works on various programmes. We have interesting deals where we don’t spend much money on digital marketing.  We in fact make money from it. Digital is actually a revenue line.  It’s small right now but for every video we put on YouTube, we earn money from it. In digital marketing there is a way of earning money and that will be our focus growing forward.

    During the off season what are the various programmes the team engages with?

    During this time our team works on sponsors, ideation, planning, thinking about players. We have programmes to engage with our fans like the Kings XI Punjab Cup which is a local identifying talent tournament. It is played all across Punjab in cities like Jalandhar and Amritsar. We target players between the age group of 18 to 25 years. These are players who play for colleges, clubs and various tournaments.

    Do you think the BCCI should be working more closely with teams to make them more profitable?

    The BCCI has done what they had to do. They have sold the franchise and every owner has bought the teams. They haven’t changed the terms and we need to work within those frameworks we bought in 2008 to make money.  I think any business that guarantees you 70 per cent of your revenue is a great business to be in. A team owner may have a different view but I personally feel BCCI doesn’t have to do anything more.

  • Greymatter Entertainment: Getting into a different league

    Greymatter Entertainment: Getting into a different league

    MUMBAI: Mumbai-based Greymatter Entertainment’s name comes from that part of the human brain which is involved  in muscle control and sensory perception such as seeing, hearing, memory, emotions, speech, decision making and self-control. Its promoters have been using a lot of that over the past five years as they have steered it into a tour de force in  the Indian subcontinent’s sports television production business. Amongst the major sports events Greymatter has filmed for television include: the Indian Badminton League (IBL), Afghanistan Premiere League, Sri Lanka Premiere League,  as well as the Celebrity Cricket League.
     

    However, what the company is most kicked about these days is a new contract it has been awarded: that of producing the World Kabaddi League (WKL) which is slated to flag off from 9 August at the O2 Arena in London.  With Wave as the title sponsor, WKL will be broadcast not just in India through Sony Six but to nearly 30 other countries over the four months it is slated to run.
     

    “We can now  proudly say, that we have only IMG-Reliance ahead of us in terms of days of sports television production in India,” says Greymatter director Rahul Sarangi. “It is quite an achievement to arguably become the second largest sports TV producer  in the Indian subcontinent.  Leaving IPL and BCCI events out, we have 25 per cent of the live sports television events production pie.”
     

    Promoted by founder and CEO Chandradev Bhagat, Sarangi and director Payal Mathur – who were earlier engaged in various sports and entertainment events – Greymatter bagged the WKL rights following a fierce bidding war that included four or five other major sports TV producers globally.  

     

    The WKL is a privately owned company of Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal (he also serves as the president), and has Pargat Singh as commissioner with Raman Raheja serving as the CEO.  It is slated to travel across six countries – the UK, the US, India, Pakistan, Canada and UAE –  and has eight franchisee teams battling for  a purse of Rs 4 crore.

     

    The cities that the league matches will be held in include:  London, Birmingham, Dubai, New York, Sacramento, Stockton, Toronto, Vancouver, Delhi, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Mohali.

     

    Each Kabaddi match will be played on a circle style Kabaddi ground, 44 metres in diameter, as big as a hockey field. Cheerleaders, celebrities  and performance will – as has become the practice in most sports telecasts –  be there in good measure to spice up the screen. Sarangi, says that the WKL will have a narrative structure just like the IBL.

     

    The country where the event is being held will have a live telecast during its prime time. Therefore, when it is in the US, it will be the US prime time and since it is early time for India, there will be a repeat during prime time.

    “Sony Six has built an early morning prime time with NBA and this will also be at the 8 am slot. We can’t not have ground audience just to give a live evening feed to India,” points out Sarangi. Most of the matches will be held on weekends with very little during weekdays.

     

    For the Indian feed, commentary will be in Hinglish with Anjum Chopra while for the world feed it will be in English. “The WKL will be full of action because it is a contact oriented sport, especially due to its circular format. Contact is the reason why WWE works and we believe this will too,” he adds.  

     

    Greymatter has put together a crew of 70 seasoned sports television production professionals from Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, and India to create the HD feed for broadcasters in the US, the UK, Canada, and Asia. 10 to 12 cameras will capture the action and relay it live for various broadcasters in Europe, Asia, the US, Canada, Pakistan and Africa. Bhagat and veteran sports television producer Keith McKenzie have been roped in as TV directors for the league.

     

    During the four months, the actual shooting days will be about 45 with two matches per day. To keep its life simple Greymatter has tied up with local event and equipment  rental companies. 

     

    Sources estimate the per day TV production cost to be at between Rs 25 lakh and 30 lakh with the budget for the entire league pegged at between Rs 15 crore and Rs 18 crore. That makes it a major win for the Rs 50 crore turnover production house.

     

    “When we do something we spend the most amount of time on planning to get perfect quality work. We also ensure we have a tight and the right kind of people with us,” says Sarangi.

     

    That’s something that is endorsed by a sports broadcasting executive who told indiantelevision.com that “Chandru has been a friend for long. He and his team do a damn good job, hence they have been winning production contracts.”

     

    Greymatter has offices in Mumbai, Dubai and Europe with a team of 30 across verticals in production services, feature films, events, strategic consulting and a creative cell. It plans to open another office soon in Delhi.

     

    Apart from sports production, Greymatter has done well with  its non-fiction  format slate too. Remix – an original music show format – has been licensed to south east Asia broadcasters in Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines and optioned in three European countries. This apart, it has co-produced 52 episodes for French comedy producer Novovision, while two of its travel shows (Sunset to Sunrise and Heads or Tails) are being distributed by Off the Fence globally. Then two of its formats have been licensed to Sparks Eccho Rights for global distribution.

     

    The self funded company is now trying to make the most of the digital medium and fiction content on TV and  films, reveals Sarangi.

     

    Going by its track record in sports TV production and TV formats, it might score well on those fronts too.