ITV

Tag: RC Venkateish

  • ESS plays it cool on Zee acquisition of Ten Sports

    ESS plays it cool on Zee acquisition of Ten Sports

    NEW DELHI: In the face of the acquisition of Ten Sports by Zee Telefilms, rival ESPN Star Sports has presented an unruffled visage, though the scene could be different in the boardroom.

    Star officials avoided commenting during the day, but in the evening, ESPN India head RC Venkateish said: “It changes nothing in the landscape.”

    The deal between Zee Tele and Ten Sports will give Zee for the first time access to high-viewership international programmes, especially cricket, and also a foothold in the West Asian markets. Would this not give ESPN-Star some competition in India? “I don’t think so,” Venktateish told indiantelevision.com.

    “ESPN is the world sports TV leader. Zee Sports was there already and so was Ten Sports, and they were already having many sports properties. What has happened is a change in the pattern of ownership. Why should it make a difference to us?” Venkateish pointed out.

    “We are focussing on what we have already,” he added.

  • Nimbus bags Bangla cricket rights for $ 56 million

    Nimbus bags Bangla cricket rights for $ 56 million

    MUMBAI: About the only consistent aspect of bidding for cricket rights is that no one seems to have a fix on just how high the numbers will go. Test minnows Bangladesh has sold to Nimbus Sport, the marketing rights for international cricket matches held in that country till 2012 for a whopping $ 56.88 million.

    To put some perspective on the matter, $11.75 million is what ESPN Star Sports paid the Bangladesh cricket Board (BCB) last time round when it acquired the rights for a period of five years. Those rights expired in April last year.

    The BCB’s new tender invitation is for the period 1 November 2006 to 31 March 2012. Bangladesh is expected to play 21-23 Test matches and 59-61 internationals during this period.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com earlier, ESPN India MD RC Venkateish had said that his network was certainly interested in renewing the rights.

    Nimbus’ bid was over $ 23 million higher than next in line Zee Telefilms’ tender, newswire Press Trust of India quoted Bangladesh Cricket Board general secretary Mahbub Anam as saying on Friday.
    “We will sign a contract with Nimbus within the next two weeks. All we need now is the government’s seal of approval,” Anam said.

    Two key clauses in the tender document issued by the BCB were:

    * Production the responsibility of the bidder though there are allowable expenses against the winning bid (subject to the board agreeing) including production costs.

    * All revenues will be shared between BCCB and the successful bidder in a ratio of 80:20 in favour of BCCB.

    Nimbus’ telecast of Bangladesh cricket begins later this month with a five-match one-day series against Zimbabwe. After that, Bangladesh plays Bermuda and Canada in early 2007 (two ODIs each).

  • Bangla board sets $ 50 million reserve price for cricket rights

    Bangla board sets $ 50 million reserve price for cricket rights

    MUMBAI: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), which has issued a tender to sell marketing rights including those for television and the Internet for six years until 2012, has fixed a reserve price of $ 50 million for bids.

    This is a massive mark-up from the $11.75 million ESPN Star Sports paid last time round when it acquired the rights for a period of five years. Those rights expired in April last year.

    The BCB’s new tender invitation is for the period 1 November 2006 to 31 March 2012.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com earlier, ESPN India MD RC Venkateish had said that his network was certainly interested in renewing the rights.

    Among the rather tough clauses in the tender document the BCB has issued are:

    * Only firms experienced in using similar rights and having an annual turnover of $15 million will be eligible to participate in the tender.

    * All revenues will be shared between BCCB and the successful bidder in a ratio of 80:20 in favour of BCCB.

    $ 2 million deposit to be submitted before bids opened.

    * Production the responsibility of the bidder though there are allowable expenses against the winning bid (subject to the board agreeing) including production costs.

    * As the incumbent broadcaster, ESS will have the right to match any bid from a rival broadcaster if its bid is lower.

    Bangladesh is expected to play around 40 tests and over 100 one-day internationals during this period.

    The big question among more than one industry watcher is this – will any broadcaster bid even the floor price of $ 50 million let alone cross it?

  • ESS partners with Special Olympics

    ESS partners with Special Olympics

    MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has announced a partnership with the Special Olympics, the international non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

    ESS says that it is well-positioned to deliver the Special Olympics message across Asia, including calling upon the services of sporting legends who have built a relationship with the network over the years.

    Among the media programmes lined up by ESS is the television production and broadcast of the 1st Special Olympics International Cricket Cup which will be held in Mumbai from 6-13 November 2006. 12 men’s and three women’s teams will take part in the inaugural competition, involving 272 athletes and over 600 volunteers, coaches and officials. The countries taking part in this inaugural event are India, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies. Female teams from India and Pakistan will also take part in this event.

    Special Olympics International chairman Timothy P. Shriver said, “We have been expanding and developing many programmes in the Asia Pacific region recently and have always had the goal to reach out to significantly many more people with intellectual disabilities worldwide. We have just reached two million athletes participating in 150 countries. Yet there are nearly 170 million more waiting. In addition, our message has to extend to the mass public in a much more powerful and significant way. ESPN Star Sports can make that happen.”

    Among the sporting stars who have stepped forward to lend their support to ESS’ commitment to Special Olympics are legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar, skipper Rahul Dravid, Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Kaif. Tailor-made public service announcements have been created by ESS featuring these Indian cricket legends.

    Special Olympics Asia Pacific MD Troy Greisen, says, “We are absolutely thrilled about this partnership with ESPN Star Sports as it is a great opportunity for us to spread the word and inspire people throughout Asia to get involved and support Special Olympics. ESPN Star Sports is the most powerful medium for us to achieve this as the premier sports network in Asia. Not only does ESPN Star Sports reach millions of viewers whose lives can be touched by our message and hopefully become supporters, it is also a great platform to showcase the ability of our Special Olympics athletes alongside other world class athletes.”

    ESS Asia MD Jamie Davis said, “Special Olympics is indeed a very special organisation. Its ideals are something we are very attracted to and something we want to fully support. Nothing will be more satisfying than to be able to play a small part in changing the lives of these special athletes.

    “ESPN Star Sports’ commitment will not stop at producing and broadcasting the flagship events of Special Olympics, which will start with the cricket tournament in Mumbai. ESPN and Star Sports will also run public service announcements to increase the awareness of people with intellectual disabilities and it’s staff will actively work with the Special Olympics athletes through volunteer coaching programmes”.

    ESS India MD RC Venkateish said, “Our network has a huge presence in India and we are looking forward to achieving something very important for Special Olympics in Asia. The continent has its own special athletes and through the powerful mediums of sports and television, we can help Asia play a more important role in helping people with intellectual disabilities.”

    Gavaskar said, “As a sportsman, getting involved in a cause as big as this, especially since it is about speaking for a group of athletes and promoting their cause throughout Asia, is perhaps one of main highlights of my career. If I am able to help achieve the goals that Special Olympics are looking for, then, it will perhaps even surpass what I have ever achieved in cricket.”

  • 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.

  • ESS, SCV in talks as clock ticks for World Cup kick-off

    ESS, SCV in talks as clock ticks for World Cup kick-off

    MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: The countdown is well and truly on as the world awaits the greatest sporting spectacle on the globe – the Fifa World Cup 2006 – to get underway tomorrow in Munich, Germany. 

    In India a very different confrontation is on between ESPN STAR Sports, the exclusive telecast rights holder, and Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV), promoted by the Sun Network, which belongs to the Maran family that rules in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and owns cable networks in Chennai, a city where CAS has been implemented since 2003.
    The first ball in the fracas was kicked by SCV on Wednesday when it issued a statement that all World Cup matches would be telecast live on any free channel on the premium band enabling viewers without STB (set top boxes) to get all the action. 

    ESS in its response issued yesterday was quite categorical that “soccer lovers in the city can enjoy live telecast of Fifa World Cup 2006 only through set top boxes or through DTH services.” For Maran family patriarch and DMK leader M Karunanidhi, recently sworn in as chief minister after ousting bitter political rival Jayalalitha at the hustings, the prospect of Chennai’s citizens being deprived of the chance to see the soccer World Cup is unthinkable.

    While the buzz in Delhi is that Karunanidhi had called for a meeting with ESPN managing director RC Venkateish and his team might well be stretching things, that ESS and SCV executives were scheduled to meet to thrash out the matter today is true.

    It is worth noting here that one of Karunanidhi’s pre-election promises was for the supply of free colour TV sets to the state’s needy so all matters linked to the television are politically charged. 

    Till the time of writing this report, an update on the meeting between ESS executives and the Marans were not available.

    According to information available with Indiantelevision.com, the issue will get resolved if an agreement is reached between SCV and ESS on the payout Chennai’s dominant MSO will have to give to access the telecast.

    Once that happens, SCV’s assertion to its subscribers that the World Cup matches would go live on the free-to-air (FTA) band will be fulfilled. 

    The fact is though, that whether SCV and ESS reach an agreement or not, if the MSO were to show the World Cup matches on the FTA band it would be in breach of existing CAS laws. 

    Chennai after all is the only metro in the country where conditional access is operative and delivery of pay channels by any means other than through a set top box is illegal.

    A point of note is that SCV already appears to be in in violation of CAS laws in the matter of the Ten Sports telecast of the ongoing India-West Indies Test series being played out in the Caribbean. SCV has been airing the matches live on the FTA band. 

    However, since the SCV subscriber is not having to pay anything extra for getting the Ten Sports feed, for all practical purposes the Dubai-based sports channel is an FTA channel in the Chennai territory. That the Sony-Discovery One Alliance distribution bouquet (of which Ten Sports is a part) has chosen to look the other way about it is clearly linked to the fact that SCV is its distributor in Tamil Nadu.

    Sun TV Network promoter Kalanidhi Maran’s younger brother, Dayanidhi, is a minister in the federal coalition government in charge of telecommunications and infotech portfolios. 

    ESS warns cable ops against unlawful Fifa telecast 

    Rajesh Kaul, associate vice-president, affiliate sales, ESPN Software has in a statement said, “No other channel, whether pay, free to air or terrestrial is authorized to provide, show or distribute the Fifa World Cup Germany 2006 in the territory of India.”

    He added, “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. If any person(s), entities are found to be resorting to such activities, legal action shall be initiated against such persons(s) / entities.”

    These assertions by ESS were necessitated as cable operators in various parts of the country were threatening to show the World Cup either through ESS signals or by accessing them from elsewhere.

    For example, Indiantelevision.com learns from ESPN India that a cable operator in Agartala in north-eastern part of the country had threatened to access the World Cup via Bangladesh TV, signals of which spill over to Indian border states also.

    Dish TV bullish on WC fuelling STB sales

    The cable controversy apart, Subhash Chandra’s Dish TV, country’s first DTH service, is bullish that the World Cup would fuel sale of boxes not only in Chennai, but in other parts of the country also.

    Dish TV business head and additional vice-chairman of Essel Industries Jawahar Goel said, “The off-take of our DTH boxes in Chennai is up almost 300 per cent these days.”

    While admitting that having ESPN and Star Sports on the DTH platform is an incentive for sale with the soccer fiesta just a day away, Goel, however, said that Dish TV would like to keep “away from the controversy” raging on in Chennai involving ESS and Sumangali.

    “We are businesspeople and would like to restrict our involvement to business deals,” Goel explained.

    An added advantage for Dish TV — present subscriber base in India close to 1 million — in pushing up its sale is that pubcaster Doordarshan will only be able to show the opening ceremony and match, plus the two semi finals and the final of the soccer World Cup.

    According to a report in The Hindu, taking advantage of the growing World Cup football fever, infotech major HCL will start distributing Dish TV products through Nokia outlets in Chennai. 

    HCL, itself a Nokia distributor, officially launched its DTH distributorship at a meeting for 120 dealers in Chennai on Wednesday. 

    Meanwhile, asked what would be Dish’s reaction if cable ops in football-crazy Kolkata in West Bengal re-transmit ESPN and Star Sports signals during the World Cup illegally to subscribers, Goel said action would be taken against errant cable ops.

    “Any cable operator trying to steal ESS signals from Dish TV (for football matches) would be hauled up and legal action will be initiated against him,” Goel said, pointing out that such subscribers would be switched off from the Dish control room.

    “We have launched a nationwide anti-piracy drive and will not tolerate piracy of signals from Dish TV,” Goel said.

  • ESS to share with DD semis, final of soccer World Cup

    ESS to share with DD semis, final of soccer World Cup

    NEW DELHI: ESPN Star Sports has reached an in-principal agreement with the government to make available the semi-final and final matches of FIFA World Cup soccer to Indian pubcaster Doordarshan.

    Confirming the development, ESPN India MD RC Venkateish said as an icing on the cake and a goodwill gesture, DD may end up with having the opening ceremony of the soccer feast too.

    ESS, which holds the exclusive rights of the soccer World Cup for the India region, will share the feeds of the above mentioned matches with DD on a 75:25 revenue share basis.

    This sort of a pact is on the lines of concessions that private broadcasters, holding exclusive rights for events held outside India, are ready to make involving Grand Slam tennis tournaments and important cricket series.

    Asked whether DD will have to do without the soccer World Cup as the `listed sports’ have not been notified as mandated by the newly-formulated downlink norms, a senior government official gave a non-committal answer.

    “The list of sports of national importance is not yet ready to be notified. So nothing definite can be said on soccer at the moment,” I&B additional secretary P Singh said today on the sidelines of a press conference called by Prasar Bharati, which manages DD and All India Radio.

    The downlink norms state that irrespective of the rights holder, all sporting events of national importance will have to be shared with the national broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, on a mandatory basis. This also includes events taking place outside India.

    However, both Ten Sports and ESS have moved the courts appealing against this norm.

    The month-long soccer World Cup, which begins in June 2006, is a hot property for any broadcaster in the world and despite India never reaching even the qualifying stages of the tournament, the number of soccer fans here is legion.

    Being one of ESS’ biggest properties for the year, the channel has already announced a slew of initiatives that it is hoping will build excitement.

  • ESS looks to spread the Fifa fever with production, marketing initiatives

    ESS looks to spread the Fifa fever with production, marketing initiatives

    MUMBAI: One of ESPN Star Sports’ (ESS) biggest properties for the year is the football World cup. While the event is still a few months away and takes place from 9 June to 9 July 2006, the channel has announced a slew of initiatives that it is hoping will build excitement.

    ESS India MD RC Venkateish said, “The Fifa World Cup is one of the most watched sporting spectacles across the globe with last edition having a cumulative audience base of 28.8 billion worldwide. ESPN Star Sports will be unveiling a comprehensive programming around it to give the Indian viewers an experience of a lifetime to build their interest in the FIFA World Cup by creating an appeal.”

    Production values to be given a boost: Venkateish explains that to start with, ESS has established a distinguished and enriched studio panel of presenters for the World Cup. Gerry Armstrong, ex-Irish International and now a soccer expert with ESS; Steve McMahon, ex- England and Liverpool player and ESS presenter Harsha Bhogle for the World Cup. ESS is counting on the three generations of sports expert to provide a new dimension to the telecast of the event to viewers in India.

    The broadcaster will also have Indian soccer experts, Novy Kapadia, Noel Da Kima Leitao, P.K. Bannerjee and Bhaichung Bhutia from India joining the above mentioned studio panel as guests every week during the event. For coverage from the venues, the broadcaster will have two dedicated teams in Germany comprising Anand Narsimhan, Dave Roberts and Jason Dasey, who will capture the World Cup craze live from the host nation. Additionally, a special Indian ESS production team will travel across India to catch the enthusiasm among the Indian soccer fanatics.

    The sports network will also have a special Hindi feed for traditional markets in India during the event. Elaborating on this initiative, Venkateish said, “We are looking to reach the mass Indian market during this World Cup to build soccer as a sport in the country and localisation of content has helped us increase our penetration in traditional markets of India. The special Hindi feed will add a lot of value to our telecast especially for viewers who find it difficult to understand the heavily accented English or for viewers who are not familiar with English at all.”

    Venkateish is confident about the viewership for the event as the matches have convenient timings with some matches starting as early as 6:30 in the evening,. 75 million Indians sampled the telecast of World Cup 2002, with a cumulative audience reach of 804 million in India. He further says that the ratings of the Fifa World Cup have been higher than the ratings of an India cricket test match.

    “Soccer is getting much bigger in India than it was in 2002; with over 55 million people watching the European League this season.” he adds

    A strong marketing push: From this month, the broadcaster will carry out various marketing initiatives to promote and build up the popularity even more.

    ESS will be undertaking a nation wide search for eight school children to be chosen as the Fifa fairplay flag bearers at the World Cup. The contest will be an opportunity for the school children to travel to Germany and stand with their favourite stars during the pre match ceremony.

    McMahon said, “It feels wonderful to be on the panel as an expert covering the World Cup. The Fifa World Cup is the most anticipated event for any sports fan and I am looking forward to covering the mega event from ESPN Star Sports studios. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a footballer and being part of the England squad for Italia ’90. Now I look forward to my new role as an expert analyst for Germany 2006. I will give my best to the fans and play my part to help grow the popularity of this fantastic sport.”

    Bhogle said, “I have always been committed to ESPN Star Sports for programming and am honoured to be part of this special India presentation for the biggest sporting event in the world. We have got an excellent team and look forward to maintaining the presenting standards ESPN Star Sports has set in India.”

    A New Show: To build up hype for the event, the channel will also have Fifa programming to generate viewer interest. From Wednesday 4 April, the channel will telecast FIFA World Cup Stories. This will showcase stories in the World Cup history. Six episodes of half an hour duration will provide angles to chapters of the event. The programmes will feature stories on the most surprising and shocking results in the World Cup, Golden Boot winners of the previous editions, dramatic penalty shoot outs, young stars of the sport and rise to top of some of the underdogs. An extensive programming will follow the Fifa World Cup Stories on Fifa till the World Cup starts.