ITV

Tag: sports TV

  • Viacom18 partners with LaLiga, MTV India to exclusively air the Spanish league in India

    Viacom18 partners with LaLiga, MTV India to exclusively air the Spanish league in India

    New Delhi: Viacom18 Media’s flagship youth brand MTV has teamed up with LaLiga to bring the Spanish Football League exclusively to the Indian subcontinent for the next three years. The exclusive partnership will give the network linear and digital rights across the Indian subcontinent.

    Enabled and supported by Rise Worldwide, LaLiga will air exclusively on MTV in India, along with select national and regional network channels and live-streamed on Voot & Jio platforms, the network announced on Monday.

    Consumption and following of football in India have consistently increased over the past decade, especially amongst the youth. Currently in its 91st season, the iconic league is one of the most followed football leagues across the world and is home to Europe’s finest talent and football clubs including Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, amongst others.

    MTV is a popular destination for youth entertainment and content in India with a strong affinity with its young-at-heart viewers. Given the following that Football currently enjoys in India, Viacom18 and MTV are committed to building a wholesome entertainment-driven ecosystem centred around LaLiga, in a bid to further augment the fandom of the game, said the media conglomerate in a statement.

    Speaking about the association LaLiga, executive director, Oscar Mayo said, “We are excited to partner with Viacom18 (MTV India) and further bolster the LaLiga fandom to an ever-growing football fan base in India. Having set one of the highest standards of football globally and India gaining tremendous momentum, we are confident that we will reach and engage with the youthful audience that MTV as a destination appeals to.”

    Speaking about LaLiga on MTV, business head – Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Anshul Ailawadi said, “We at MTV have always known that football enjoys a groundswell of support amongst young-at-heart Indians. The LaLiga in particular, is a cultural phenomenon all over the World. When the folks from RISE Worldwide introduced us to the LaLiga team, we realized that this was a partnership waiting to happen – the vision was common, the vibes were good, and we quickly put pen to paper.”

    LaLiga will commence on 13 August and will see Viacom18 put the network’s might behind building reach and resonance for the league amongst Indian viewers. Viacom18 will connect with the football fans through a massive marketing and communications campaign, further building the fandom and outreach for LaLiga in India.

    “MTV’s extensive social media and digital clout will ensure that LaLiga engages fans through a multi-platform approach, potentially making football a part of dinner-table conversations across Indian homes and further widen MTV and Viacom18’s offering to its viewers,” said the channel.

  • Mobile ESPN subscription service launched

    Mobile ESPN subscription service launched

    NEW DELHI: It’s in, it’s happening, but will it deliver on the monies? Sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports today announced the launch of Mobile ESPN, marking its entry into the mobile value added services (VAS) domain in India.

    The sports TV major sought glory at a press conference here today as the first out of the door in this field with its service, which kicks off from 15 November.

    The Indian mandarins of the company were, however, taken by surprise when asked how they could claim a projected success, when the same service had to be withdrawn in the US. Mobile ESPN was launched in February with a huge promotional campaign but was disbanded within six months. Though the service was viewed as a technological success, it never caught on with consumers, who were apparently unwilling to pay a $10 to $50 premium to get highlights, fantasy sports alerts and even live games on ESPN-branded phones.

    ESPN India MD RC Venkateish explained, “There (in the US) the business model was different. However, we see huge potential in the mobile arena here as the leading sports broadcaster.”

    There was also some discomfort at the pitch over the rights issue — whether information of cricket, for example, being provided by ESPN Mobile could clash with rights holders like the Board for Control of Cricket in India?

    Sricharan Iyengar, ESPN India vice-president (sales and marketing) and head of emerging technologies, responded to a question on how the rights issue would affect them, saying that they were presently in a “rights-agnostic” situation.

    Venkateish added that they were news service providers and “no on can black out news”. He pointed out that most TV news channels were showing match reports anyway, without anyone coming in their way.

    As of now, ESPN Mobile promises to launch a three-pipe outlet, with news, statistics, pre- and post-match analysis and what have you on all sports, from cricket to tennis to F1 to ice hockey through the mobile phone, Internet (through its website espnmobile.in) and TV.

    Venkateish described the present TV-only scenario as the one-pipe outlet.

    Sports fans will be delighted, said Iyengar, with the “360 degree” coverage of sports in all possible formats, voice, video, text, SMS and games.

    Mobile ESPN services can be availed by dialling 505-ESPN (3776) on the phone or by sending an SMS to (ESPN) 3776, which will be the ESPN short code nationally. On entering the voice portal, consumers can select from a module comprising sections such as Welcome and user navigation; Cricket; Football; Sports center; and New Super Selector.

    The price range is attractive, with monthly packages scaling between Rs 50 to RS 99, with the higher-end providing all possible services, including video.

    Venkateish foresees a sea change in the media over the next five years, with the expected number of mobile phone users climbing by 30 per cent over the present 100 million, and ESPN has clearly pegged its business plan on the amazing growth in mobile connections across the country.

    His punchline was, “We don’t want work to come in the way of sports.”

    The company is working to optimise delivery through various service providers on the mobile networks, Iyengar said.

    “The voice service has been specially developed for India,” he said, adding, “this will give an hour-by-hour update.

    The voice news service was more satisfactory, with crisp info on the latest sports events being packed into a short 1.20 minute take. “We are aware that the user is paying Rs 6 per minute for getting the news and have developed the programme to give him the maximum.”

    So far as a business plan was concerned, the two spoke of seamless integration and an advertising model being built in.

    “Once we have built up a substantial subscriber base, we can also explore advertising on the service,” Venkateish said.

    The service, which is a presentation of the ESPN Star Sports joint venture, will be hyped on and off air and will see approximately Rs 400 million spent on marketing activities.

    The service of ESPN mobile will start off with English, then Hindi (in the first quarter of 2007), to be followed by other Indian languages subsequently.

    Gaming software is also being developed for subscribers of the service, according to Iyengar.

  • Sports TV forum sees China as an important global growth market for sports TV services

    Sports TV forum sees China as an important global growth market for sports TV services

    MUMBAI: At an event hosted by the State Administration for Radio Film and Television (SARFT) and organised by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) with media partner CCTV-5, the sports network of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, China emerged as an important global growth market for sports TV services.

    The August 24th international industry summit was held in Beijing with an audience of more than 400 international and China-based sports broadcasting executives was dominated by discussion of the potential for the Asian sports TV market and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, informs an official release.

    With speakers from World Cup soccer organisers Fifa, the UK’s FA Premier League, ESPN Star Sports, Total Sports Asia and the International Olympic Committee, the conference was keynoted by Dave Gordon, the head of major events at BBC Sport, following an introduction to CCTV’s plans for 2008 by network vice president Sun Yu Sheng.

    “Our biggest advantage is that we have between 300 to 400 million TV sets and one billion viewers in China,” said Sheng. “Meanwhile, I can assure you that China will have five dedicated Olympic TV channels as well as a channel for High Definition TV for 2008, allowing us to screen some 3,800 hours of Olympic programming.”

    Touching on an assurance repeated throughout the conference, Alex Gilady, a member of the International Olympics Committee and the Vice President of NBC Sports, noted that “Sports remains the premium content that viewers have proven they are willing to pay for. In 25 years time, we are not sure whether commercial free-to-air programming will still exist. But we do know that pay-TV (and premium sports TV) will still be around.”

    The value of the television rights that underpin the global sports market was highlighted by Phil Lines, the head of International broadcasting and media operations FA Premier League, “In 2003, our total revenue from overseas broadcast rights went up from just over 170 million pounds to more than 300 million pounds for three years. We sell the rights to 25 countries in Asia providing 31 per cent of our total worldwide audience. Given that we are nearly always shown on pay TV channels in Asia this is a remarkable feat.”

    In the run up to the Olympics in 2008 Beijing Olympic Broadcasting COO Ma Guo Li said, “We are in a very important time right now. But the true outcome of the Beijing Olympics won’t be felt until long afterwards. Then we will see what we have achieved and how it will change China’s sports TV industry forever.”

    At the conclusion of the conference, Marcel Fenez, the chairman of CASBAA, thanked co-organisers CCTV-5 and CITV, as well as the official Host, SARFT. “This event, the second in a series as we run-up to the Beijing Olympics, has demonstrated once again the strength of China’s sports TV industry, as well as its regional importance,” he said.