Tag: Star Sports

starsports.com witnesses huge traffic during IPL 7 auction

MUMBAI: The digital arm of Star Sports – starsports.com – seems to be living up to its claim of being known as the YouTube of sports in India. The portal witnessed a huge traffic when it streamed the two day auction of the Pepsi Indian Premiere League (IPL) 2014 with five-minute delay.

The reach of the auction managed to outmatch Sony Six’s 2013 Pepsi IPL player auction numbers, claims the website as it attracted close to 680,000 visits over the two days.

Last year, the IPL auction on Sony Six witnessed traffic of 404,000 viewers with average time spent being 25 minutes in the male SEC ABC 15+ demographic.

In comparison, starsports.com reached 387,000 viewers with average time spent on the web being 31 minutes on each day.

Star India EVP and head new media Ajit Mohan said: “We had decided to produce a high quality show around the auctions, with commentary and analysis from Harsha Bhogle and Sourav Ganguly. This is a vindication of our approach. The Indian consumer is evolving fast and more and more consumers want to catch action while on the move. We are convinced that this year, the mobile screen will be where the action will be for IPL.”

The highest growth in traffic was seen in the first session of the auction on 12 February when marquee players like Yuvraj Singh and Kevin Pietersen were going under the hammer. The traffic peaked at 3 pm on 12 February. And almost 60 per cent of the traffic was from sports fans between the age of 18-24 years, and almost all of the traffic was in the coveted male demographics.

starsports.com is India’s first multi-sports digital service with availability across the web and mobile. Powered by live and video rights, it covers the best of world sports including major cricket tournaments, BPL, La Liga and Serie A in football, F1, hockey and tennis. This year, for the first time, all IPL matches will be available on the portal after it won the online streaming rights from Indiatimes.com this time around.

February 19, 2014
ICC U19 Cricket WC gets underway today in UAE

MUMBAI: The tenth edition of the tournament will be staged across seven venues in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 14 February to 1 March, and the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) global broadcast partner Star Sports is stepping up its production, as it gets set to make history.

More cricket fans than ever before will be able to enjoy watching the most far-reaching and comprehensive coverage of an ICC U19 Cricket World Cup (ICC U19 CWC).

Following up on its world-class production of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, Star Sports will produce 11 matches in High Definition (HD) – the most matches ever at an ICC U19 CWC.

Star Sports business head sports Nitin Kukreja said, “The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup is a premier tournament which showcases cricket’s future super stars. We have mounted an unprecedented production and broadcast effort to take cricket aficionados even closer to the action than ever before. We are confident that cricket fans will enjoy introduction of LED stumps for the very first time in an ICC tournament which will further enhance the broadcast experience.”

The event is set to reach an estimated audience of 1.3 billion, with broadcast agreements secured by Star Sports. This includes the continued coverage by ICC broadcast partners, Fox Sports in Australia, Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, OSN across Middle East and North Africa, ESPN in North America and the Caribbean and Sky NZ in New Zealand.

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be the main TV venue for the tournament while one match from the Sharjah Cricket Stadium will also be broadcast live. All televised matches will be covered using 14 cameras, including ball tracking and virtual graphics provided by Hawk-Eye.

ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “The expanded broadcast and digital reach of this edition of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup will ensure that more fans globally now have an opportunity to see the sport’s future stars in action.”

For the first-time in an ICC event, LED stumps will be used to provide the television viewers and spectators at the venue an enhanced experience. The stumps and bails illuminate when the bails are dislodged, giving the broadcaster and the crowd a true indication of when a batsman is out. They will be used for the semi-finals and final only.

The live broadcast will be complimented by a world-class commentary team, which includes Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar, Damien Martyn, Danny Morrison, Jonty Rhodes, Wasim Akram and Alan Wilkins.

The TV broadcast of the event will be a truly interactive one for fans, who can stay engaged through polls on the event website www.icc-cricket.com and via the social media using the hashtag #futurestars and #u19cwc.

Fans can also stay updated on the event via the event website www.icc-cricket.com which will feature live scores of all the matches and video clips of the key moments from the televised matches.

February 14, 2014
Hindi becoming the language of sports commentary

MUMBAI: English was the language of cricket commentary when it started in India in the early 1940s on All India Radio. The listenership was limited to the English-speaking class. It was in the late 1950s that cricket commentary in Hindi made a beginning. Commentary in the language of the people took the game of cricket to the hinterlands.

The dominance of cricket commentary in Hindi continued till the mid-1980s. Live commentary of India winning the 1983 cricket world cup was heard by most cricket fans in India in Hindi.

For the older generation, the names of cricket commentators in Hindi such as Suresh Saraiya, Narottam Puri and Ravi Chaturvedi still bring back memories of the 1970s and early 1980s when words created action happening on the cricket field.

With the emergence of colour television began the decline of radio commentary and the rise of English commentators on television. The government-owned Doordarshan was the only television channel available in the 1980s.

The rise of private broadcasters in the 1990s again saw the rise of cricket commentary in English and then its dominance. The first decade of the new millennium did make sports broadcasters aware of the importance of commentary in Hindi but it took almost a decade for them to actually wake up to the full potential of Hindi.

The likes of Star Sports, Ten Sports, SET Max and Sony Six made a beeline to incorporate more and more Hindi language programming in their sports coverage to grow their viewership.

Only this year, India’s oldest sports channel, Star Sports, launched the country’s first 24×7 Hindi sports channel, Star Sports 3, following an exercise that involved rebranding as well as reorganisation.

“We changed the landscape of cricket broadcast in the country in 2012 with the launch of a world class Hindi commentary simulcast in addition to the existing English language feed,” says Star Sports business head Nitin Kukreja.

The Hindi language feed attracted immediate attention from viewers.

Star Sports says 71 per cent of the viewership for the dual language-feed India-Australia series came from Hindi commentary. Thereafter, Star Sports took the engagement with the Hindi audiences even further.

“We launched India’s first 24X7 Hindi sports channel, Star Sports 3, with content, graphics and shows in Hindi – a giant step forward to dramatically increase the reach of sports in the country,” says Kukreja.

Apart from the launch of Star Sports 3, 2013 also saw Star Sports channels providing Hindi commentary feed for the Indian Badminton League (IBL), Barclays Premier League (BPL) and Hockey India League (HIL).

Says Kukreja: “In a nation where less than 10 per cent of the population understands English, sports broadcasters have traditionally programmed only in one language – English. We want to change that. We want to focus on a language that the viewers understand.”

For Star Sports, ‘Hindi dedicated’ is not just about the commentary being available in Hindi. It is a comprehensive Hindi offering in terms of graphics, navigation tools and all such constituents.

To increase its viewer base, Star Sports will now show not just cricket in Hindi but a range of shows on other sports including hockey, badminton and football and special shows such as Star Power, Heroes, Masterclass and Hockey Hotshots.

Star Sports is not stopping at just Hindi. The channel is considering providing feeds in languages such as Tamil and Bengali very soon.

Ten Sports too has jumped onto the Hindi bandwagon. For the recently concluded India-South Africa series, it had Hindi commentary on Ten Sports and English on Ten Cricket and Ten HD.

“With the viewer becoming more and more demanding like any other nation, and rightfully so, there is a viewer base that is looking forward to Hindi commentary and then the usual English commentary feed,” reasons Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi. And like Star Sports, Ten Sports too is looking at going multi-lingual in the future to expand its viewership.

Sony Entertainment Television provided commentary in both Hindi and English for its biggest sports asset, the Indian Premier League (IPL). While Set Max had commentary in English, the nearly two-year old Sony Six had commentary in Hindi for Pepsi IPL 2013.

“The Hindi feed was very well appreciated. We reached close to a 100 million viewers! The consumers were delighted to be provided with a choice of language preference,” says a Sony Six official. Sony plans to expand the number of IPL games with Hindi commentary.

Star Sports claims it has had higher core viewers coming from its Hindi feed than Engilsh. “During the period October-November 2013, about 24 million viewers were core to Hindi only, while English language had core viewership of about 9 million. Another 8.4 million viewers were core to both Hindi and English language,” reveals Kukreja.

On their part, advertisers are happy with the Hindi, English fragmentation of viewers. Madison Media COO Karthik Lakshminarayan says, “Currently, you buy a match, not a feed, so advertisers come on both feeds but soon, we will see that different advertisers will go for the two feeds (separately).”

The rates for Hindi feed are expected to be higher than the English feed given the much higher core viewership for the Indian language commentary. The segmentation could also attract advertisers who so far had shied away from sports channels.

Madison’s Lakshminarayanan says, “The more you can split an audience, the better it is for the advertiser. If you can further a demand with regional languages, then it should work.”

The Hindi channel being a new proposition, Star Sports isn’t yet selling its two language feeds separately. “Sometime in the future, we see value in unbundling the two offerings to different sets of clients. This will help the clients reach out more effectively to their target audience at one level and/or tailor their communication to suit specific sets of audiences,” says Star Sports’ Kukreja.

Sports programming in Hindi and other Indian languages can only help expand viewership for sports and will be beneficial to broadcasters as well as advertisers. The sports broadcasters will have their pockets deepened, the advertisers can reach more people and the viewers can watch programming in the language of their choice.

February 8, 2014
Starsports.com: YouTube of sports in India?

Barely a year old and starsports.com could well qualify as an example of the limitless possibilities of the World Wide Web.

Ever since its launch in June 2013, starsports.com, has been drawing nearly 28 million unique visitors every day with as many as 45 minutes spent per match. These numbers – comparable to television – are the highest ever on a digital platform.

starsports.com’s meteoric rise is not for nothing as the website has always been about giving sports fans a rich, immersive video experience a la YouTube and becoming a one-stop shop for them.

Star India digital head Ajit Mohan puts it well when he says: “The philosophy of the design and the service itself was to make video the hero; we believe we have become the YouTube of sports.”

Drawing attention to how sports coverage has evolved from print to radio to television and now the digital medium, Mohan says: “The idea was to create a new immersive experience around sports on digital for fans. The best way to attract the viewers was to add a lot of video elements that allowed getting data and analytics into the experience in a very meaningful manner. So we wanted it to be fully relevant to the digital medium, rather than what consumers were being served.”

Starsports.com has a 20-strong content development team and leverages the network’s production and broadcast team. Explains Mohan: “The idea is to keep delivering content on-the-go and report as events take place. The team creates video stories as well as columns and articles, but the point is to create a lot of video during the course of a live match as people would love to listen to someone’s point of view on the state of the match, thus driving home our point of an immersive experience.”

Speaking of design, starsports.com isn’t cluttered with irrelevant content like other sports sites. “We have kept the design experience for the consumer in mind where it becomes easy for viewers to discover a live match. Having said that, we have had a lot of learning over the past 12 months and we want to further improve on the experience for consumers,” says Mohan. “We work with a lot of world-class platforms and partners to help out with execution on the video as well as platform development.”

Apart from content and design, the revenue model too has evolved with time. At the time of the beta launch in December 2012, the streaming was free and had a little delay but post the launch, the live streaming experience was taken behind the pay-wall. “Just to give an idea about the conversion rate, it’s been in the range of three to five per cent – depending on whether on the web or the mobile app or any other operator service. Looking at the current subscriber base, if we exclude the telecom world, we probably have one of the largest subscription base of content subscriptions in the digital world,” says Mohan. “We are currently in a dilemma trying to figure out what services to charge for and what to keep free access for. So if we are asking people to pay, then there has to be something really exceptional and a high value proposition.”

Mohan believes the site’s success owes to two big leaps: firstly, high quality streaming of an even higher standard than YouTube or a comparable platform and secondly, advertising which allows a deeper engagement with sports fans on the back of very high quality video and content created exclusively for starsports.com.

“We have provided a much customised backbone to serve a very good video experience in live viewing. The response for the streaming quality has been very good and users find it very reliable and of high quality. So if the user has access to even a 1 mbps net connection, the video is of HD quality. That is something that is unprecedented and no other sports company has managed thus far,” Mohan exults. “We already had Adidas and Red Bull being associated with Starsports.com and within the next four to six weeks, we are sure to get more brands on-board with the announcement of the IPL streaming rights. Also, we will be having a lot of action for fans with the Asia Cup, the ICC T-20 World Cup in March and moving onto the IPL in April and May. So with a fully packed calendar for the next three and a half months, advertisers are keen to come on board.”

On the subject of IPL streaming rights, Mohan believes that despite the five-minute delay in streaming, IPL is sure to generate a lot of viewership on the digital platform.

“There is a habit of watching the event on the mobile and other portable devices, so the idea is to leverage our platform and provide a much better consumer experience and advertising solution and deploy it for IPL where there is already a habit and increase the numbers even more as against last year,” says he.

Again, IPL isn’t the only such property available on starsports.com; the site also streams as many as six to seven matches of the Barclays Premiere League (BPL) at one time. “We also show Sierra and La Liga matches along with F1 and the Australian Open. During the grand slam, we witnessed a spike of 200,000 users in a day coming on the back of the Open. Cricket will continue to be our cornerstone but we will also generate focus and engagement in other sports,” says Mohan.

Any discussion on the success story of starsports.com would be incomplete without a reference to ‘The Sachin Memory Project’, one of the website’s biggest and most innovative online campaigns around cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar.

“The idea was to be distinctive at the same time connect the master blaster with his fans. So starsports.com believed that the best way to create that connect would be to make a timeline of all the major events of Tendulkar’s career and best innings with the support of archival videos,” recalls Mohan, pointing out that the engagement reached such levels that people tried to think back and see where they were when Tendulkar broke a certain record. “The reason for calling it ‘The Memory Project’ came across well and we achieved what we had set out for!” he exclaims. Starsports.com had nearly four million visitors during the India-West Indies series, largely on the back of this innovation.

Mohan is happy with the way things have shaped up. “We have already made strides on unchartered territory and it would be really difficult for anyone to find a digital service on sports that has created a great video player and gives HD quality output,” says he. Currently, the site has video content across cricket, football, tennis, hockey and F1 but is looking at what consumers want and intends to bring back discontented sports fans who aren’t satisfied with the digital content provided by others. “We will add new sports and improve the consumer experience, and try and reach out to people with lesser bandwidth as well and provide equal quality of content,” says Mohan of the company’s future plans.

Plans are afoot to provide short clips which allow consumers to pick up the best moments in the match which they either missed or would love to relive. Providing ample visibility for advertisers is also on the cards. “We do believe that going forward, a lot of the brands will be looking to build traction on the digital platform and we want to provide such a platform where advertisers feel their products and brands will get proper visibility and the right value,” he signs off.

February 7, 2014
Star Sports sells title sponsorship of Asia Cup 2014 to Arise India

MUMBAI: STAR India, which runs India’s leading sports network, Star Sports, has sold the title right of Asia Cup 2014 to Arise India. The tournament will be known as Arise Asia cup 2014 powered by Cycle Pure Agarbathies. Star Sports has the broadcast and the ground sponsorship rights of Asia Cup 2014.

Arise Asia Cup 2014 powered by Cycle Pure Agarbathies starting February 25 will feature 11 One day internationals to be played between leading Asian countries – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh along with Afghanistan. Every team will play each other once and the top 2 teams will qualify for the finals to be played on March 08.

Speaking on the occasion, Nitin Kukreja, Head of Sports Business, Star India, said, “We are delighted to have Arise India as the title sponsor of Asia Cup 2014. The tournament is getting interesting traction from the advertising fraternity. We are focusing on monetizing the on-air sales while we have partnered with Technology Frontiers to focus on Asia Cup 2014 Ground Sponsorship management.”

Mr. Avinash Jain, Managing Director of Arise India Ltd, said, “We all know the strong emotional connect that Cricket has with us Indians & the Asia Pacific. It is thus to support the greater thrust of the sport that we have decided to be the Title Sponsor of the upcoming Asia Cup. This tournament is known for witnessing the most competitive cricket in the sub-continent, and herein with our association with the event, we seek to create an even stronger audience connect for the brand.

Managing Director of Technology Frontiers and ITW, Muralidharan Srinivasan commented: “Technology Frontiers is pleased to partner with Star Sports for the upcoming Asia Cup 2014 Ground Sponsorship Management. At Techfront we have constantly endeavored to bring in innovation and technology into sports to elevate the brand experience. We look forward to an exciting tournament and partnership.”

February 5, 2014
BCCI, ECB and CA on course to play ball for ICC

MUMBAI: A change is gonna come, wrote one of the most revered R&B artists, Sam Cooke, in 1963.

Possibly singing the same tune today is the triumvirate of India, Australia and England, what with reports of the ‘Position Paper’ – which gives decision making powers to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA), and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) – soon coming into effect. Buzz is the trio may well be on its way to securing the necessary votes for revamping the global cricket governing body, ICC, even as other member nations lose their grip on the situation.

“Around July last year, I encouraged CA, ECB and the BCCI to work together and develop conditions to which all the member countries can come to terms with,” ICC president Alan Isaac said in a recent press conference. “We have currently drawn up the principles but the detailing needs to be done after conducting discussions. The idea was to get the three of the biggest and strongest boards together in one room and come up with a strong plan of action.”

At the same press conference, ICC CEO Dave Richardson added: “There were numerous negotiations going on with all the member countries, but at the end of the negotiations, we saw that there were only these three nations that had those sticky points which we were looking out for.”

Neither of the other boards has released an official statement but top officials on the executive board of ICC have gone on record in approving the proposed changes that give the trio complete freedom in the way cricket will be played 2015 onward as well as revenue shared in accordance to the brand value a test-playing nation is worth.

Among the first ones to point out detrimental flaws in the BCCI-drafted ‘Position Paper’ were the cricket boards of South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Thereafter, the trio tweaked a few clauses to get other member boards to agree to the terms with West Indies, New Zealand and minnows Bangladesh having already given the go-ahead. The biggest hurdle the trio faces is that for the ‘Position Paper’ to come into effect, they need eight out of the 10 member nations to give their nod. Apparently, they are just one vote away from the three-fourths majority required to push the proposal through. And the financially crippled Pakistan cricket board is likely to be the one to bite the bullet. Not only has the country been struggling to maintain cricketing ties, given the prevailing political conditions, it hasn’t been able to host an international match since early 2009. This may be just the opportunity for the nation to have bilateral series under long-term contracts with the trio.

That said, the proposal put forth in the ‘Position Paper’ appears fundamentally flawed as it assumes members have a proprietary interest in the money their respective economies generate for ICC events.

Fact is broadcasters buy cricket rights because it appeals to their customers, drives subscriptions and advertising revenues. Similarly, sponsors use cricket to promote their products and services.

While values are generally greater when the broadcasting country is playing, not all of it can be attributed to the country’s cricket board. The opposition too has a great bearing on the value cricketing boards receive for their media rights.

Indian broadcasters would prefer broadcasting ICC events and Star Sports would stand to earn brownie points, having acquired the broadcast rights for Indian cricket for a price of Rs 3,851 crore, which covers over 96 matches between 2012-2018 including internet and mobile rights.

That BCCI generates nearly 80 per cent of the world’s cricket earnings is a given. The only way most other boards can maintain a reasonably plump bottom line is from the massive broadcast rights acquired from a tour by India. Not surprisingly, weaker boards such as West Indies and Bangladesh would jump at the opportunity where they are guaranteed no relegation from test cricket plus the possibility of India touring more frequently to help generate revenue.

So, it’s just a matter of time before the trio start officially throwing around their weight in terms of decisions regarding the scheduling of bilateral ties, especially involving either of the three.

January 31, 2014
Star India partners with Times Internet to distribute IPL on digital in India

MUMBAI: Star India has licensed the digital distribution rights for IPL 2014 from Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India Group. Star India will offer streaming and video on demand on starsports.com, the Star Sports app, and on mobile operator services powered by Star Sports. Times Internet will distribute IPL streaming and video on demand on its cricket destination on web and mobile, powered by a starsports.com video player. Both companies will market the joint proposition, and Star India will be solely responsible for monetisation, including advertising sales.

Last year, IPL online witnessed a 56 per cent growth in unique visitors, with over 200 million video views. This year, India’s largest media houses will co-distribute IPL, offering unparalleled reach and viewership.

The move deepens Star’s commitment to dramatically shape the sports experience on digital. Launched in June 2013, starsports.com has become the go-to destination for following the best of international sports. It has redefined the sports experience through a revolutionary video timeline that is a first of its kind in the world of sports, and allows the viewer to keep track of live sports as well as catch up on games with ease. The company has also built an advanced technology infrastructure that enables HD quality streaming across multiple devices.

“At a time when more and more fans are following sports across multiple screens, our aim is to deliver an experience for them that is even better than what is on television. This partnership signals our continuing efforts to transform sports and the digital experience, ”said Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Operating Officer of Star India. “We want to make IPL the world’s largest sporting event on a digital platform this year.”

Satyan Gajwani, Chief Executive Officer of Times Internet, said, “We have been offering our users IPL for three years, and it continues to be a major driver in consumption and brand, recognized as one of the largest online video events worldwide with rapid growth. Our partnership with Star will enable an even larger reach for the property across digital devices.”

starsports.com is India’s first multi-sports digital service with availability across the web and mobile. Powered by live and video rights, it covers the best of world sports including major cricket tournaments, BPL, La Liga and Serie A in football, F1, hockey and tennis.

Times Internet is the largest Indian online media entity, with over 40 million monthly visitors across its numerous digital destinations. Its portfolio includes news, lifestyle content, entertainment, ecommerce, mobile VAS, music & movie streaming, and local services.

January 28, 2014
Star India to become FIH’s Media Partner in eight year broadcast & rights deal

MUMBAI: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) and Star India, which runs India’s leading sports network Star Sports, are delighted to announce that they have signed an eight year strategic partnership to improve the production of international hockey broadcast and extend hockey’s reach worldwide. The ground-breaking deal will run from January 2015 to December 2022. During the period of the deal, FIH will look to host a major event in India each year.

Enhancing production

Star Sports will be the host broadcaster for key FIH events both in India and throughout the world and will be responsible for ensuring consistent and high level production.

The partnership with Star Sports is in line with FIH’s strategy to put events at the forefront and also its determination to inspire and entertain a global movement of hockey fans and players. FIH recently introduced a strong focus on digital engagement, branding and promotion of events to improve the spectator experience. Making the television coverage more entertaining and compelling is fundamental to achieving this goal.

Star Sports has an impeccable track record. In their position as the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) global Broadcast & Production Partner, the company has continuously raised the bar in their television coverage of all ICC events.

Last year, Star Sports partnered with Hockey India to launch the pioneering Hockey India League (HIL). Star Sports showcased hockey in a completely new way, offering a TV experience relevant to the youth market. In its first season, HIL was broadcast in more than 80 territories across the globe.

Extending hockey’s reach

As part of the deal, Star Sports has acquired global media rights for all territories, excluding Argentina. Through its network of international affiliates and other national broadcasters, content will be distributed to over 200 countries, reaching billions of sports fans taking hockey’s global viewing audience to unprecedented levels.

Leandro Negre, President of the International Hockey Federation, said: “This partnership is an incredibly important and exciting development for international hockey. Our vision is to entertain and inspire a global movement of hockey fans and players and Star Sports is an industry leader when it comes to significantly increasing the reach and popularity of sport. Not only will Star Sports promote hockey worldwide between Olympic Games’ cycles, which is incredibly important to sustaining interest in hockey, but it will make our sport much more interactive and entertaining. Star’s ability to deliver immersive, engaging and captivating coverage will draw new young audiences towards hockey. We look forward to working together to truly grow the popularity of hockey.”

Kelly Fairweather, CEO of the International Hockey Federation, said: “Our partnership with Star Sports is a major stride forward for hockey, and one that I am personally very excited about. I consider it to be a game changer both for the sport of hockey and for the millions of fans who will watch FIH events on television and on the internet all around the world. STAR Sports share our determination to raise the bar in terms of the production values and the viewer experience in a rapidly changing multi-screen environment. Their know-how will be hugely beneficial, and we look forward to working with them to ensure that our incredible sport is presented to the world in the best possible way.”

Nitin Kukreja, Head of Sports Business, Star India, said: “We are delighted to be FIH’s global production, host broadcast and distribution partner. The partnership ties-in well with our overall vision of promoting sports culture in India. Hockey is a priority sport for us and we are thrilled that India will host one key event every year during the eight year term. We believe that hosting an international event each year, which is produced innovatively, will significantly boost the popularity of hockey in India. The sport has a glorious heritage in India and we believe that it has a tremendous future. We will work closely with FIH and invest in production to ensure that hockey reaches its full potential. As we have done with HIL, we will aim to innovate and create an exciting visual spectacle for international viewers.”

January 21, 2014
Star Sports launches marketing campaign to build Hero Hockey India League

MUMBAI: Star Sports, India’s leading sports broadcaster, has launched a unique marketing campaign to build the second edition of Hero Hockey India League (HHIL) which starts later this month on January 25, 2014. Star Sports has shot the marketing campaign across all six team states which are participating in the league. The campaign shows star players of all the teams showcasing their hockey skills at the most iconic locations of the regions. Leveraging the presence of elite national and international hockey players, the broadcaster has positioned the league as ‘The new face of Hockey’.

The second edition of HHIL will see world’s best hockey players playing in diverse cities across the country. This year 72 Olympians from 11 countries will participate in the league which will be played in 6 cities including New Delhi, Lucknow, Mohali, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai and Ranchi. A total of 34 matches will be played across 29 match days on home and away basis.

Speaking on the occasion, Gayatri Yadav, Executive Vice President Marketing & Communications, STAR India, said, “HHIL in just its second edition has emerged as a truly global league and has attracted the world’s best Hockey talent to its fold. We will complement the standard of the league and mount a special production effort to showcase Hockey like it has never been done before. We will create an exciting visual spectacle for Hockey fans. We will present ‘The new face of Hockey’.

This intent emanates from our ambition which is to change the face of sports broadcasting in India and provide world-class sports coverage to fans across the country. It is in-line with Star Sports’ philosophy which urges India to ‘Believe’. Hockey is a priority sport for us and we want to bring the fans closer to their heroes than ever before.

In a bold and unprecedented move, we shot the campaign for HHIL across all the team states using iconic backdrops and elements of each team’s hockey heritage. The visuals show star players of each team presenting the ‘The new face of Hockey’ at the landmark locations in their regions whether it is the by lanes of Varanasi for Uttar Pradesh Wizards team or Jantar Mantar for Delhi Waveriders team. The idea is to build team affinity as well as local pride for each and every participating team.”

Speaking on the occasion, Juju Basu, Head of Communications for Sports business, Star India, said, “The campaign has been created to strengthen the bond between the fans and the teams using their team stars at the locations they are proud of. The films are a cheer for the great hockey action that this league has started bringing to India.”

Overall, the campaign will have 7 different films – 1 for each team and an overall thematic one. The campaign has been shot at the most iconic locations in each of the participating franchise cities/ regions. The campaign for Delhi Waveriders team was shot at the Jantar Mantar while players from the Uttar Pradesh Wizards teams were filmed playing Hockey in the lanes of Varanasi. The Kalinga Lancers campaign was shot at the Puri beach. Star players of Dabur Mumbai Magicians were shot playing Hockey in a Mumbai local train while Ranchi Rhinos ad-campaign was shot with star players playing at the Dassam Falls. The star players of Jaypee Punjab Warriors team were filmed in Amritsar with the Golden Temple as the back drop.

The high decibel campaign will be played across key channels of Star network.

January 16, 2014
Arasu cable threatens Star Sports to switch off

MUMBAI: Tamil Nadu’s giant multi system operator (MSO) Arasu cable is flexing its muscles again. Last week, it issued a public notice against aggregator MediaPro for breach of letter of acceptance and non conclusion of price negotiation. Now it has gone ahead and issued a notice against Star Sports citing the same reason.

The notice dated 28 December warns subscribers that after 21 days they won’t be able to view Star Sports channels on their Arasu cable connections but instead will be shown substitute channels.

Issued under section 4.2 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Telecommunications (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulations 2004, the notice says that Star Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4 might be disconnected.

A few days ago, the Madras High Court warned the TRAI not to take any coercive action against the MSO that has about six million subscribers in the state. The rumours doing the rounds are that Arasu has been arm twisting pay channels to pay high carriage fees in order to fill in the gap between revenue and payouts to pay channels of about 40 per cent.

December 30, 2013