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Tag: Steve McMahon

  • ESPN, Airtel tie-up for Fifa WC on mobile phones

    ESPN, Airtel tie-up for Fifa WC on mobile phones

    Live goal alerts. Live match updates. Live fixtures. Download mobisodes of previews and predictions. Contests and much more. The soccer World Cup anywhere and anytime. Football fans in India just got a bonus.

    Airtel, a leading mobile services provider, today announced the launch of a host of services for the FIFA World Cup 2006 that will be exclusively available to the company’s subscribers.

    The latest breaking team news, fixture listings, half-time and full-time scores and penalties will be available on SMS/ WAP alerts. Also, an Airtel customer may choose to receive SMS alerts on their favorite teams’ progress such as goals or score updates or match fixtures.

    A dedicated news section on the World Cup 2006 will be available from 31 May to 9 July 2006.

    The official statement quoted Hemant Sachdev, director, marketing and communications, Bharti Airtel Limited, as saying, “The Football World Cup connects billions of people across the world in a very special way. We are delighted that Airtel customers will now have the exclusive advantage of following their favorite team’s progress and accessing rich and exciting World Cup 2006 content on the mobile.”

    Commenting on the tie-up with Airtel, ESPN Software India MD RC Venkateish, “As the leading sports network, we are focused on servicing the fan – that means making our sports content available anytime and any place through any pipe and any device. Through Mobile ESPN, we have merged what avid fans expect on our TV channels and on espnstar.com and created a third screen in sports.”

    Airtel has also lined up exciting contests for its users during the World Cup. Call 646 and say “Scream”. Choose your favourite country and also your favorite ‘mood’– loud or funny. After that JUST SCREAM ‘GOOAAAL”. The winner will win an all expense holiday to their favorite football playing country.

    How to access World Cup 2006 services on Airtel? Airtel customers can subscribe to these services by SMS & WAP. SMS WCG to 646 for alerts or visit Airtel Live from a GPRS enabled phone or dial 646

    Services available on Airtel

    [a] “ESPN Here We Go” – starting 8 June.

    Made-for-mobile ‘mobisodes’ by ESPN Star Sports presenters. Each mobisode consists of 2-minute and 30-second previews clip on every World Cup 2006 match, which features match analysis and predictions by ESPN STAR Sports football analysts and pundits, as well as previous day highlights and team news

    [b] SportsCenter: This section comprises 2-minute and 30-second video clips featuring daily bulletins and coverage of top sports stories from around the world.

    SportsCenter Football Update: Dedicated news section on the world of football, with 2-minute and 30 second video clips featuring the latest match updates, summaries and results.

    Special news report on World Cup 2006

    [c] ESPN Football Live: Live alerts and news service providing the latest breaking team news, match updates and match fixtures. Match updates, goal updates, half time / full time scores, yellow / red cards information, penalties etc.

    Match fixtures: List of upcoming matches

    [d] ESPN Insider – starting 29 May.

    Dedicated match preview service with expert analysis and opinions from ESPN Star Sports presenters and professional tipster. Pre-match analysis and predictions provided by ESPN Star Sports celebrity presenters such as Andrew Leci, John Dykes, Andy Penders, Paul Masefield or Steve McMahon.

    [e] Mobile ESPN content on SMS – starting 9 June.

    Live goals: live scores, half time and full time scores.

    [f] Other sports content service offerings available for download- Starting 29 May.

    Java games, wallpapers of popular football players.

    Bharti Airtel Limited is one of India’s leading private sector providers of telecommunications services with an aggregate of over 22.07 million customers as of end of April 2006, consisting of more than 20.68 million mobile customers.

  • 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.