Buoyed by T-20 success, ADAG group to promote other sports

Buoyed by India's success in the ongoing Twenty20 cricket World Cup, the event's main sponsor Reliance Communication has decided to promote other sports apart from cricket.

"We are considering promotion and sponsorship of other sports which include beach-volleyball, hockey and some adventure sports," Reliance Communication president branding and marketing Sanjay Behl told PTI over phone.

The recent win of Indian Hockey team in the Asia Cup where they routed Korea 7-2 might have generated corporate world's interest in sponsoring hockey.

"Sports like beach-volleyball and adventure sports are something new to India and therefore need promotion to become popular here," company officials said.

"The success of the Indian cricket team, which have reached first ever Twenty20 final is a very good thing. The ADAG group is also thinking of sponsoring future cricket tournaments like one day series with Australia and is also looking forward to sponsor the 2011 World Cup to be played in the sub-continent," Behl added.

"Our association with the game goes a long way with Reliance World Cup in 1987 in which Indian team had reached semi-finals. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is our brand ambassador, who has now become captain of Indian one-day side also," he said.

"We are also sponsoring Saurashtra and Kutch cricket associations," he added.

Apart from Reliance Communication, other ADAG group companies like Reliance Capital will also sponsor and promote various sporting events, Behl added.



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Cricinfo.com Taps AdMob as Mobile Ads Provider

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Cricinfo.com, the world’s largest cricket content source, has selected mobile advertising network AdMob to monetize its mobile Internet traffic. AdMob will deliver ads globally for Cricinfo, while allowing advertisers to reach users in local markets using sophisticated targeting. This marks one of the first global and local mobile advertising partnerships.

Key markets for Cricinfo include India, North America, the UK, Australia and other cricket playing nations. “Cricket is a sport that lends itself perfectly to mobile coverage,” said Anil Nair, Head, Wireless Media, Cricinfo. “The length of time over which the game is played means many consumers cannot watch broadcasts of entire matches and want anytime, anywhere access to the latest news and results.”

AdMob will serve ads on Cricinfo pages, connecting its advertiser base of hundreds of brands to the Cricinfo demographic. In August, AdMob served over 350 million ads in India alone across its network of over 2,000 mobile Web publishers. AdMob serves both global and market-specific advertisers, offering industry-leading ad targeting.

Cricinfo launched ads with AdMob just in time for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, which is expected to draw millions of fans searching for information via their mobile devices from around the world. Mobile Web users visit Cricinfo for up-to-date match scores, schedules, results and more.

“The challenge is reaching our five core geographic markets of India, North America, the UK, Australia and South Africa with a relevant and effective advertising campaign that truly reaches cricket fans,” Nair said. “The AdMob Marketplace has proven to be effective at filling ad inventory with quality advertisers worldwide and we are excited to be working with them.”

Acquired by ESPN in June of this year, Cricinfo reaches seven million cricket fans each month, with a core male audience 18 and older, and is the world’s leading resource for cricket entertainment and information. With the majority of the sport’s fans residing in India, North America, the UK, Australia and South Africa, the Web site sought the services of AdMob to target specific geographic markets more effectively.

“Cricinfo has a worldwide following of users who are passionate, and hungry for score updates, match reports, and all the other buzz that will swirl around events like the Twenty20 Tourney,” said Niren Hiro, Vice President, Business Development, of AdMob. “This is a great example of how the global strength and reach of our network can be used by an international brand like Cricinfo to monetize its audience locally.”

About Cricinfo

Cricinfo is a wholly owned subsidiary of ESPN Inc., the world’s leading multimedia sports entertainment company. Ranked number one in all of its major markets, Cricinfo now reaches more than seven million users every month. The site was founded in 1993, and its continuing success is built on the combination of live ball-by-ball coverage of all Test and one-day international matches, news and features written by some of the world’s best cricket writers, and in-depth statistics on every one of the 3,000 international and 45,000 first-class cricketers to have played the game. The site’s reach, authority and brand recognition are unrivalled in the online cricket world. And Cricinfo now reaches beyond the Internet — so that fans can get Cricinfo content on mobile applications and at some of the world’s leading Internet portals. Cricinfo Mobile is one of the leading providers of mobile applications and services, including SMS, MMS and audio services in key cricket markets across the globe.

To learn more about Cricinfo, visit http://wap.cricinfo.com from your mobile or log on to www.cricinfo.com.
For questions about Cricinfo, please contact:
Premdeep Gangadharan / Head of Marketing
premdeep.gangadharan@cricinfo.com

About AdMob

AdMob is the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace, having served more than 7 billion advertisements since launching in December 2005, and currently serving more than 1.5 billion ads monthly. AdMob allows advertisers to reach their customers on the mobile Web and publishers to increase the value of their mobile sites. AdMob offers both advertisers and publishers the ability to target and personalize advertising to their customers in 160 countries. AdMob customers include Coca-Cola, Electronic Arts, Starbucks, MSN, Paramount Pictures, Reuters, MTV and many more. AdMob serves ads for over 2,000 mobile Web sites, including ESPN, CBS, Weather Underground, Maxim and Peperonity.

BCCI finally advertises for coach's post

The Indian cricket board on Monday advertised for the post of the national coach, but with stringent pre-requisites like familiarity with the country's "culture and ethos".

The contract will be for two years starting Oct 1, 2007, though the terms and conditions are "negotiable", Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said in Mumbai.

The coach's post fell vacant following the completion of former Australia captain Greg Chappell's two-year term in March.

Initially, the board was against advertising for the post.

Only those who have a minimum of Level III coaching accreditation from Cricket Australia, England or India can apply. But, interestingly, there is no bar on Indian coaches.

Those interested can send their CVs to the board headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium by Sep 15.

"We have requested other cricket boards to post this on their website," said Shah in a statement.

The board has listed 11 conditions in the 'knowledge, skills and expertise' column and eight stipulations in the 'key responsibilities' that the applicant is supposed to bear.

The Indian team toured Bangladesh in May with stand-in cricket manager Ravi Shastri.

The BCCI then interviewed former England spinner John Emburey and Graham Ford, Kent county's director of cricket, in June. It selected Ford but he surprisingly declined the offer after initially agreeing to take up the job. Later, Emburey also turned down the offer.

Currently, the Indian side in England is being managed by 73-year-old Chandu Borde after BCCI's talks with Dav Whatmore, a former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach, also did not fructify.


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ICC finalises team of global sponsors

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has finalised its list of global ground sponsors for the next eight years (2007-15), including its first Twenty20 World Cup starting September 11 in South Africa.

Besides the two long-term global sponsors, Indian mobile operator Reliance Communications (RCOM) and American beverage major’s Indian subsidiary PepsiCo India, the two other sponsors to have come on board are cellphone manufacturer Nokia and Dubai-based real estate company Emaar MGF.

According to sources, RCOM has coughed up between $80 million and $100 million and PepsiCo has paid around $60 million for the eight-year deal. Nokia and Emaar MGF have paid upwards of $6 million to come on board only for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup.

International cricket’s apex organisation had set itself a target of roping in four long-term global sponsors. But with Twenty20 World Cup just round the corner, Nokia and Emaar MGF will fill the space temporarily, with the hunt for the elusive two to continue post the South African tourney. An official announcement from ICC on the ground sponsors is expected by Wednesday.

However, when contacted by ET, the ICC spokesperson said, “I can neither confirm nor deny the development. We will be announcing our sponsors in due course.”

There had been months of speculation over the ground partners for ICC, with RCOM almost pulling out of the race at one point due to an impasse over some terms and conditions with ICC. Sources close to the development say that now RCOM has been able to strike a better deal with category protection in sectors it operates such as financial services, power and energy.

As per the deal, the video-streaming rights and mobile clips rights (two minutes every hour) had been offered to RCOM by virtue of its being the telecom partner. RCOM’s winning bid of around $80-100 million was the highest by any Indian company with Idea Cellular being a distant second with a bid of $50-million.

The ground rights for ICC constitute all non-broadcast rights which entail exclusive ground signage rights, free use of the World Cup logo, use of the company’s name in the background during ICC press conferences and award ceremonies besides a host of other exclusive rights. Along with these rights, the official sponsor also gets the first right of refusal for becoming the official broadcaster in categories it operates in.

ICC has also ensured that official sponsors get the bang for their sponsorship buck by inserting strict ambush marketing clauses such as ban on use of cricketers by non-sponsor brands during ICC tournaments and even restrictions on the use of Twenty20 phrase.

The global sponsorship rights for the 2000-07 period, which were with Hutch, LG, Pepsi and Hero Honda, had been signed for $25-30 million per sponsor. But the ICC hiked the sponsorship rates for the forthcoming eight-year period on two key accounts – one that it is offering exclusivity to global sponsors and minimising risks of ambush marketing and two, by ensuring at least one major event every year.

These include two World Cups, three Champions Trophy tournaments and two Twenty20 championships. ICC had invited bids from Indian and international companies for global sponsorship rights for the eight years.

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BCCI nets cool Rs 173 cr from ground sponsorship

BCCI managed to sell the ground sponsorship rights and title naming rights for a total of 55 matches to be played in India till March 2010 to Singapore-based sports marketing firm World Sports Group (WSG) for a whopping Rs 173.2 crore. The amount is three times higher than the price at which the rights were sold last time. The previous rights were sold in the range of Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore per match, which expired in 2006.

WSG, which is part of the Global Cricket Corporation based in Hong Kong, London and Singapore, was in the race along with three other competing consortiums led by Nimbus, Percept and 21st Century Media (which was disqualified for not submitting necessary documents). The winning bid was a little over BCCI’s asking price of Rs 3 crore per match.

“The record deal just demonstrates the fact that cricket is still the leading medium for an advertiser. It translated into a 300% increase in revenue, and we are glad to bring on board a new member into the BCCI family.

The fact that newer companies and clients are getting into cricket just further endorses BCCI as the premier group for cricket management,” Lalit Modi, vice-president and marketing committee head, BCCI, said.

BCCI is still negotiating with advertisers for the Twenty20 international tournaments to be played in India. These matches are slated to debut in March 2008.

Venu Nair, CEO of WSG, told ET that the value of the deal would work out to $50 million over the three-year period between 2007 and 2010. “That is the kind of exposure we are expecting from this deal,” he said.

While declining to divulge names of advertisers who bid through the WSG consortium, Mr Nair said: “We have three-four advertisers on board, and the contracts are in the process of being signed.”

Commenting on the deal, Seamus O’Brien, chairman, WSG, said: “Cricket in India delivers outstanding value. We plan to have long-term partnerships with our clients, and we will service them as partners of the BCCI.”

Elaborating on the BCCI deal, Mr Nair said: “There is a significant difference between the ground rights of the BCCI and the ICC. The former guarantees India’s presence in every single match; and this in turn helps consistently deliver returns on investment.”

ICC, in the meantime, has sealed its global sponsorship deal for the next eight years with Reliance and Pepsi for $60-80 million. Nokia and UAE-based real estate major Emaar MGF have signed on for the ICC debut Twenty20 series for $5-6 million.

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Nimbus & Co to bid for BCCI ground rights

Nimbus Communications has formed a consortium of three to four advertisers to bid for BCCI’s ground sponsorship rights, the tenders for which close on Monday (August 27). Sources say Nimbus has matched BCCI’s asking rates of Rs 3 crore per sponsor, per match. The rights are for cricket to be played in India between September ‘07 and March 2010, comprising about 50 matches in all, inclusive of one day internationals, tests and Twenty20 matches.

Interestingly, Nimbus’ all-cricket channel, Neo Sports, already has confectionery player Perfetti Van Melle and two-wheeler major Hero Honda as anchor sponsors till 2010, both of which have committed advertising worth Rs 300 crore to the broadcaster.

If Nimbus wins the bid, it would help its advertisers leverage better value during match telecasts. Nimbus officials declined to comment on the move. “It is a confidential bid so we cannot comment,” a Nimbus official said.

The bids, which include sponsorship for ground rights and naming of the series, have been open since August 13 and the board is expected to announce its sponsors early next week. Unlike three months back when BCCI’s tender inviting sponsorship bids for the South Africa and Pakistan one-day series in Ireland and Scotland had no takers, this time the response from advertisers has been encouraging even though the board has hiked its sponsorship rates from Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore per match, say sources.

“Investing in cricket is back on the advertiser’s radar. Advertisers are willing to invest in the sport,” a media agency source said. The Future Group had bailed out BCCI for the Ireland and Scotland series by buying out exclusive in-stadia rights for $2.2 million, about 10% lower than BCCI’s then asking rate.

Nimbus has been following a strategy of signing bulk deals with advertisers to hedge risks against fickle advertiser sentiment. It offers anchor sponsors access to about 25% of the channel’s total inventory, besides access to properties such as man of the match, winning moments of the day, maximum boundaries, and so on. Earlier this year, Nimbus was keen on getting at least two more anchor sponsors on board and had been in talks with telecom and retail banking industry players, including Hutch and Barclays.

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Is Indian cricket about stars in the game or vice versa?

Will ICL expose the Indian cricket fan? This is the fear that lies at the core of the ICL–BCCI imbroglio, says Mr Raghavendra Patnaik, Legal Adviser of Mumbai-based Globosport , a sports and entertainment management company promoted by tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi.

“Why else would a venture that hasn’t yet hosted a single cricket match earn the wrath of a body that has ‘governed’ cricket in India for three quarters of a century?” he asks, sharing with Business Line his personal views over an e-mail interaction.

Excerpts from a quick interview:

What are the immediate questions that arise from the clash?

Many. Such as: Is the Indian Cricket League (ICL) really what it professes to be — an alternative platform for cricket and cricketers in India, which will create feeder lines of talent that will eventually raise standards and make us champions? Or is it an emphatic rejection of the monopoly (and alleged autocracy) of the BCCI — a rebel league as some sections of the media have dubbed it? Or, is it an aftermath of the Zee-BCCI telecast rights controversy with the ICL promoters determined to redden the face of the BCCI?

Surprising?

Hardly. That these questions and conspiracy theories have gripped national attention over the past few weeks is not surprising given our eternally self-proclaimed “passion for cricket”. Possibly the real question and by far the most irksome one is – “will the ICL expose the truth about India’s passion for cricket?”

Isn’t our ‘passion’ real?

It seems ridiculous and blasphemous in equal measure to even suggest an examination of our love for the gentleman’s game. After all, we worship our cricketers, organise mannats and havans for their success, discuss them at work, over dinner, at meetings … We pride ourselves on being a one-sport nation and have embraced cricket as the predominant unifying fabric of our nation. But …

But?

Are we passionate about cricket or are we just star-struck? Do we love the Cover Drive simpliciter or does it have to be the Sachin Tendulkar cover drive? Why do television ratings for ODI cricket fall by several points as soon as Sachin gets out?

What is the diagnosis?

The truth is that for years we have defined very specifically the brand of cricket that we love to watch and have rarely if ever gone beyond. Why else are the Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy and Duleep Trophy played out in empty stands, while riots and stampedes become commonplace at international cricket fixtures featuring the icons of Team India?

We love the game, don’t we?

If cricket indeed ran in our veins wouldn’t we be making a beeline for these domestic matches encouraging and egging on the likes of Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Deep Dasgupta and Amol Majumdar? In the decadence of domestic cricket in India lies the true reflection of cricket’s popularity or lack thereof in the region.

What do you see as the possibilities, with ICL in the picture?

If there is at all a distinction between the love for cricket — the sport and the adulation for cricketers — the icons, the ICL will help bring this out. On the other hand if the people of India fill out into stadia hosting ICL matches featuring a sprinkling of legends and a host of young faces, it will be a true endorsement of Indians as cricket lovers. If not the ICL will fail as an experiment, but the true loss of face will be for the Indian cricket fan who will be revealed as a hero worshipper rather than a true lover of the game itself.

The last word?

Alas, “People can cry much easier than they can change,” as James Baldwin (African-American writer) said. It seems with the ICL everyone is on trial – the BCCI, the ICL, the players, the sponsors, the media and you and me!

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RCom, others in race for BCCI sponsorship

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications, Pepsi and Idea Cellular are among the eight corporates that have bid for the sponsorship of international cricket matches to be held in India till March 2010. One or all the three biggies are likely to be the sponsors covering all home games for four years.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BBCI) had invited bids on August 13 for the sponsorship of one-day internationals, tests and Twenty20 matches to be played in India between September 2007 and March 2010. Sources in the know said that the BCCI stated a minimum base sponsorship amount of Rs 3 crore. When contacted, a BCCI executive declined to comment.

The bidding companies have the choice of either bidding individually or as a group.

This means that it could be one sponsor for the next four years or a group of sponsors, who decide among themselves to sponsor different cricket matches.

Pepsi, TVS and Videocon had formed a consortium a few years ago for the sponsorship of all international cricket events in India, which ended on May 31, 2006. Under this plan, title sponsorship of all international cricket matches in India during the period was restricted to only these three corporates.

This year the same system could be repeated. The sponsors will be announced early next week after the bid closes on August 27.

The BCCI has already sold the broadcasting rights to Harish Thawani-promoted Nimbus Communications.

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Cricket can learn ‘packaging’ from Chak De!

The ICL-BCCI issue is hot in the Indian cricket world. Belligerent sound bites fill the airwaves in talk shows and other programmes about the ongoing tussle between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Zee Group-promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL).

“However, there is no fundamental conflict between the two entities,” says Ms Latika Khaneja, Director of the New Delhi-based Collage Sports Management (CSM).

“Whatever differences are cropping up are due to politics: the TV right issues, personal ego clashes, and the economics of the entire cricket property.”

CSM manages contract negotiation and all ‘off-the-field’ business and marketing endeavours, including endorsements, promotions, and so on for sportspersons and celebrities.

The firm’s clients include cricketers such as Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, Dinesh Mongia, Sanjay Bangar and Gautam Gambhir.

Having multiple sports bodies is a well-accepted practice all over the world, says Ms Khaneja, in an email interaction with Business Line.

“It is also very good for the players as it gives them options and careers outside of the pyramid of national cricket.”

According to her, the coexistence of two rivals will give “better pay packets to cricketers. For the public, the challenge lies with Zee to create a property that is interesting.”

On how the product offering should be, Ms Khaneja’s wish is that ICL steers clear of creating a me-too product and come up with entertainment and excitement, “because a head-to-head combat of Yuvraj and Dhoni with Dinesh Mongia and JP Yadav does not stand a chance.”

It’s all in the packaging, she adds. “Look at Chak De! India. A movie on women’s hockey starring none other than King Khan!”

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Orkut fakes turn to Sachins and Souravs

After the Test series in England, Sourav Ganguly sends a message to Sachin Tendulkar saying, "Well played but we need a century yaar."
Tendulkar, who is trying to quit smoking, wants to date young girls and have intimate chats with them.

* Maria Sharapova sends her match updates to Tendulkar regularly.

None of this is true, of course. But each one of them and a lot more is on Orkut — in fact, there are over 250 "personal pages" devoted to the Little Master. The truth is that not one in Team India — save pacer S Sreesanth — has an account on Google’s social networking site.

Another instance of cyber mischief lampooning and misrepresenting public figures? Yes. For, while the police are adopting a wait and watch policy, the Indian cricket board says its hands are tied.

Sanjay Mohite, DCP (enforcement), says the police can’t take a suo motu action. "There are infinite number of websites, so it is tough to keep a watch. But in case someone complains, we can definitely track down the person who has done this mischief," he says.

Surprisingly, these fake personal pages of cricket stars have appeared even after objectionable content on Orkut’s "we hate India" community’s message board became the premise of a PIL and defamatory remarks on the site about Chhatrapati Shivaji and Bal Thackeray provoked street protests.

Now, with Orkut becoming controversial, several cyber cafes in Mumbai don’t allow users to access this Google splinter.

The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI), which hasn’t been able to launch its own website for two years, isn’t aware about the cyber slander directed at their players. Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI chief administrative officer, says he hasn’t heard about these fake pages. "Well, no one can do anything much about these things. It’s something that’s beyond our control," he says.

Though the BCCI chooses to dismiss these fake star profiles as unwanted Internet junk, recently, similar mischief concerning Australian cricketers did raise a stink. Cricket Australia took strong exception to their players being ridiculed on MySpace — an Orkut-like public networking website.

The home page of a fake Shane Watson web page on MySpace showed him in cricket gear minus the flannels with objectionable text strewn all over. Cricket Australia, which dubbed it "a malice", is now closely working with MySpace to curb the trend. Even the Australia Cricketers’ Association condemned the practice and described it as "pathetic exploitation by people who have nothing better to do with their time".

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Twenty20 World Cup to be aired in 105 countries

Aug. 17 China will be introduced to live ICC cricket this September with the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup.

ESPN STAR Sports, the broadcast rights holder to ICC tournaments, said it has secured coverage of the tournament in over 105 countries.

“In addition to these partnerships, we are currently in discussions with more broadcasters across markets and we would soon be sharing the details on them. This would further extend the reach of this tournament, thus setting new standards of global distribution of cricket,” said Mr Manu Sawhney, Executive V-P, Programming and Marketing, ESPN STAR Sports. The broadcaster is believed to be charging advertisers a higher rate than what was seen during the World Cup. ESPN is betting on the event drawing interest from the game’s regular fans as well as from new audiences who will stop by the channel purely for the entertainment value that the Twenty20 format is expected to offer.

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ESPN STAR SPORTS signs broadcast deals in 105 countries for ICC World Twenty20

ESPN Star Sports (ESS), has announced a slew of broadcast partnerships for the first edition of the ICC World Twenty20 slated to kick off in September in South Africa.

ESPN Star Sports and its affiliate EML have secured global coverage for the tournament with over 105 countries slated to showcase the inaugural edition of ICC World Twenty20.

The coverage will be available on ESPN, Star Sports, and recently launched cricket-dedicated channel StarCricket along with their affiliated television channels in various Asian countries including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and China. This marks the first time that an ICC event will be shown live on television in China, informs an official statement issued by the company.

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Idea Cellular has now emerged as the front runner for International Cricket Council’s coveted eight-year global sponsorship deal. This comes close on the heels of Reliance Communication (RCom) pulling out as one of ICC’s partners for which it had to pay over $100 million, the highest bid by any Indian company.

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Govt dumps DDs encryption proposal of Nimbus

The encryption of Doordarshan channels, which was offered as a compromise formula by private broadcaster Nimbus for sharing the live feed of cricket matches, has been given a quiet burial by the government with DD stoutly opposing the proposal.

The technical committee formed to study encryption of DD signal, after a showdown between the government and Nimbus over sharing the live feed of cricket matches, remained deeply divided over the issue, sources said.

Unable to reach a consensus, it submitted an "inconclusive" report with the ministry broadly outlining the difficulties of implementing the encryption on the public broadcaster, the sources added.

"The committee could not reach any decision on encryption issue. The report has been submitted to the ministry," a senior official in Information and Broadcasting ministry told the media.

"The issue is no longer being pursued now and the DD channels will not be encrypted,"

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ESPN STAR ties up with 8 sponsors for ODIs

Riding on India’s series victory against England in the test matches, ESPN STAR Cricket is betting on a strong viewership for the upcoming one-day internationals (ODIs). The broadcaster is understood to have tied up eight sponsors — Maruti, Coca-Cola, Havell’s, Motorola, Airtel, Visa, Cadbury and Thomas Cook.

When contacted, ESPN refused to comment on the value of the deals or the status of the inventory. However, sources say the Indian team’s good performance could have a ‘positive influence’ on the rate of advertising spots. In other words, the current rate of Rs 1.6 lakh per 10 second spot could go up.

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Pak ban players from new ICL

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will not allow current or former players still involved with the board to play in the unofficial Indian Cricket League, PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf said on Thursday.
"The ICL is not recognised by the International Cricket Council or its member boards so there is no question of our players going to play there," Ashraf said.

Sources close to some of the players said Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik had received offers days after former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq confirmed he had been approached by the organisers.

The ICL has signed former West Indies captain Brian Lara for the Twenty20 series to be played over 45 days starting in October.

Ashraf said any player who decided to play in the league would not be selected again for Pakistan.

"We have clauses in our central contracts clearly outlining the board decides where the players can play," he said.

"Even where former players are concerned if they are not holding any position with the board we can't stop them. But those who are working for us will not be given permission to play in the Indian league."

The BCCI has also refused to endorse the league.

ESPN gets broadcast rights of India-Scotland ODI

ESPN-Star Sports have acquired the broadcast rights of the India-Scotland One-Day International to be played at Glasgow on August 16.

"We are absolutely delighted to bring the India-Scotland One Day International to millions of cricket followers in the country," R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software Pvt Ltd, said in a statement here today.

ESPN Star Sports acquires rights for India-Scotland ODI

ESPN Star Sports has acquired the telecast rights for the India-Scotland one-dayer to be played in Glasgow on 16 August. The ODI match is part of India’s ongoing tour of England, Ireland and Scotland.


ESPN software India Private Ltd MD R C Venkateish said, "We are absolutely delighted to bring the India-Scotland one day international to millions of cricket followers in the country. We have almost uninterrupted international cricket lined up over the next 15 months and we will continue in our endeavour to add more exciting properties to the list."

Cricket Scotland CEO Roddy Smith said, "We are delighted that our game against India will be shown through our partnership with ESPN Star Sports. There is huge passion for the game in Scotland and I know the viewers will be enthralled by a competitive game from Glasgow."

ESS is also telecasting India’s tour of England where India plays three Test matches and eight one day internationals (July – September), followed by Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa (September 07), India’s Australia tour (December 07 –March 08) and Asia Cup in Pakistan (May 2008). This will be followed by ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan (September 2008).



ESS has in its line up the ICC global telecast and marketing rights until 2015. The rights package, starting in 2007, includes the two ICC cricket World Cups in 2011 and 2015, ICC Champions Trophy and ICC Twenty20 World Cups.


Source-indiantelevision.com

Cricket makes a comeback on TV

The ongoing India-England cricket test series has managed to pull back to TV sets the cricket fans who had shied away after India’s debacle in the World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year.

The recently drawn test match between India and England has delivered a high television rating (TVR) of 1.75 in the metros. The ratings have been released by aMap, the online television measurement rating agency.

According to experts, these ratings are indicative of the return of faith among millions of cricket fans.

“A television rating of around 2 for India playing test matches abroad is considered decent. The aMap ratings from the metros indicate that a good number of cricket fans were glued to the television in the evenings, expecting India to do well,” a senior media planner said.

Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai account for over 60 per cent of the target audience that advertisers target on a sports channel.

Therefore, a relatively higher ratings for India-England test series compared to the last series in Bangladesh is a good sign for cricket, experts add.

According to aMap, India’s tour to Bangladesh in May post World Cup debacle resulted in an extremely low TVRs of 0.02-0.30. Even advertisers stayed away from the series raising questions on the popularity of the game.

Though recently launched Star Cricket channel has struggled with the all-India roll out and reach in the initial days of the first test match, channel executives say that it is now being watched across most of the 70 million cable homes.

“Star Cricket is a new channel and many agreements with over 100 cable operators were done during the second and the third day of the five-day test match. As its reach increases, ratings will start reflecting a clear picture of the popularity of the game,” a senior ESPN executive said.

Star Cricket is the all-cricket channel launched by ESPN Star India.

Ten Sports sells terrestrial rights to Bangladesh TV

Taj Television Ltd, which runs Ten Sports, has sold the exclusive terrestrial rights of the Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka to terrestrial broadcaster Bangladesh Television.


The deal was concluded in conjunction with Ardent Marketing Ltd. and will provide viewers throughout Bangladesh the opportunity to enjoy live coverage of the ODI matches between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Taj TV has concluded deals worldwide, providing its cricket coverage to its international broadcast partners which include Zee in Europe, DirecTV in North America and Astro in Malaysia.



With these syndication arrangements in place, in addition to Ten Sports coverage, the Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka is expected to be seen in over 70 million homes globally. Launched in April 2002, Taj TV’s Ten Sports is broadcast from Sharjah, the West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Morocco throughout the Indian sub-continent and Asia, as well as in the United States (Cricket Plus), Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Ten Sports also owns the exclusive rights for WWE, the UEFA Champions League, the U.S. Open tennis and World Cup hockey.




Source-indiantelevision.com