Good Earth Super Series kicks off in Chennai

The Good Earth Super Series 2007 has kicked off in Chennai. Organised by Havas Sports, this is a five city-six tournament tennis event.

The first edition of the series spans Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai in that order. The Good Earth Super Series aims to promote young talent below the age of 16 and groom them to be internationally competitive at an increasingly younger age.


To qualify for the tournament finale, players would need to participate in a minimum of three of the five tournaments that are a part of the Super Series.

Akin to the 'ATP Masters', the grand finale will have the top eight players from each age group compete for the ultimate honor of becoming the Good Earth Super Series Champion 2007. The grand prize for the winners includes a fully sponsored three-week tennis training camp in France followed by four tournaments in their respective age groups across Europe.



Around 350 entries have already been registered for the Chennai tournament qualifying rounds. The tournament will be held at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam.

Moving from city to city, the Good Earth Super Series is set amidst plenty of on-ground activation designed to create awareness around tennis as a sport, the need for health and fitness in one’s life especially the need for a healthy, nutritious and well balanced diet. The event is scheduled for 9 September between 2 pm and 6 pm at the SDAT Tennis Stadium with Vijay Amritraj being present for the occasion to interact with the children. Other exciting activities will be conducted to create a true carnival atmosphere for all present.

Each of the five cities will also have its own large format school contact programme that takes the spirit of the associated brands and the game of tennis to the targeted children. A poster campaign across 100 schools, followed by the Jetix Hardest Hitter contest in 50 of the 100 schools was launched.

The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association is playing an active role in helping Havas Sports spread communication around the tournament to popularise the tournament and call for entries in the interior markets that have a strong tennis focus.

Victoria Beckham to guest star on 'Ugly Betty'

Soccer star David Beckham's wife and member of pop group Spice Girls Victoria Beckham will pay a visit to US broadcaster ABC's comedy Ugly Betty in an episode.


She will play herself, a celebrity bridesmaid at the 'wedding of the millennium': Wilhelmina Slater's (Vanessa Williams) nuptials to publishing mogul Bradford Meade (Alan Dale).

In India the show airs on Star World.

Prasar Bharati to let ESPN market T20 World Cup for Doordarshan

Prasar Bharati will let ESPN-Star Sports (ESS) undertake the marketing of the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup cricket matches telecast on Doordarshan. The catch is that ESS will have to meet the reserve price per match fixed by DD for the World Cup matches.

As reported first by ET, ESS will share live and clean feed (without ads) with Prasar Bharati for all the matches India plays, the semi-finals and the final, irrespective of whether India reaches the final stages.

The marketing model will be on the lines of the arrangement between DD and private broadcaster Nimbus for the India-West Indies series earlier this year. During the one-day series, DD had said it would be able to generate Rs 4.26 crore for the series, while Nimbus (which held the rights for these matches) had said it would generate Rs 22 crore if it were to undertake the marketing for DD.

Nimbus was allowed to market the entire commercial airtime for the series exclusively through its ad sales arm — Nimbus Media Solutions — on a 70:30 revenue share basis in its favour.

For the Twenty20 World Cup, Prasar Bharati and ESS will follow a 75:25 revenue share ratio in favour of the private broadcaster as specified by law. When contacted, ESS executives refused to comment.

DD sources said Prasar Bharati officials would meet their ESS counterparts over the next couple of days to discuss the issue of marketing rights, among other matters. “If they do not agree to the base price set by us, we will market the advertisements slots on our own,” DD officials said. The Twenty20 World Cup begins in South Africa on September 11.

“The revenue share is applicable on the entire amount they raise, and not just the base price. At the same time, if the deal goes through, there will be another clause which stipulates that ESS must pay 25% of the base price even if the revenues raised by the private broadcaster are lower than this amount,” DD sources added.

The sources also said ESS would be able to command higher ad rates as the private broadcaster would be able to offer combo slots on both the channels simultaneously to its advertisers. Besides, ESS will also be able to charge single rates for ads and other promotional material across the different channels.

As reported earlier by ET, ESS has already sold the series at rates about 100% higher than even the 2007 World Cup, with rates averaging Rs 2.75-3 lakh per 10 seconds.

Players to support HIV-AIDS campaign at ICC Twenty20

Cricket stars from across the world will support the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) partnership with UNAIDS and Unicef at the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 2007, which takes place in South Africa from 11 to 24 September, to highlight the situation of children and young people living with and affected by HIV.


The partnership is also supported in South Africa from loveLife – South Africa’s national HIV prevention program for youth – to engage the youth audience.

Players including South Africa captain Graeme Smith, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and India’s Yuvraj Singh will feature in public service announcements for the ‘Unite for Children, Unite Against Aids’ campaign highlighting how HIV impacts on the lives of young people. This will be made available to broadcasters in 105 countries across the world as well as be watched by fans on the big screens at the 27 matches during the tournament.


Other stars will visit Unicef and loveLife community-based project activities in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg to promote HIV and AIDS awareness to young people and encourage them to develop life-skills to keep them HIV-free. Select players are expected to wear red ribbons in selected matches to show their support for people living with HIV.

Apart from player-related activities, 500 volunteers working at the event have all received HIV and AIDS education from loveLife health trainers, supported by UNAIDS. There will also be advertising boards at the grounds dedicated to promoting the ‘Unite for Children, Unite Against Aids’ campaign.


The African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS – a coalition of more than 50 African broadcast companies – will also be supporting the partnership, promoting player visits and event activities related to the partnership.

Cricket is popular in many of the countries that are most impacted by AIDS, including India and South Africa. Together, these two countries are home to around 11 million of the 40 million people estimated to be living with HIV.