Purple Drop, a newly formed global interactive media company with its corporate headquarters located in Silicon Valley, was launched in south Mumbai on Thursday.

Specialising in end-to-end graphics solutions through a market-driven services, products & distribution strategy, Purple Drop‘s model combines expansive offerings in interactive entertainment technologies, R&D on demand, 2D/3D animation, CGI and SFX for the gaming, entertainment and commercial markets, according to a company press release.

Expressing his excitement at the launch, Ashok Desai, founder & CEO of Purple Drop, said: "The time has come for India to venture into radically new business opportunities. Purple Drop plans to leverage India‘s inherent technology strengths as well as the existing knowledge & expertise from the traditional business in entertainment & graphics and synergise it in charting a new paradigm for the industry in interactive entertainment and online gaming."

"Driven by the opportunity to participate in the $9 billion world-wide game industry, we are convinced that this focus will fuel unprecedented levels of innovation and technology advancements in the development of content which will enable Purple Drop to bring products and solutions to a whole new market opportunity," he further added.

Pentamedia Graphics has provided $4 million in seed funding and has permanently transferred a core team of trained professionals to Purple Drop. In addition, Purple Drop has IP rights for Pentamedia‘s graphics products as well as gaming rights for Sinbad and Pandavaas. Purple Drop will also have access to the state-of-the-art infrastructure base of Pentamedia Graphics and rights to an extensive selection of digital assets.

Speaking on the occasion of the launch, Dr V Chandrasekaran, chairman, Purple Drop and chairman & CEO, Pentamedia Graphics, Ltd., said: "Over the past year, we have seen Pentamedia Graphics forge compelling alliances and strategies to respond to the exciting needs of the entertainment industry. The launch of Purple Drop is a proof of our belief that the time is right to respond to this high-end graphics need as a focused entity."

Award-winning sports journalist Eric Young has joined Sportsline, ESPN STAR Sports‘ (ESS) daily sports news programme.

Sportsline, which was launched in September 2000, is broadcast on the STAR Sports India network.

The New Zealand-born journalist is a veteran of sports reporting, with more than 20 years experience in radio, print and television. He has been both the New Zealand Sports Writer of the Year and the New Zealand Sports Broadcaster of the Year, according to a press release issued on Thursday.

Eric Young‘s appointment boosts the strength of the Sportsline team: he joins veteran ESS presenter John Dykes and former Indian national squash player Misha Grewel to present viewers with the latest international and regional sporting news from an Indian perspective. The programme is broadcast live three times a day.

Scotching media speculation to the contrary, WSG Nimbus asserted on Wednesday that it continued to hold the commercial rights for international cricket to be played in Sri Lanka over the next three years.

A company release said WSG Nimbus had honoured all its obligations to the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL). While admitting that there had been differences between the two parties, WSG Nimbus said they were due to evidence of tour confirmations not being made available by BCCSL as earlier agreed upon.

BCCSL and Nimbus have now modified their agreements to the mutual satisfaction of both parties and have signed a fresh deal which vests commercial cricket rights of Sri Lanka international cricket 2001-2003 with WSG Nimbus, the release said.

It was in November 2000 that WSG Nimbus bagged the rights for international cricket in Sri Lanka for a period of three years. The deal covered 14 tours and involved 180 days of international cricket.