ESS acquires Asia broadcast rights of Bangladesh Premier League

MUMBAI: The Bangladesh Premier League, a format borrowed from the cash-rich Indian Premier League, has roped in ESPN Star Sports as the official broadcaster of the tourney.

The Asian sports network has acquired the telecast rights of BPL for a period of three years, starting 2012 running through to 2014.

ESS will showcase the tournament across Asia, along with Channel 9 which will broadcast the tournament domestically in Bangladesh.

The matches will be telecast live on Star Cricket and Star Sports.

The BPL will feature six teams - Barisal Burners, Chittagong Kings, Khulna Royal Bengals, Sylhet Royals, Dhaka Gladiators and Duronto Rajshahi.

The six teams will play each other twice in a round-robin format over 33 matches held in Chittagong and Dhaka.

As the biggest cricketing event of Bangladesh, BPL will feature some of the top names in cricket from around the globe with 21 days of non-stop world class cricket action and entertainment.

ESS director-programming Joyee Biswas said, ?We are delighted to support the expansion of T20 to Bangladesh by bringing this exciting new tournament to cricket fans in Asia.

?As the rights holder for some of the globe?s best cricket events including ICC World T20, CL T20, India-Australia test matches, ODI tri-series between Australia, India and Sri Lanka, and England-Australia ODIs, we are pleased to add Bangladesh Premier League to our portfolio of top cricket coverage.?

Channel 9 MD Enayetur Rahman said, ?As the first GEC channel of Bangladesh with a mix of Sports and Entertainment, and the producer of BPL T20, we are pleased to partner with ESPN STAR Sports to bring BPL to cricket lovers and look forward to a long term relationship.?

Running from 9-29 February, the tournament will feature a mix of 1-2 matches per day. On days when two games are played, the first match will begin at 2 pm local time followed by the second match at 6.30 pm.

In addition to the Icon player from Bangladesh, each team is allowed nine foreign players, five of whom can play per match per team. The opening ceremony of BPL will commence at 5 pm local time today.