MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has announced special Hindi commentary for the English Premier League with an eye to promoting soccer across India.

The channel had earlier introduced Hindi commentary during Euro 2004 and the Fifa Confederation Cup 2005.

ESS VP sales and marketing Sricharan Iyengar said, "Localisation of content has helped us increase our penetration in traditional markets of India. The Hindi telecast also enabled us to open up several non-traditional markets for soccer like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

"The viewership numbers of Confederation Cup 2005 as well as Euro 2004 testifies this. The localisation adds 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.

"Soccer is gaining popularity as one of the most viewed sport in Indian homes and we find that EPL is particularly well liked by viewers in metros. ESPN Star Sports has been making special efforts to further grow EPL's popularity nationally. Live screenings, building viewer affinity for EPL clubs and growing knowledge among Indian viewers are some of the steps we have taken to enhance the passion associated with the game and in turn grow the league. The introduction of Hindi commentary will further help in growing the popularity of English Premier League across the country," added Iyengar.

Sunil Taneja and Puneet Pal Singh will do the Hindi commentary for English Premier League on a rotational basis. Both will be based in the broadcaster's headquarters in Singapore.