MUMBAI: Ten Sports is busy gearing up for the ICC T-20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April.
In case you’re wondering, Star Sports holds exclusive broadcast rights for the T-20 World Cup, but has sub-let to Ten Sports - the only sports broadcaster present in Pakistan - rights for broadcasting in Pakistan matches featuring the team from the neighbouring country.
So, Ten Sports Pakistan, which beams off Intelsat 20 using MPEG-4 system, will be the home for all Pakistan matches in the tournament.
Informs Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi: “We are the only sports broadcaster present in Pakistan, and we will be telecasting all Pakistan matches on our channel during the ICC T-20 World Cup,” before adding, “Advertisers have really responded well to the tourney and we have already generated close to $7.5 million and are targeting $20 million in ad revenues.”
With a state-of-the-art post-production studio and an expert panel for in-depth match analysis, Ten Sports is well equipped for the series and is already planning a show from its Noida set up. “We will be putting a lot of emphasis on graphics and analytics during pre and post match shows as well as the one during the match,” explains Sethi. “We are bullish about the T-20 World Cup and want to ensure the same kind of programming quality in our Pakistan set up as is with India in recent years.”
Recently, Ten Sports also inked a seven-year deal to broadcast Sri Lanka Cricket’s international matches till March 2020, which includes multiple media platforms and global sponsorship rights.
“Our main focus is on creating a superlative viewership experience and compelling content, by ensuring it has a world-class programming and production aspect,” stresses Sethi. “We have also syndicated a lot of our content; we have already signed a deal with MP Silva for content syndication in the US and they will ensure that the Asian community gets to watch all the matches played by Sri Lanka. All Sri Lanka vs. England matches have been syndicated to BSkyB in the UK.”
Ten Sports currently holds rights for four cricket boards including South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the West Indies. It also holds long-term rights for WWE, UEFA Champions League, French League 1, US Open Tennis, ATP & WTA, and Capital One Cup, European Tour & Asian Tour Golf, among other exciting properties. The network will also be broadcasting the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games this year.
