 Chennai:
As part of his three-year contract to promote two sports
channels — ESPN and Star Sports — ace cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar has decided to open his television innings.
In a run-up to Cricket World Cup, ESPN Software India will
be offering two cricket-based programmes featuring Tendulkar
— India Vs and Sachin Speaks on World Cup
Stars.
In
the 13-episode one-hour India Vs, Tendulkar will
give his perspective on the teams that will be fighting
for world cup. The programme will first go on air every
Tuesday at 9 pm on Star Sports from 5 November 2002, with
a repeat on ESPN the next day at 8.30 pm.
In
Sachin Speaks on World Cup Stars (13 episodes of
half-an-hour each) the cricketer will be sharing his thoughts
about those players who can make a major difference to
their team’s performance. This will be aired first
on ESPN every Thursday at 8.30 pm from 7 November 2002
and will be repeated on Star Sports on the next day at
9.30 pm.
 Says
ESPN Software India managing director Manu Sawhney: “TVS
Motor and Onida will be sponsoring the two programmes,
while the rates for the advertisements (8/4 minutes in
the one-hour and half-an-hour programmes) during the programmes
are yet to be fixed.” The company is hoping to rope
in around seven other advertisers.
When
queried about the competition from other sports channels
and Sony winning world cup telecast rights, Sawhney says:
“Our channels are not event-driven; we represent
sports. Apart from cricket, non-cricket sports like tennis,
football, golf and basketball are aired by our channels.”
He, nevertheless, agrees that cricket-based programmes
occupy more airtime than other games.
Over
the next five years, ESPN will telecast 1,100 hours of
cricket, with holding rights for eight out of 10 Test
cricket-playing countries. In addition, the company has
acquired the rights to telecast daily highlights of all
international cricket played in India till September 2004.
When
asked about the implementation of the conditional access
system (CAS) and the impact on the two channels now offered
as part of a package, Sawhney says: “We will abide
by the law of the land. We will decide on direct-to-home
(DTH) or other modes as and when that happens.” Sawhney
says the two the channels reach around 30 million homes
in India — urban, semi-urban and rural areas put
together. “Rural India has shown an increasing interest
in our channels.”
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