Chris McDonald, CEO, Taj Television
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Based
in the UAE but built specifically for India. Launching 1 April
is Taj Entertainment Network (Ten) Sports, a channel that
has the subcontinent as its target of coverage.
Announcing
this today, television services and content provider Taj
Television Ltd CEO Chris McDonald said the channel, the
brainchild of the man who made Sharjah cricket what it is
today - Abdulrahman Bukhatir - would reach audiences in
India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives
to begin with.
The
channel is being unveiled just ahead of the start of the
next tri-nation Sharjah cricket tourney involving Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and New Zealand that kicks off on 8 April.
DISTRIBUTION
UNDER MODI GROUP-PROMOTED FIRM: Distributing Ten Sports
in India is HMA Udyog Ltd. McDonald admitted that one of
the promoters of HMA Udyog is a Modi Group company. The
industry grapevine has said that the Modis had won the right
to be the distribution platform for Ten Sports ahead of
the Zee Network and Sony Entertainment.
Ten Sport's cricket programme line up includes The Sharjah
Cup, Cricket Triangulars from Morocco, Classic India and
Sharjah Cricket, The Sharjah Champions Trophy, Australia's
tour of Zimbabwe in April/May as well as all international
cricket from Sri Lanka.
Taj picked up the Sri Lanka cricket rights for a guarantee
fee of $13.9 million. The rights, which were earlier with
World Sports Group-Nimbus (WSG-Nimbus), reportedly runs
till 2003 (the period for which WSG Nimbus had the rights
when it originally signed a three-year deal with the Board
of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka in 2000).
Ten Sports will also broadcast other popular sporting events
like the World Wrestling Federation, The English FA Cup,
Manchester United FootbaIl, the WTA - the best of women's
tennis from all over the world, the ATP Dubai Tennis Open,
The Ryder Cup, Champions Trophy Hockey and Champions Challenge
Hockey, an official release states.
The channel has signed up two well-known names from the
world of entertainment & sports in Raageshwari and former
test cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar as channel ambassadors.
While Manjrekar will be hosting regular sports shows, Raageshwari
gets behind the personal side of sporting personalities
on One on One With Raageshwari.
Taj Television operates out of a 55,000 square-feet state-of-the-art
facility at Dubai Media City. It will beam off the Panamsat
10 satellite initially as a digital free-to-air channel
but will be going pay at a date that is still to be decided,
McDonald says.
Commenting on the programming that Ten Sports was offering,
Peter Hutton, vice-president, programming and events, said
Ten Sports started with an immediate advantage in that it
held the broadcast rights to four cricket tourneys in virtual
perpetuity - two Sharjah tourneys as well as a new offshore
cricket venue in Morocco, which will showcase its first
tournament in August.
Outside of cricket, one sporting property that is exclusive
to Ten Sports is WWF events. Ten Sports will be showcasing
eight hours of WWF programming every week and plans to push
this in a big way, Hutton says.
CHANNEL COORDINATES
Satellite: Panamsat 10
Transponder: 14 C
Orbital Lock: 68.5E Longitude
Beam: Global C Band 1342 MHz
Downlink Coordinate: 3808
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