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"Everyone
is talking to everyone." That was all Lalit Modi, vice-chairman
and president, Modi Entertainment Network, would offer other
than a "no comments" when asked about a strong buzz in the
industry that MEN was close to signing a deal as the distribution
platform for the soon-to-be-launched Taj Entertainment Network
(Ten) sports channel.
Ten is being launched by promoter of Sharjah cricket Abdulrahman
Bukhatir through his company Taj Sports, and is expected
to be unveiled on 6 April, just ahead of the start of the
next tri-nation Sharjah cricket tourney. The kick-off date
of the tournament involving Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New
Zealand is 8 April.
MEN chief executive Rajan Kaaicker was equally noncommittal
when asked to respond to industry reports that Ten would
be offered as part of the MEN bouquet at an a la carte subscription
rate of Rs 8 per month after an initial free trial period.
The other channels on the MEN bouquet are DD Sports, Hallmark,
FTV and MCM (the last two are French fashion and music channels
respectively).
According to industry sources, there are three possible
bouquets that Ten could hop aboard - MEN, Zee and Sony Entertainment.
At this point MEN appears to have the best chance of signing
the deal, the industry buzz goes.
This is quite a turnaround from what Bukhatir had late last
year been quoted as saying that while he was negotiating
with different bouquets for distribution and marketing,
Zee was the preferred partner.
At this point it looks as if MEN is promising a larger subscriber
number delivery than what Zee can guarantee because of the
DD Sports reach. This appears to be the reason that the
pendulum is swinging more MEN's way.
Sony Entertainment cannot be ruled out of the equation either,
especially after it bagged the India broadcast rights for
International Cricket Council-promoted events for the next
six years.
One network Bukhatir has ruled out though is the Murdoch-led
Star TV because of the ESPN Star Sports connection. There
is just too much overlap between the two in the kind of
fare on offer.
Ten is expected to launch with a footprint spanning Australia
to England. Taj Sports CEO Chris McDonald, earlier with
ESPN Star Sports as senior V-P, advertising and integrated
sales, was down in Mumbai recently with his full team looking
into distribution and marketing issues, sources aver.
There is more to Ten than just cricket though. While cricket
will dominate, it will also have wrestling, tennis, football
and rugby. The company has rights for NBA and WWF events,
Bukhatir has been quoted as saying.
Aside from Sharjah rights, Taj reportedly also has Sri Lanka
cricket rights which was earlier with WSG Nimbus.
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