ESPN-STAR SPORTS PROMOTES WORLD CUP

ESPN-Star Sports is going all out to market commercial time to advertisers within India for the World Cup Cricket tournament to be broadcast on the two channels in May-June 1999. Last week, the channels' management had an advertising sales pitch in Mumbai which had advertising and marketing professionals from most leading ad agencies and companies in attendance. ESPN-Star Sports flew down Star TV Asia CEO Gary Davey, ESPN-Star Sports chief Alexander Brown, Star TV India CEO R. Basu, and Star TV Asia ad sales director Robert Bland for the presentation.

ESPN-Star Sports has rights to all the 43 matches that are to be played in England during the course of the World Cup '99, which is being billed as an event that will attract the largest Indian television audiences ever. On offer from the two channels is a gaggle of ways in which marketers can exploit the event to its maximum.

ESPN-Star Sports will, however, face major competition from state-owned broadcaster DD, which has terrestrial rights to 11 matches, including the semi-finals and the finals. DD has appointed a private consortium, led by Stracon to help it acquire international sports event rights and effectively compete with ESPN-Star Sports. The fact that DD will also telecast the semi-finals and finals will prove a thorn in ESPN-Star Sports' ad sales team's side as DD reaches out to 60 odd million Indian households as against the ESPN-Star Sports combine's estimated 9-odd million homes.

Advertisers are expected to splurge around Rs 1,000 million (approximately $25 million) during the course of the World Cup. The event is likely to impact the ad revenues of other TV channels as Indian industry has been going through a recessionary phase.