MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports, the exclusive Asian rights holder for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) domestic and home international matches, has entered into an agreement with Al Jazeera Sport for the television broadcast rights of the Friends Life Twenty20 2012.

The deal marks a significant landmark for cricket broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa with Al Jazeera Sport televising cricket for the first time ever with live coverage of 25 matches from ECB?s domestic Twenty20 league scheduled to take place from 12 June to 25 August.

Covering terrestrial, cable and satellite television rights, the collaboration between Asian sports content provider and the biggest sport broadcaster in the Pan-Arab & Mena region will bring the exciting action from the Friends Life Twenty20 available to numerous cricket fans in the region.

ESS SVP corporate development & cricket rights Anurag Dahiya said, ?We are very pleased with the strong interest shown by Al Jazeera Sports in cricket. These arrangements promise to extend the popularity and reach of ECB?s events with the aim of raising the profile of the sport in the region, building on from last year?s highly successful ICC Cricket World Cup.?

ESPN Star Sports licenses ECB broadcast rights throughout North Africa and the Middle East along with various other parts of Asia. In addition, ESS? international cricket syndication business includes global distribution of marquee properties such as International Cricket Council events & Champions League T20 as well as Cricket Australia?s events (in Asia and North Africa).

ESS had recently renewed its media rights deal with ECB for Asian market after committing to pay a premium of $200 million for the seven year deal that runs till 2019.

MUMBAI: The new Stadium in Pune, subject to final completion, will make its debut as an IPL venue, by staging all eight ?home? games of the Pune Warriors India.

Dharamsala, Cuttack and Izanagi will host two games each.

As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the league will start from 4 April 2012 with nine teams and 76 matches. The league will commence with Chennai Super Kings, the defending champions, taking on the Mumbai Indians, the Champions League T20 winners, at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The league stage, which comprises 72 matches, with each team playing the other eight in a home-and-away format, will go on till 20 May 2012.

The venue of the two finalist teams from 2011 edition will host the Play offs. Bengaluru will host Qualifier 1 (1 vs 2) and the Eliminator (3 vs 4) on 22 and 23 May respectively. Qualifier 2 and the Final will be played in Chennai on 25 May and 27 May respectively.

MUMBAI: Following a discussion between Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20), the CLT20 Governing Council has today decided to move matches from Eden Gardens to Hyderabad and Bengaluru, pending approval from local authorities.

CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya said, "With regret and in the best interests of the tournament, CAB and CLT20 have reluctantly agreed to moving its four scheduled Group B matches away from Eden Gardens due to the heavy rains that have deluged Kolkata."

"We?re disappointed that we?re not able to host the matches, but this decision was unavoidable and taken out of our hands due to the current weather conditions. We wish CLT20 luck for the tournament and hope CAB will have the chance to host the event in the coming years."

As a result of today?s decision, the Group B matches on 25 and 27 September will now take place at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, while the match on 29 September involving Royal Challengers Bangalore and a team from the current qualifier, will be played at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

MUMBAI: Ten Sports will be telecating live and exclusive the Nokia Champions League T20 in Pakistan.

ESPN Star Sports, the global commercial rights holder of the Nokia Champions League T20, has awarded the broadcast rights for the Pakistan territory to Zee-controlled Taj Television, the company that owns and operates Ten Sports.

The tournament takes place from 19 September to 9 October.

Taj Television CEO Atul Pande said, "We are extremely happy to acquire the rights for one of the most fascinating T20 Leagues in the world. Top cricket clubs from around the world, comprising top rated T20 players, will compete in this month-long tournament. Ten Sports will be telecasting all the 29 matches live and exclusive for viewers in Pakistan."

ESS senior VP, corporate development/cricket rights Anurag Dahiya said, "We are delighted to partner Ten Sports to showcase the Nokia Champions League Twenty20 in a passionate cricketing nation and major powerhouse in the sport. Cricket fans in Pakistan can look forward to our world-class production and presentation package, having lined-up many innovative production initiatives and our specialist commentary team of international cricketing legends and experts from top cricket-playing nations for all the matches."

ESS? coverage of the Nokia Champions League Twenty20 includes a line-up of cricket experts consisting of Harsha Bhogle, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Kepler Wessels, HD Ackerman, Ian Chappell, Tom Moody, Ian Bishop and Alan Wilkins.

The start of the main tournament will be preceded by a qualifier for the first time from which three teams will progress to the main round to compete with seven others. The qualifiers will be held in Hyderabad between September 19 and 21, while the main tournament will be spread across three cities - Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.