MUMBAI: Sony Six has made a commitment to air both live events and archived events produced by Glory, the world?s new premier kickboxing league, on an exclusive basis for the first time in India.

Sports marketing agency Total Sports Asia (TSA) is Glory?s worldwide distribution partner.

Glory has signed up 90 per cent of the best martial arts stand up fighters, or kickboxers, in the world and has effectively established a platform for the highest level of combat in six different weight classes ? featherweight 65 kilograms), lightweight (70 kilograms), welterweight (77 kilograms), middleweight (85 kilograms), light heavyweight (95 kilograms) and heavyweight (above 95 kilograms) awarding a total of over US $2 million in prize money annually at events across the globe.

Sony Six is owned and operated by Multi Screen Media which has the broadcast rights for Indian Premier League (IPL), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and NBA.

Commenting on the tie-up, Multi Screen Media (MSM) COO N P Singh said, ?We are very happy to announce that Glory will now be available on Six. Glory already attracts a 550 million audience & with India, we have the potential to reach a 100 million more.

Indian sports lovers are maturing in their taste for fast paced fight sports, and there is a huge demand for such action packed and adrenaline pumping sporting events. We are proud to associate with Glory and look forward to airing it exclusively to our Indian audiences.?

TSA Chief Content Officer Julian Jackson stated, ?We are delighted that the top management of Sony could see what Glory is trying to achieve. They recognised the colossal project that Glory has undertaken and the massive financial commitment that the owner, Pierre Andurand, has made to ensure it succeeds. Glory has exceeded all of our expectations in terms of broadcast coverage with us being in almost every country in the world with the ability to reach over 550+million viewers ? now we are delighted that Indian combat fans will get the chance to see why Glory is sweeping the globe on Sony Six."

MUMBAI: Sportainment channel Sony Six has bagged the broadcast rights for the newly franchised-based Golf Premier League in association with Aamby Valley City.

Six will provide live coverage for GPL which saw Rs 38.3 million being pumped in by teams on buying players. The inaugural edition of the tournament will be held from 8-10 February.

Speaking on the occasion, Golf Premier League Co-founders Shiv Kapur & Neeraj Sareen said, ?We are extremely pleased to join hands with Sony Six which is one of the most credible channels for sports in India. We believe that the format of play during the GPL will be interesting for live viewing and are confident of the reach that Sony Six can provide as a platform to help us take golf to a larger audience in India.?

Pearls is the title sponsor of the tournament, which will see eight teams lock horn to bag the top honours.

MSM CEO Man Jit Singh said, ?The Golf Premier League is an important step towards the evolution of golf as a popular spectator sport in India. I am sure that the unique format, coming together of world-class players and other exciting aspects including day and night golf will make for a compelling viewing for our audience."

MSM COO NP Singh said, ?The Golf Premier league will bring together some of the top golfers from Asia including the cream talent of Indian golfers for the first time in India .We are proud to announce our association with Golf Premier League as the official broadcast partner."

Sony Six will telecast live play across all three days of the event to be hosted by the Aamby Valley City to showcase some of the world?s top players including Darren Clarke, Angel Cabrera and Michael Campbell competing with local and Asian champions including Shiv Kapur himself.

The format will include three rounds with two day-night rounds of stroke play and the final round being on the best-ball format. Each round will be played over a 14 holes shorter format. This is the first time day-night competition has been adopted in professional golf in Asia. The telecast will also include live commentary by Vijay Amritraj, Shaili Chopra and Brandon de Souza and will be played at the picturesque Aamby Valley Golf Course.

MUMBAI: Sony Six, the sports and entertainment channel from MSM stable, will exclusively televise The Race of Champions (ROC) for the first time on Indian television screens.

The race will air live on 15 and 16 December at 6.30 pm on Six.

The Race of Champions is an annual international racing event that features as a knockout tournament. The championship will happen in Bangkok this year.

This will be the first time in the history of the race where an Indian racing team comprising Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok will be participating in the event.

The two will feature together as team-mates after almost eight years making history at the event representing India against fellow international drivers like multiple Formula 1 World Champions Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher and Moto GP multiple World Champion Jorge Lorenzo.

The event starts with a group stage to ensure that fans get to see plenty of action from every driver. The racers face up against all the other drivers in their group, with cars swapped round between heats so they all have to prove themselves in a variety of machinery. The most successful drivers move on to the quarter finals.

Multi Screen Media COO NP Singh said, ?We are extremely thrilled to bring The Race of champions for the Indian audience exclusively on SONY SIX, it is an absolute moment of pride that this is also the first time a team from India will be represented in the race along with racing champions from across the world, we wish them all the best.?

MUMBAI: Gaurav Seth, Head of Marketing at Max, will take additional charge as Head of Marketing at Sony Entertainment Television following Danish Khan?s exit.

Danish Khan has put in his papers as the Head of Marketing SET and is currently serving his notice period.

Multi Screen Media COO NP Singh confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com. "Yes, Danish Khan has quit Sony," he said.

Seth will continue to handle the marketing of both the channels. He will also be responsible for the marketing of MSM?s biggest property, the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Search is on for Seth?s replacement at Max.

"I am looking forward to take the new responsibility (as Marketing Head of SET). I will also be handling marketing of Max till the time there is a replacement for me," Seth said.

"Besides, I will also be handling IPL purely from continuity point of view. I have been handling IPL for the past four years, so it was felt that I should look after it for this season too since the tournament is too close," he added.

The IPL season 6 will be housed under MSM?s sports and entertainment channel Sony Six which went on air in April this year.

Danish Khan could not be reached for comment till the time of filing this report.

MUMBAI: Sony Six, Multi Screen Media?s sports channel, has inked a three-year deal with National Basketball Association (NBA) to become the sole broadcast partner of the American professional basketball league in India.

The broadcast rights were earlier shared between Sony Pix, the English movie channel from MSM, and Zeel-owned sports broadcaster Ten Sports.

Sony Six, which has Indian Premier League (IPL) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as its tent pole properties, has identified NBA to attract young audiences towards the sports and entertainment channel.

The sportscaster sees a fit with the property and feels it can develop it in India through aggressive marketing which includes drawing on Bollywood?s popularity to attract new audiences.

"Our study shows that the youth want new sports which are fast paced in nature and Basketball is a fast paced sport. We see huge opportunity to build NBA in India and have big plans to promote it," MSM CEO Man Jit Singh tells Indiantelevision.

The comprehensive partnership with Sony Six will include live NBA games, original programming, and a joint commitment to host grassroots basketball events on the ground.

The two partners will create customised local programming and will focus on engaging Indian youth by bringing together talent from the NBA, Sony Entertainment and Bollywood.
Before Ten Sports and Sony Pix, ESPN Star Sports (ESS) was the long standing broadcast partner for NBA in India but decided not to renew its partnership due to poor viewership. Singh, however, is unfazed.

"NBA was never promoted properly in India. Our plan is to work in tandem with NBA to promote the sport by bringing in NBA players, through college festivals, and 3x3 Basketball that will have NBA players pitted against basketball fans," he added.

Singh feels NBA is a viable sport for the broadcaster in the long run but in the short-term it will invest in the sport. "It is definitely a viable property but we are looking at it from an investment point of view," he asserted.

He did not see any issue with the timing of NBA games which are generally aired early in the morning, "Every sport fan wants to watch a game live. However for those who can?t watch NBA games early in the morning we have repeats in the prime time," he reasoned.

Apart from IPL, UFC and NBA, Six has also identified racquet sports and football to build the channel even as it continues to evaluate cricket boards that are coming up for renewal. MSM has also placed bids for English Premier League rights which are currently held by ESS.

The broadcaster had unsuccessfully bid for England Cricket Board and West Indies Cricket Board rights which were eventually retained by incumbent broadcasters, ESPN Star Sports and Taj Television respectively.

Most of the cricket rights are locked in excluding Sri Lanka Cricket Board, Pakistan Cricket Board, Bangladesh Cricket Board and New Zealand Cricket.

"We will certainly bid for properties as and when they come up. Having said that, we are not going bid crazy amounts," Singh averred.

NBA India Senior Director Business Development & Partnerships said the reason the league decided to partner Sony Six was because of its overall package they offered which includes favourable time slot and other on-air and on-ground initiatives that are critical engaging fans.

"We spoke to different broadcasters but Sony Six was the one who presented the most comprehensive partnership. They were willing to partner not just on the air but on the ground as well," Jain said.

"They are giving us a favourable timeslot on air. Besides matches, they will air magazine shows and highlights. They will also have local content by showcasing the basketball scene in India. They will also have instructional content for coaches and players."

Sony Six will air live NBA games each week on Thursday, Friday and Sunday with replays in prime-time. The Sunday game will be the "Game of the Week" featuring the NBA game airing at noon or 1:00 pm ET in the U.S.

In total, fans in India will have access to 72 NBA regular season games, up to 18 NBA Playoff games, the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, the NBA Finals and NBA All-Star events including the All-Star Game, All-Star Saturday Night, and the Rising Stars competition.

The NBA and Sony Six will also create a weekly NBA lifestyle program and a series of instructional vignettes that will help educate fans on the rules of the game and basketball terminology.

Apart from metros, NBA will also work with Sony Six to viewership in second and third tier cities.

"The aim is to showcase the NBA experience and lifestyle. We will package elements from this and create a platform. We will be doing marketing activities to create awareness about the partnership which includes social media, promos, and contests. Fans will get the chance to go to the US. They will get opportunity to attend games and get Behind The Scenes VIP Access to meet players," Jain added.