Tendulkar to commence his TV innings on ESPN Star Sports

Venkatachari Jagannathan
31 October 2002

In the 13-episode one-hour India Vs, Tendulkar will give his perspective on the teams that will be fighting for world cup. The programme will first go on air every Tuesday at 9 pm on Star Sports from 5 November 2002, with a repeat on ESPN the next day at 8.30 pm.

In Sachin Speaks on World Cup Stars (13 episodes of half-an-hour each) the cricketer will be sharing his thoughts about those players who can make a major difference to their team’s performance. This will be aired first on ESPN every Thursday at 8.30 pm from 7 November 2002 and will be repeated on Star Sports on the next day at 9.30 pm.

Says ESPN Software India managing director Manu Sawhney: “TVS Motor and Onida will be sponsoring the two programmes, while the rates for the advertisements (8/4 minutes in the one-hour and half-an-hour programmes) during the programmes are yet to be fixed.” The company is hoping to rope in around seven other advertisers.

When queried about the competition from other sports channels and Sony winning world cup telecast rights, Sawhney says: “Our channels are not event-driven; we represent sports. Apart from cricket, non-cricket sports like tennis, football, golf and basketball are aired by our channels.” He, nevertheless, agrees that cricket-based programmes occupy more airtime than other games.

Over the next five years, ESPN will telecast 1,100 hours of cricket, with holding rights for eight out of 10 Test cricket-playing countries. In addition, the company has acquired the rights to telecast daily highlights of all international cricket played in India till September 2004.

When asked about the implementation of the conditional access system (CAS) and the impact on the two channels now offered as part of a package, Sawhney says: “We will abide by the law of the land. We will decide on direct-to-home (DTH) or other modes as and when that happens.” Sawhney says the two the channels reach around 30 million homes in India — urban, semi-urban and rural areas put together. “Rural India has shown an increasing interest in our channels.”