BWI: Fans Across 216 Countries Get Ready for the Biggest Spectacle of the Year – ICC World Twenty20 2009

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: ESPN STAR Sports
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 05:50 PM IST (12:20 PM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment, Sports; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Media & entertainment, Sports
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Fans Across 216 Countries Get Ready for the Biggest Spectacle of the Year - ICC World Twenty20 2009


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Tuesday, May 26, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- -- STAR Cricket will showcase all 27 matches from ICC World Twenty20

-- Special Live & exclusive telecast of 10 preparatory matches - Launchpad

-- Nasser, Harsha, Coney, Chappell and Akram make up a star-studded expert TV panel

ESPN STAR Sports, Asia's number one sports broadcaster & ICC's global Broadcast & Production Partner, today announced that the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20 will be viewed by as many as 216 countries across the world. The sports broadcaster has lined-up many interesting on-air initiatives to make the telecast entertaining and engaging. STAR Cricket will telecast live all the 27 matches from the ICC World Twenty20 2009. The broadcaster will also showcase live semi-finals and finals of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 2009. The high definition telecast will feature 13 cricketing legends and expert commentators for all the matches.

Sports channels STAR Cricket & ESPN will also telecast an additional 10 preparatory matches termed 'Launch Pad' live & exclusive from England. This program will focus on the preparatory stage of the tourney, wherein India take on arch rival Pakistan and later New Zealand, a team they have never beaten in the T20 format yet.

The sports broadcaster has ensured that the commentary panel has representation from almost all Cricket playing countries so that the viewers can get a flavor of each team as showcase their talent on the big stage. The ESPN STAR Sports commentary panel will include stars like Wasim Akram, Sanjay Manjrekar, Alan Wilkins, Harsha Bhogle, Nasser Hussain, David Lloyd, Ian Chappell, Simon Doull, Kepler Wessels, Ian Bishop, Ranil Abeynayake, Athar Ali Khan and Jeremy Coney.

Speaking on the occasion, RC Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, said, "ESPN STAR Sports had set huge benchmarks in the inaugural edition of the ICC World Twenty20 and we are confident that we will raise the bar this time again as the defending champions, India take on the best of T20 talent from all over the world. We have started with a bang with international syndication rights going to as many as 216 countries. This is almost double of what we achieved in the 2007 edition. Even in terms of on-air sales, we have written 80% more revenue as compared to the last edition. We have signed 10 sponsors and an additional 20 corporates for spot-buys on live as well as pre-post programming."

ICC General Manager - Commercial, Campbell Jamieson, said, "As we are in the final stages of the lead into the ICC World Twenty20 2009, it is a great comfort to know that the broadcast aspect of the tournament will be in such capable hands as those at ESPN STAR Sports.

We expect the ICC World Twenty20 to be the most viewed cricket event in the history of the game, which is a significant achievement considering it is just the second-ever staging of this event. Through ESS, the ICC's global media rights and broadcast partner, and its various broadcast partners worldwide, this event can be viewed on television sets in over 200 countries.

If current trends are anything to go by, we expect that this event will continue to grow and become even bigger in the future. At the inaugural edition in 2007 in South Africa, the ratings were very high not just in Indian subcontinent, which always has a huge cricket following, but across all participating countries and beyond.

The India v Pakistan final on 24 September 2007 created history with the TVRs touching a peak of 15.2. This is a record for Indian TV. ESPN and STAR Cricket had a combined rating of 21.2 and a channel share of 47.2 per cent, taking large numbers of viewers away from normally popular reality TV shows being shown at the same time.

The success of the ICC World Twenty20 indicates that overall, the state of international cricket is very healthy as we now have three thriving formats of the game at that level. Despite the economic slowdown, the game has never been in such a strong position globally as it is today."

ESPN STAR Sports will do extensive programming in and around the live telecast. All matches will have detailed pre and post match shows titled 'Cricket Extra'. These shows will be hosted by Harsha Bhogle & Sanjay Manjrekar from the venue itself. In addition, we have also initiated an interactive Cricket based quiz, 'Stumped'. This is first time that a live interactive quiz show is being telecast on our channel. This is in line with our broad strategy of creating more interactivity options with our viewers.

The ICC World Twenty20 will be broadcast by ESPN STAR Sports as a part of its eight-year agreement with ICC. The tournament has stirred up tremendous interest for cricket fans all over the globe. The live telecast of the tournament will be seen in more than 216 countries across the globe. The International Cricket Council (ICC) expects that second edition will achieve record breaking viewer ship across the globe.

Syndication highlights

A total of 216 countries will showcase the ICC World T20. Prominent broadcasters include ART Prime Sports who will beam the telecast in Middle East & North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen). ATN will show it in Canada, BSKYB will showcase the tourney in United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Caribbean Media Corporation will take the beam forward in Caribbean islands. Eurosport will telecast in Austria, C.I.S, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, France and Monaco. Direc TV (Willow TV) in USA. BTV - terrestrial will showcase in Bangladesh while ESPN STAR Sports will broadcast in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan.

To view the photograph, Launch Pad Schedule and ICC World Twenty20 Schedule, please click on the links given below:

L-R - RC Venkateish- Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, Campbell Jamieson - General Manager - Commercial, International Cricket Council, Wasim Akram - Former Pakistan Captain & Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar -Former Indian international & Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports and Alan Wilkins - Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports at the ICC World Twenty20 England 2009 Press Conference in New Delhi

Launch Pad schedule

ICC World Twenty20 Schedule


For picture(s)/data to illustrate this release click below:

http://www.BusinessWireIndia.com/attachments/PIC_1(207).JPG
L-R - RC Venkateish- Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, Campbell Jamieson - General Manager - Commercial, International Cricket Council, Wasim Akram - Former Pakistan Captain & Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar -Former Indian international & Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports and Alan Wilkins - Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports at the ICC World Twenty20 England 2009 Press Conference in New Delhi
http://www.BusinessWireIndia.com/attachments/Launch Pad schedule.doc
L-R - RC Venkateish- Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, Campbell Jamieson - General Manager - Commercial, International Cricket Council, Wasim Akram - Former Pakistan Captain & Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar -Former Indian international & Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports and Alan Wilkins - Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports at the ICC World Twenty20 England 2009 Press Conference in New Delhi
http://www.BusinessWireIndia.com/attachments/ICC World Twenty20 Schedule.doc
L-R - RC Venkateish- Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, Campbell Jamieson - General Manager - Commercial, International Cricket Council, Wasim Akram - Former Pakistan Captain & Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar -Former Indian international & Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports and Alan Wilkins - Commentator with ESPN STAR Sports at the ICC World Twenty20 England 2009 Press Conference in New Delhi


CONTACT DETAILS
Sameer Bajaj, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, +91 9811222700, sameerb@espnstar.co.in
Aparna Srivastava, IPAN, +91 9811234594, aparna.srivastava@ipan.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, MEDIA

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