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An ESPN Star trick, to puzzle Indian cricket fans


CricketAndMoney.jpgWho said consumers are the king.. we never ruled & I doubt we ever will!

Following is just another story, related to cricket telecast, that will make you sad. But don't worry, I've a happy information to reveal as well which I'll do as we go along. But first, lets start with two common sports channels you must be knowing if you live in India ~ ESPN & star sports.

One time, these two channels were rivals. 3-4 years ago, they collaborated to compete with other sports channels emmerging in our country like Tensports, Neosports, Zeesports, Set Max & half a dozen others. For long, ESPN-starsports combination rarely won a major broadcasting right to practically make some money while showing live coverage to bat-ball loving Indians. Come July August 2007, ESPN star hit the jackpot - India on tour to England. ESS had the exclusive rights for the India-England cricket series. Trouble was, Indian govenment's new rule to beam cricket in our rural area with no cable facility. The obligation from Government is now on every sports channel, to show all the major cricket matches played by Indian cricket team, inside or outside India, but only the one day Internationals.

Happy information is - India vs England ODIs, the 7 match Natwest series will be shown live by Doordarshan - also known as DD National or simply DD1.

No test match are mentioned by our rule makers, n thus - a brilliant trick for ESS. They release a brand new channel, term it '24 hour cricket channel', & name it star-cricket. No body cared how Indian cricketers fared in warm-up matches, but channel star-cricket made debut by showing the two practice matches (India vs Sussex & India vs England Lions) live. Now, at a time when nearly all Indian homes with cable television or DTH services like Tata Sky or Dish TV has been long paying for both sports channels ESPN and Star sports - Star cricket is what you need to watch India vs England 3 test matches. And no - none of your existing channels will show the npower test series, starting on 19th July with the first test match at Lords in London.

Star-cricket is so much new, that Cable oprators in India fear loss of money. who is going to tell them that together these 3 channels will show the twenty20 world cup in September, then also the India's tour of Australia in December. See schedule. All our local cable operators know, is the example of Tensports which they finally paid for during India's tour of Pakistan at the starting of 2006. Now no live cricket comes on Tensports, so how they'll spend lakhs of rupees on another new sports channel. We all have the example of Nimbus's Neosports, holding rights for cricket matches played in India but reaching nearly no Television in Indian homes!!

ESS planned to force all DTH services, and cable men to take their 3rd channel by making India-England test matches exclusively for newbie. They knew they can't fight for ODIs, so why not cash in before that. Neither Espn or starsports will show any quality telecast during the same time, but star-cricket is what we cricket fans have to long for, after coming back from offices!!




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