SONY SIX bags rights for Australian Open from 2015-19

[Duke]

Nobody knew that nimbus would be reduced to ashes when they had BCCI rights. Once India started performing badly they began to loose money & eventually ended giving up the rights. Same was with Sony. Once India were knocked out in group stages in the 2007 World Cup, they lost heavily and didn't renew their World Cup telecast rights. Star has invested a huge sum of money in cricket. They are sidelining other sports. If India perform badly again, Star Sports network will be demolished. Its not the same network when ESPN was part of the alliance. Back then they gave equal preferrence to other sports as well. But now its just cricket.

Sports Broadcasting or promotion is all about buying the property at right price, do Marketing it too the fullest including building the brand and then extract revenue from the same..... Neo Sports made huge investments in buying the BCCI rights, but they did not market well as against what Star is doing today (Good pre & post match shows, better analysis, showing multiple feeds like hindi and HD, to extract more revenue:no, bringing spotlight on creating sports personality :c (earlier cricket used to be synonym with Tendulkar, but now they are creating hero out of every India regular) ..... Thus they started defaulting payments :s as they didn't had deep pockets or cash reserves as the channels were solely created after getting the rights of BCCI :huh , and ultimately lost the rights..... :'( The last nail in coffin was when Tata Sky (another Star backed company) did not renewed the agreement causing Neo revenue losses resulting in payment defaults to already acquired properties like NZL rights, Badminton rights & Asia Cup.....

Sony not only made losses B'cos of early exit of India in 2007 WC, but also due to the timings (Matches used to end up late in nights) and duration (2 Months ) of event..... Also they were outbid by star as Star evaluated next round of ICC events better (2007 to 2015) as most of the events except 2015 World Cup, all the events were better suited for Indian Viewing.....:tup

Remember When Ten came into competition Star never gave up rights for English and Australian Cricket as apart from BCCI they were the most revenue generating rights !!! hyahyahya

I do agree with many members the Cricket is majorly focused right now by Star, but lets give them some time, other sports will also evolve..... They are investing in properties like Badminton to have more coverage !!!:k:k:k

 

[NinadG]

Its dangerous & shortsighted move by Star spors to create, develop & expand only cricket clamour & formats in long term considering history of Indian cricket.

 

[Navneet Mishra]

I do agree with many members the Cricket is majorly focused right now by Star, but lets give them some time, other sports will also evolve..... They are investing in properties like Badminton to have more coverage !!!:k:k:k

They are overdoing cricket. After cricket the most watched sports in India is football. It has huge following specially in big cities. But they are completely ignoring it. Nobody watches shows like Perfect Pujara or Swing Shami a dozen times in a day. The biggest issue is that they are not airing even the major live games. And thats why I think too much cricket will eventually backstab them. Just have a look at their official fb & twitter pages. Its full of vulgar abuses. It shows that their "revolution" has not been positive.

 

[Duke]

They are overdoing cricket. After cricket the most watched sports in India is football. It has huge following specially in big cities. But they are completely ignoring it. Nobody watches shows like Perfect Pujara or Swing Shami a dozen times in a day. The biggest issue is that they are not airing even the major live games. And thats why I think too much cricket will eventually backstab them. Just have a look at their official fb & twitter pages. Its full of vulgar abuses. It shows that their "revolution" has not been positive.

Agreed that there is the section which is hugely disappointed due to overdose of Cricket and limited telecast of Soccer !!! But trust me there expansion to exclusive Hindi Channel is largely targeted to carter audience largely considers Cricket & Hockey as Sports !!! For Soccer related revenue they are targeting audience mostly through 2 HD channels & SS4.... And there will be active Competition between Star, Ten & Sony for sports properties based on investment Vs. Revenue Model.....

 

[Omi]

STAR SPORTS 4 will also broadcast The Australian Open 2014.

 

[swcptb]

STAR SPORTS 4 will also broadcast The Australian Open 2014.

Sony bagged rights from the year 2015 only, This year it is exclusively available in star sports network in India.