Sports Channels in India (Current & Upcoming) - Broadcast Rights, General Discussion, News & Updates

[somnath chakraborty]

 

[sathishbabu4u]

There is no such issue buddy. IPL rights r costly bcoz it gets high viewership though i strongly feel that price should not be that high as it creates many issues for the sports broadcaster which pays such big amount. Even ICC , BCCI/India Home Matches rights r quite costly and all the matches played by Team India r covered under the National Importance category.

If u all remember in the late 2000s and well until 2017 or 18 private sports broadcasters still paid huge amount for acquiring rights of key cricket properties and at that time DD aired all matches played by Team India for free across cable and DTH platforms . Private broadcasters used to still acquire West Indies, New Zealand, Bangladesh, South Africa cricket rights during that period.

Now that DD does not carry all the matches played by Team India or even other sports of national importance across pay tv platforms hence situation is lot better for private broadcasters and buying rights of sports properties does not carry that risk of losing revenue which was not the case earlier when many people including me did not subscribe to private sports channels and watched cricket or other sports on DD National.

Main reason for not acquiring cricket rights of West Indies, New Zealand is that not only these get less viewership bcoz of same appealing to limited audience but even the timings of matches played in these regions are not well suited for Indian Audiences. Even when Indian Team tours these countries the ad revenue may not b quite high . Private broadcasters buy rights of such properties to add certain appeal to their content portfolio and not to eye profits... EPL, F1 , Wimbledon , French Open, etc. too fall under this category as these properties hardly generate any revenue for sports channels but it helps cater to niche audience thus add a distinct touch to the content offered on their channels. Even Bangladesh Cricket rights won't b profitable for indian sports broadcasters though match timings r perfectly suited for indian audience. All in all sports broadcasters in India have always remained cautious of investing in such properties, with escalating prices of rights and OTT penetration they would b even more selective while buying rights of sports events which r restricted to niche/small viewer base. EuroSport, 1Sports or even Sony should try and acquire some of the cricket rights whose rights remain unsold, difficult for star/disney with kind of investment they made in IPL. Sony would also show less interest and would save money for acquiring ICC, BCCI rights or acquiring/renewing other key sports rights in the near future

Coming to the issue of whether private broadcasters r at any loss bcoz of sharing of rights with Doordarshan. My answer would b No. Firstly DD Sports is just airing these sports events on terrestrial and DD Free Dish platform and private sports broadcaster gets 75% of ad revenue generated from it. I do not think more number of people will make a switch from Cable or DTH Platforms to DD Free Dish or terrestrial platform just to watch these matches when private sports broadcasters offer much better overall viewing experience , even if some people shift then too such small loss can b covered easily in the 75% ad revenue they r getting from DD for such events /matches.

Well some members suggested that private sports broadcasters should themselves air all such sports matches /events on their own channels on DD Free Dish and earlier even i thought so but this has a major drawback which is that by doing so private broadcasters will diminish the chances of viewers upgrading from Free Dish to Pay TV platforms for watching sports content as well as some pay tv platform viewers will make a switch to DD Free Dish and hence they would never take such a step.

A practical solution would b to make certain matches from key cricket /sports events available on their sports channel which is available on DD Free Dish and attract audience towards shifting to pay tv platforms for continuing to watch sports events and many more things with excellent transmission and presentation quality. Also they should air all the Test Matches and other cricket/sports events which generate less viewership on DD Free Dishv as well as provide them for Free on Pay TV platforms to generate more viewership. Infact Test Matches being aired on DD Sports is a big plus for private broadcasters as for long there was a need to make it reach to a wider audience & above all make it available for Free or at less subscription price to create interest among viewers & get ratings, incase this drives up ratings then ad revenues will flow in.
Except premium niche events like F1, Wimbledon etc. all other sports properties should b aired by private broadcasters on DD Free Dish as well as on lower priced channels on pay tv platforms. These as such do not generate ad revenue then why not make it available to large audience base so that it increases the chances of ratings going up.

Earlier only ODI and T20s had national importance , now Test matches also come under national importance, then what is the use of pvt broadcasters buying the rights from other countries by spending crores and crores , and i haven't seen in my life time, no broadcaster went for rights for india matches, this is the first time (ind-WI series) , it clearly shows the frustration from pvt broadcasters, Sony haven't spent single penny in IPL , ICC and BCCI rights and still it didn't go wi rights.

BCCI rights too going for costly : Again it is because of test matches and now test also comes under national importance, we have to see how the pvt. broadcaster will handle / spend money on BCCI rights.

 

[RdX]

Big issue is Private broadcasters loosing Exclusive airing Tag.

 

[iDJ]

Earlier only ODI and T20s had national importance , now Test matches also come under national importance, then what is the use of pvt broadcasters buying the rights from other countries by spending crores and crores , and i haven't seen in my life time, no broadcaster went for rights for india matches, this is the first time (ind-WI series) , it clearly shows the frustration from pvt broadcasters, Sony haven't spent single penny in IPL , ICC and BCCI rights and still it didn't go wi rights.

BCCI rights too going for costly : Again it is because of test matches and now test also comes under national importance, we have to see how the pvt. broadcaster will handle / spend money on BCCI rights.

This is what most people fails to understand. Sharing anything with anyone is expensive. And there is clarity on what's National Importance and what is not. IMO there are many movies and documentaries which should be on national importance. I don't see them being shared by any broadcaster with DD.

 

[sathishbabu4u]

Exactly , this is started on 2002 when india toured pakistan, DD claimed it is historic tour , hence all the matches should be shared to DD.
After that DD started doing this for each match, series when ever india plays.
Now the ratings getting higher for cricket matches, DD wants pvt broadcaster to share the feed.
If india plays Australia cricket match is national importance means, same should applicable to hockey or football, DD not cares about other sports and wants share feed only for cricket matches even for test matches.

Note: When Aus toured India in 2001 (historic match at Kolkatta), the whole rights bought by DD , at that time DD moved DD sports into pay channel, and those matches blocked out on most of homes in india. DD national showed that match 1 hour in the morning and 1 hr in the evening only.

 

[somnath chakraborty]

Sony sports is strange broadcaster first they showed ind vs Ireland series which held in Ireland now
Aus pak Ireland women's tri series held in Ireland and New Zealand vs Ireland series bot showing by Sony sports

 

[vicky 1213]

Sony sports is strange broadcaster first they showed ind vs Ireland series which held in Ireland now
Aus pak Ireland women's tri series held in Ireland and New Zealand vs Ireland series bot showing by Sony sports

Ireland's cricket rights with fancode
Only India vs Ireland rights with sony bcz of Indian series

 

[dino29]

Earlier only ODI and T20s had national importance , now Test matches also come under national importance, then what is the use of pvt broadcasters buying the rights from other countries by spending crores and crores , and i haven't seen in my life time, no broadcaster went for rights for india matches, this is the first time (ind-WI series) , it clearly shows the frustration from pvt broadcasters, Sony haven't spent single penny in IPL , ICC and BCCI rights and still it didn't go wi rights.

BCCI rights too going for costly : Again it is because of test matches and now test also comes under national importance, we have to see how the pvt. broadcaster will handle / spend money on BCCI rights.

But where is the conflict? DD Sports will just air the matches on DD Free Dish and its terrestrial platform and private sports broadcasters will continue catering to pay tv platform audience . 75% of the ad revenue will b shared by DD with private sports broadcasters. Had this rule not been there then there would have been no telecast of these matches on DD Free Dish or terrestrial platform, now that it is happening so there is a gain for private sports broadcasters and not any loss.... Also general audience stands to benefit as many who do not have financial resources can watch favorite sports content.

When in the earlier system DD National aired all key sports events on sharing basis across all DTH / Cable platforms too that was surely not right and caused financial loss for private sports broadcasters but now there is no such issue.

I have already explained the reason why private sports broadcasters r not willing to acquire rights of West Indies, New Zealand Cricket etc. and DD Sports getting to air key sports events is not the reason for this.

Test Matches getting aired on FTA platform like DD Free Dish or Terrestrial Network is a blessing in disguise for private sports broadcasters.... They will surely take note of the fact that if Test Matches need to reach to wider audience then they need to air it for free or less priced channels which would drive up ratings and ad revenue. No point airing it on high priced sports channels with minimal viewership and few ads.

Even in UK public broadcaster gets to air all major sports events on sharing basis bcoz of the same fact that government of different countries do realise that each citizen should have access to important sports content irrespective of their financial background

 

[sathishbabu4u]

understood.
But my point is, rather than DD, an FTA channel will reach the content to entire nation.
The number of people using DD free dish is very less, it is not necessary poor ppl alone using DD free dish.
If am a village person, have local cable tv, my cable tv doesn't carry pvt. broadcaster channel and DD sports 2.0 is not allowed in cable tv, still am not able to view the national important event.
,

 

[royceferns2000]

Pvt broadcasters not going for WI, NZ rights sightings not good viewing timings for Indian audience.. Why no one going for Ire or Bangladesh rights.. Specially when Ire performing so well recently.

Zimbabwe rights also timings is suitable for Indian audience... So many Pvt broadcsters now apart from big ones Star, Sony and Viacom. Atleast small ones like Eurosport or 1Sports should go for one of them