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

[IMprabhu7193]

Will Upcoming Srilanka Tour of Newzeland Series live telecast on TV In India ? Is there any chances..

Only on TV if India tours New Zealand.

 

[Atharv Patil]

Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid is live on MTV

 

[iDJ]

Buddy, Star Sports did try many new things be it Dugout on TV or on the app too they brought in many features for fans to interact or react...there were contest, quizzes too. Infact on Hotstar one could access real time performance data of players and various other things. 4K streaming was even tried by Star Sports for events like CLT20 or even ICC World Cup but it did not generate much interest, as i have said 4K has niche appeal and may prove to be successful on OTT but i am unsure if high investment it requires can be recovered easily unless premium subscription fee is charged by the platform.
Also not to forget it was Star Sports which started to air IPL in dedicated regional sports channels with customised pre/post match shows, previously Sony just provided multi audio feeds on a single channel but scorecards , pre/post match shows were in English/Hindi....Also i believe implemented this too quite late and it was not available for all matches.

I was strictly referring to Hotstar. Fans interactive was nothing but ability to post emoticons and flags. You could post some messages. 99% users opted not too. It's not unique to IPL. It's available on all cricket matches.

Quiz option made zero sense. Picture-in-Picture was not available. You got to watch the match on Hotstar itself to answer to the question than also on vertical mode. You would either waste data by watching the match on TV and stream on Hotstar consecutively. Or face inconvenience streaming match on Hotstar as 70% screenspace is given tp quiz.

During pandemic they got some odd 20-30 fans interaction which was nothing but people waving on skype.

Coming to regional pre-show and post-show it meant nothing to Hotstar users when streaming was limited to FHD in the day and age of 8K after paying a premium price for both Internet connectivity and an expensive Hotstar plan.

That's nonsense saying there is no demand for 4K when you are streaming non popular sports content. If there was no demand they wouldn't have re-uploaded their library again in 4K quality. Just watch any Disney and Marvel content.

 

[Atharv Patil]

1 sports channel available in any dth or cable ???

 

[vikhyath]

1 sports channel available in any dth or cable ???

Available on Airtel, DishTV, D2H & TataPlay. No idea about availability on Cable.

 

[dino29]

I was strictly referring to Hotstar. Fans interactive was nothing but ability to post emoticons and flags. You could post some messages. 99% users opted not too. It's not unique to IPL. It's available on all cricket matches.

Quiz option made zero sense. Picture-in-Picture was not available. You got to watch the match on Hotstar itself to answer to the question than also on vertical mode. You would either waste data by watching the match on TV and stream on Hotstar consecutively. Or face inconvenience streaming match on Hotstar as 70% screenspace is given tp quiz.

During pandemic they got some odd 20-30 fans interaction which was nothing but people waving on skype.

Coming to regional pre-show and post-show it meant nothing to Hotstar users when streaming was limited to FHD in the day and age of 8K after paying a premium price for both Internet connectivity and an expensive Hotstar plan.

That's nonsense saying there is no demand for 4K when you are streaming non popular sports content. If there was no demand they wouldn't have re-uploaded their library again in 4K quality. Just watch any Disney and Marvel content.

Buddy every platform or broadcaster takes decision weighing in demand and business viability of the decision. Anyways i have already answered the points u have raised and what Disney-Star did and what they skipped alongwith proper reasoning so won't repeat it again.

You may send ur feedback to them or their channel head and they shall certainly look upon improving viewing experience in near future.

4K has limited appeal even on OTT and will not be succesfull as far as TV Channels is concerned. Broadcasters/ Platforms will take a call to stream content in 4K based on popularity and if investment done can be recovered or not. Please don't compare uploading movies in 4K vs streaming live sports in 4K, both have altogether different business dynamics at play. When u live stream popular content with millions watching it then it requires platforms to opt for an option wherein minimal load is created on server and best streaming experience is provided to viewers be it those watching on low or average speed internet plans or ones on high end broadband plans. All things have to be fit in way where broadcasters do not go overbudget in spending thus adversely impacting its profit margins or ability to recover investment. 4K has extremely limited appeal , 8K won't ever be used in India for live streaming of sports atleast for next 10 years....handful of people have Large screen 4K TV let alone 8K ones....for small screen or mobiles or other handheld devices Full HD support is enough.

Lastly having customised pre/post match shows in regional languages alingwith tailor made graphics do hold immense significance / importance for viewers. Ofcourse launching a full fledged regional sports channel on TV or not is a decision taken based on financial viability of it but sports broadcasters do make sure to atleast provide audio feeds on their sports channels so as to attract more regional audience towards watching specific events

 

[somnath chakraborty]

1 sports channel available in any dth or cable ???

 

[somnath chakraborty]

 

[iDJ]

4K has limited appeal even on OTT and will not be succesfull as far as TV Channels is concerned. Broadcasters/ Platforms will take a call to stream content in 4K based on popularity and if investment done can be recovered or not. Please don't compare uploading movies in 4K vs streaming live sports in 4K, both have altogether different business dynamics at play. When u live stream popular content with millions watching it then it requires platforms to opt for an option wherein minimal load is created on server and best streaming experience is provided to viewers be it those watching on low or average speed internet plans or ones on high end broadband plans. All things have to be fit in way where broadcasters do not go overbudget in spending thus adversely impacting its profit margins or ability to recover investment. 4K has extremely limited appeal , 8K won't ever be used in India for live streaming of sports atleast for next 10 years....handful of people have Large screen 4K TV let alone 8K ones....for small screen or mobiles or other handheld devices Full HD support is enough.

You need to go out and see. 4K TVs are extremely affordable now. What's suprising is they had 4K content when 4K TVs use to cost over 2 lakhs? Now you get same from ₹30,000 onwards. Were they broadcasters dumb to air 4K content in 2015? What dumb strategy did they follow when people even upper middle-class couldn't afford 4K?

8K live sports will be available in India as soon as 8K devices are available to masses in the market. Remember Jio owns Olympics rights not some outdated company?

Sony's shows will be available on Sony Liv 4K soon. They are already testing it. Proving your theory being wrong. Also Amazon is live streaming all sporting events available in 4K.

Source
1. Pricing of 4K TV in 2015.
Best 4K TVs to watch 2015 Cricket World Cup on

2. 4K quality of SET's shows.

Discussion - Sony LIV App & Website - News & Updates

Zee5 and Sony Liv merging into one app ? Yes high chance

onlytech.com

 

[dino29]

You need to go out and see. 4K TVs are extremely affordable now. What's suprising is they had 4K content when 4K TVs use to cost over 2 lakhs? Now you get same from ₹30,000 onwards. Were they broadcasters dumb to air 4K content in 2015? What dumb strategy did they follow when people even upper middle-class couldn't afford 4K?

8K live sports will be available in India as soon as 8K devices are available to masses in the market. Remember Jio owns Olympics rights not some outdated company?

Sony's shows will be available on Sony Liv 4K soon. They are already testing it. Proving your theory being wrong. Also Amazon is live streaming all sporting events available in 4K.

Source
1. Pricing of 4K TV in 2015.
Best 4K TVs to watch 2015 Cricket World Cup on

2. 4K quality of SET's shows.

Discussion - Sony LIV App & Website - News & Updates

Zee5 and Sony Liv merging into one app ? Yes high chance

onlytech.com

Back then they charged premium subscription for the 4K feed which was made available for ICC Cricket World Cup but same did not yield success. Even earlier such subscription driven HD channels like Star World Premiere HD or HBO Premium HD Channels failed to garner desired subscriber base or revenue. Hence that strategy has proven to not work in India for TV broadcast

As i have said 4K has a very minute appeal among the people. Even those buying cheaper 4K TV sets which would be of 42 inch or max 50 inches still would be lot lower in comparison to those buying affordable mid range Full HD or HD Ready TV sets. Full HD transmission for Upto 42 or even 50 inches TV is sufficient for TV broadcast, there is no such demand for 4K and as i have said 4K transmission costs a lot so financially it is not a viable option unless there is a sizeable audience base which is tuning into it and willing to pay premium subscription fee for it...as audience base is less so as such advertisers too may not be willing to buy ad slots on such channels / feeds even if it is made available and driven by both subscription + ad revenue.

Jio can bring in innovations in live sports broadcast or streaming and invest lots of money in it but ultimately they will at some point stop absorbing losses and revert back to a strategy which is balanced on financial front and at the same time provides best possible experience to viewers on TV as well as OTT front.

Issue is not whether broadcasters can implement / adopt new technologies or transmission standards...ofcourse they can but what matters is that if the same investment can be recovered or not. You may disagree but 4K will take long time to be widely available for TV broadcast of key events and there is high possibility that it may well not happen in near future too like in many advanced countries it has failed to become a popular phenomenon, in India HD is still not having mass adoption let alone 4K. On OTT, yes we may get certain sports events streamed in 4K and many movies/ shows will also be made available in this format but on TV/Linear front this won't be happening barring few exceptions.

Those buying 4K smart TV can access 4L content via OTT platforms for whichever content it is made available, OTT transmission is also somewhat less costly for companies/broadcasters as compared to satellite / TV broadcast where there is high running costs involved or even other expenditures like licence fee, uplink fee etc......thus on OTT platforms companies/broadcasters have more legroom to do innovations and spend more to improve the overall viewing experience and even effectively cater to the target audience base