...But how long will they survive?
W
hen Neo Sports launched a channel dedicated to ‘cricket-only’ in October 2006, many questions were raised about the profitability of the venture. Yes! Cricket is India’s most ubiquitous religion and yes, bagging coveted domestic cricket rights was the right impetus, but having a channel exclusively for the sport had never happened before. Would viewers lap up 24X7 cricket? Apparently they did (Neo Sports achieved peak TVRs during the Challenger Series within a few weeks of its launch) and little surprise then that others are following suit.
Yes! Come June 2007 and viewers can enjoy another exclusively cricket channel from the stable of ESPN Star Sports, christened STAR Cricket. The impetus in this case: the sports giant has ICC global telecast rights till 2015. “With lots of cricket and other sporting properties with us, we decided to give the Indian fans the unmatchable joy of enjoying their cricket with the depth they would like to see. STAR Cricket will be the one stop destination of all the cricket action, history, updates, views and reviews,” said RC Venkateish, MD, ESPN Software India. So, does new player Neo Sports need to worry about the entry of well-entrenched ESPN- Star in this niche?
Here’s what Shashi Kalathil, CEO, Neo Sports Broadcast has to say: “Cricket centric channels exist basis depth of cricket rights, where both ESPN and Neo have substantial muscle. Given the nature of our rights, Neo is more India focused as illustrated by Neo’s tagline, Home of Indian Cricket.” All very well, but with India’s sad debacle in the World Cup 2007 one wonders at the timing of it all. Ah but cricket buffs will have at least something to keep them hooked all day and marketers too are invited, as the niche channels give them yet another high-value property to ride on. After all as Pepsi, Surf Excel and others claim:
agla World Cup hum layenge!
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
W
hen Neo Sports launched a channel dedicated to ‘cricket-only’ in October 2006, many questions were raised about the profitability of the venture. Yes! Cricket is India’s most ubiquitous religion and yes, bagging coveted domestic cricket rights was the right impetus, but having a channel exclusively for the sport had never happened before. Would viewers lap up 24X7 cricket? Apparently they did (Neo Sports achieved peak TVRs during the Challenger Series within a few weeks of its launch) and little surprise then that others are following suit.Yes! Come June 2007 and viewers can enjoy another exclusively cricket channel from the stable of ESPN Star Sports, christened STAR Cricket. The impetus in this case: the sports giant has ICC global telecast rights till 2015. “With lots of cricket and other sporting properties with us, we decided to give the Indian fans the unmatchable joy of enjoying their cricket with the depth they would like to see. STAR Cricket will be the one stop destination of all the cricket action, history, updates, views and reviews,” said RC Venkateish, MD, ESPN Software India. So, does new player Neo Sports need to worry about the entry of well-entrenched ESPN- Star in this niche?
Here’s what Shashi Kalathil, CEO, Neo Sports Broadcast has to say: “Cricket centric channels exist basis depth of cricket rights, where both ESPN and Neo have substantial muscle. Given the nature of our rights, Neo is more India focused as illustrated by Neo’s tagline, Home of Indian Cricket.” All very well, but with India’s sad debacle in the World Cup 2007 one wonders at the timing of it all. Ah but cricket buffs will have at least something to keep them hooked all day and marketers too are invited, as the niche channels give them yet another high-value property to ride on. After all as Pepsi, Surf Excel and others claim:
agla World Cup hum layenge!
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
