UAE's T10 League appoints Sony TV as Broadcast Partner for three years

Sport360 staff 12:03 16/10/2018
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  • Shahid Afridi dives for his ground in the 2017 T10

    T10 League, the world’s first 10-over international professional cricket league that is licensed by Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), has appointed Sony Pictures Networks as their broadcast partners for South Asia, Middle East and North Africa for three years from its Second Season that takes place from November 21 till December 2, 2018.

    The T10 League matches will be telecast live through Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD in India, Ten Sports in Pakistan, Ten Cricket in Middle East and North Africa. It will also be streamed on SonyLIV.

    “We are delighted to have Sony Pictures Networks as our broadcast partners for Indian Sub-continent and Middle East and North Africa from 2018 edition for three years,” said Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman of T10 League.

    “This allows us to take the league to a much-wider audience across the region and help us promote the format and grow year-on-year.

    “The deal will help popularise the T10 League fast and we are investing a lot of resources to ensure that the ten-over format franchise cricket movement spread across the cricketing world fast. Sony TV and Ten Sports will not only live telecast the league matches, but will feature a number of T10 League activities that we have lined up for its viewers.”

    The 2018 edition scheduled to start from November 21 and spread over 12 days, will have 29 matches as compared to a 4-day event in 2017. To meet this new challenge and also to keep the event clean, the T10 League management has made many positive changes to bolster the execution and operations of the 2018 T10 League tournament.

    Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer, distribution and head – Sports and Business at Sony Pictures Networks, said, “We are committed to providing an unparalleled sports viewing experience to sports fans in India. The T10 League has already captured the interest of viewers because of its fast-paced format.

    “The second edition has an impressive line-up of players from across the word which is sure to engage viewers who are looking for the best in sports entertainment.”

    This year, two teams – The Karachians and Northern Warriors – have been added to the list of the earlier six teams. This will expand the support and fan base of the T10 League.

    Eight teams – Kerala Kings, Punjab Legends, Maratha Arabians, Bengal Tigers, The Karachians, Rajputs, Northern Warriors and Pakhtoons – have been drawn in to two groups to fight it out in the 2nd Season of T10 League – that takes place at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium from November 21 to December 2, 2018.

    The T10 League is live telecast in the GCC, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom and the United States – followed by millions of fans – watching the actions of some of the most popular cricket stars, such as Shane Watson, Shahid Afridi, Eoin Morgan, Rasheed Khan, Shoeb Malik, Sunil Narine, Darren Sammy, among many others.

    Sony Pictures Networks (SPN), a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, was formed only to run its television broadcasting business. But since then, it has been diversified. The group includes SPN Productions and SPN Distribution as subsidiaries.

    The company is responsible of managing Sony’s television channels division in India, such as SETSony TenAXN and its sister networks. It was founded in India in October 1995 as Multi Screen Media.

    Sony entered into the Indian sports TV market in 2002 after acquiring the licence rights for ICC matches from 2003 to 2007, which were broadcast on SET and Sony Max.

    In 2008, along with Singapore-based World Sport Group, it won the broadcast rights for Indian Premier League (IPL) matches for 10 years for more than US$1 billion. In April 2012, it launched its first sports channel Sony Six.

    In October 2015, it partnered with ESPN to launch another sports channel, named Sony ESPN. On 31 August 2016, it acquired the Ten Sports networks from Zee Entertainment Enterprises for a deal worth US$385 million (Dh1.4 billion).

    SPN reported an increase of Rs978.691 crore (Dhs 488 million) in revenue from operations from the year 2016. Revenue from operations in FY 2017 was Dhs 2.48 billion compared to previous year, which was Dhs 1.99 billion.

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