MSM plans five-language IPL feed with Sony Kix

The channel, which will be used for airing Tamil & Telugu feeds of the tournament, will also have content in English & Hindi after the IPL

Multi Screen Media has announced the launch of a new sports channel Sony Kix. With the Indian Premier League under its belt, the network has decided to launch the new channel with the 2015 edition of the annual 20-20 cricket tournament.

The channel, which will be used for airing Tamil and Telugu feeds of the tournament, will also have content in English and Hindi after the IPL. Viewers can opt for either Tamil or Telugu commentary during the season. The pre- and post-match shows, however, will continue to be in Hinglish.

"In 2009, we started the Bengali feed of the IPL. So we have experience in multilingual feeds. With the FIFA 2014 World Cup, we strengthened the proposition and now, we will offer the IPL in five languages, English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu," said NP Singh, chief executive officer, MSM India.

GOING REGIONAL

• The channel, which will be used for airing Tamil & Telugu feeds of the tournament, will also have content in English & Hindi after the IPL
   
• Viewers can opt for either Tamil or Telugu commentary during the season
   
• The pre- and post-match shows, however, will continue to be in Hinglish
   
• The channel's launch with language feeds will help it roll out in the southern states, but the intention is to have pan-India distribution as soon as possible

Prasanna Krishnan, business head for Sony Six and Sony Six HD, will be heading the new sports channel as well. "After the IPL, we will continue to have football and fight sports tournaments on the channel. We are yet to take a call on which tournaments will go in which language, but the positioning of Sony Kix will be as a complementary channel to Sony Six. We want to provide consistent coverage of the various properties we have, and having a second sports channel will help us programme more efficiently," Singh said.

Singh added while acquiring properties the strategy would be to see how the event would add value to the network and then be allotted channels. The network already has rights to tournaments like National Football League, Glory World Series, Syed Modi International Badminton Championships 2015, Yonex Sunrise India Open 2015, Super Rugby, English Rugby Championship, Scottish Professional Football League and Race of Champions.

MSM will also be airing the second seasons of the World Kabaddi League and the Champions Tennis League, which may adopt the multilingual feed. The National Basketball Association games are a flagship property for Sony Six as well. Among the football tournaments, the network has rights to UEFA EURO 2016, Qualifiers for UEFA EURO 2016, European Qualifiers for FIFA World Cup 2018, and FIFA World Cup 2018. The Ultimate Fighting Championship  and the Australian Open are also aired on the network.

The channel's launch with language feeds will help it roll out in the southern states, but the intention is to have pan-India distribution as soon as possible.

One of the prohibitive factors for the business of sports broadcasting is the cost of acquiring telecast rights. However, Singh is optimistic on that front. "While I agree that cost of acquiring properties has shot through the roof, we believe in operating profitable channels. In line with this, we believe that Sony Kix will be able to achieve break-even in three years," he said.

IPL sponsorships
Despite launching the channel with IPL 2015, the network has sold inventory to sponsors and advertisers at a network level. This means the ad-sales team has gone to the market with all four channels as a package.

This year, the rates for the tournament have grown by 10-15 per cent over the 2014 edition. This means sponsors and advertisers have to shell out Rs 5.2-5.75 lakh for a 10-second spot on average.

"The sentiment towards cricket is positive after India's performance in the World Cup. We have seen a hike in advertising rates by around 15 per cent and most of the inventory is sold out. While e-commerce was the new category last year, this year, too, we have seen new sponsors coming on board," Singh said.

E-commerce continues to be a strong category, with entities like Magicbricks.com, Cardekho.com and Paytm coming on board as first-time sponsors.

Other newcomers include Raymonds, Hero, Vimal pan masala and Intex. Vodafone and Amazon continue as co-presenters for the tournament.