Espn In Pact With Star For One-Day Cricket Telecast

Star Sports and ESPN have decided to join hands and give sports fans a new years gift.

Accordingly, some of the one-day matches in the triangular cricket series, to be played in South Africa, will be telecast on ESPN too.

Originally, Star Sports had bagged the telecast rights of the matches of the Safari series in South Africa at a huge but undisclosed amount.

The high economics of acquiring telecast rights of sporting events in Asia has resulted in the formation of ESPN-Star Sports, a 50:50 joint venture company to be managed by the two sports channels, who had been earlier competing with each other. As a result, all programming rights on ESPN and Star Sports will now be held by this new company.

When contacted by Business Standard in Singapore, a source in the joint venture company said,

The details of the telecast of some of the one-day matches of the triangular series in South Africa on ESPN will be taken within a week.

However, the source was not forthcoming on whether ESPN will telecast the one-day matches to be played between South Africa, India and Zimbabwe on an exclusive basis, or there will be a simultaneous telecast on Star Sports too.

How will the Indias tour of West Indies later this year will be split up between Star Sports and ESPN has also not been decided.

ESPN holds the exclusive rights of that series.

Probably, in cases of Test matches, the highlights will be aired on the other channel in case of deals concluded before the joint venture company came into existence, the source added.

Late last year, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star TV had decided to call truce with ESPN, a sports channel belonging to the Disney media group, in Asia.