Sony back in cricket telecast game....

Set India CEO Kunal Dasgupta is back to doing what he loves even more than the movies – playing the cricket broadcast game. The man who blindsided ESS in 2002 with an audacious $ 208 million sweep on seven-year ICC rights for the Indian subcontinent, that too when News Corp owned the global rights, has made a fresh cricket play.

Set India has secured New Zealand cricket telecast rights for the next four years. Sony’s winning bid: $ 50 million.

That makes three boards – England, Australia (both with ESPN Star Sports) and New Zealand – where telecast rights have been secured for the next four-five years. Which leaves Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa and Zimbabwe that remain to be locked into long term deals.

Queried as to whether Sony would be bidding for any of these boards as and when they opened up, Dasgupta replied in the affirmative. That’s not all. The way the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup has caught the fancy of viewers has got the portly Set India CEO more than interested. “We will also be bidding for the BCCI’s Indian Premier League and the Champions Twenty20 League,” Dasgupta asserts.

The Indian Premier League (IPL), structured as a franchisee-based Twenty20 Series, is scheduled to kick off in April 2008. The final leg of the competition, which will be run by the four cricket boards of India, England, Australia and South Africa, is called ‘Champions Twenty20 League’ and will be held in October 2008.

Sony’s acquisition of the New Zealand cricket rights harks back to what the broadcaster did in the late ’90s, wherein it had the rights to Sri Lanka cricket. It may also be recalled that when Max launched as a cricket and movies channel in 1999, it had the Sharjah rights as its key cricketing property.

Source: Indianpad.com
Compiled by:Saurav Chakraborty

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NDTV Good Times: A new lifestyle channel

On Wednesday, 30th.August.2007, NDTV announced the launch of its new channel 'NDTV Good Times'. It will be a free to air channel from September 7.

It's India's first Lifestyle Channel targeting the global, urban India. The channel is a tie up between NDTV and the Kingfisher brand and hopes to leverage NDTV's broadcasting and programming expertise with Kingfisher's lifestyle appeal.

The channel will have wide range of shows on health, food, fitness, leisure, fashion, travel, technology besides shows on relationships and family. The channel is targeted at viewers in the age group of 20-40 years, belonging to SEC A.The channel is in English and it is positioned as an aspirational product for viewers. It will mould programming specific to the Indian context. It claims to have at least 50-60 programmes per week to cater to the taste of its target audience. The genres include food, late night chat shows, relationships, travelling, cooking, tech and gadget shows, Indian weddings, parenting, pet care, parties, health and wellness and fashion cars and motor bikes.

Some of the well-known personalities who will host shows on the channel include actor Rajat Kapoor, TV chef Manju Malhi, who is said to be Britain’s new Madhur Jaffrey, tech guru Rajiv Makhni, cocktail specialist Shatbhi Basu, Arun Thapar of ‘Chupa Rustam’ fame and spa expert Devika Anand.

The logo of the channel has ‘NDTV Good Times’ written inside a square, red box, with the UB Group’s Kingfisher bird woven in on the top left corner.

Equus Red Cell is promoting the channel in the media. The promos for the channel are already running on NDTV network channels such as NDTV 24x7, NDTV India and NDTV Profit. Apart from television, NDTV Good Times is looking at innovations in outdoor advertising, print, event promotions and very largely through the Internet and mobile media.

Compiled by:
Saurav Chakraborty

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India Wins the "ONGC Nehru Cup 2007"...

A packed house cheered India to a rare international football title here on Wednesday,29th August, night with the home team taming Syria by a lone first-half goal in the ONGC Nehru Cup tournament.

Baichung Bhutia did not score, but paved the way for a priceless strike by N. P. Pradeep in the 44th minute. It should, however, be recorded that India owed the triumph immensely to an impeccable performance under the bar by Subrata Paul. His anticipation in cutting off Syria’s aerial forays was the most striking feature of the contest.

The Indians matched the Syrians in every aspect of the game — speed, control, aggression and tactics. Pace was furious but the match suffered in quality once the Syrians adopted needless rough tactics, especially to unsettle Bhutia and Sunil Chettri.

The goal by Pradeep was just the tonic Indian football needed. Chettri initiated the move, found Bhutia, who could not finish the job but an overlapping Pradeep slotted the loose ball in with a flourish that epitomized the team’s regal march to the title.

Syria, ranked 39 places above India,had one last chance in injury time but Jenyat shot wide. India should have been up by another goal but Dias made a hash of a spectacular square pass by Bhutia. In the end, the misses did not count.


Before the tournament, there were two teams ranked higher than India on the FIFA charts, but the team was never short of confidence and skipper Bhaichung Bhutia had declared that "there was a very realistic chance of India winning the title."

However, not many gave the hosts much of a chance against the pedigree of the West Asians and the superior physique of the men from Kyrgyzstan. But they wanted the trophy the most.

India received the winners` prize of USD 40,000 while the Syrians had to settle for half that amount.

There was further windfall for the Indians as ONGC announced a 100 per cent bonus for them. Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit chipped in with Rs five lakh while All India Football Federation announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh.

The Indians reserved their best performance for the final and prevailed in a contest that often reached boiling point. The match featured several yellow cards and the Syrians had to play the entire second half with 10 men.

The Indians reserved their best performance for the final and prevailed in a contest that often reached boiling point. The match featured several yellow cards and the Syrians had to play the entire second half with 10 men.

There was no space left inside the floodlit Ambedkar Stadium with the 16,000 Indian supporters and a handful of Syrians making for a spectacular setting. Apart from the odd incident of bottle-throwing, there was no unsavoury scenes.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somanth Chaterjee later called up Bhutia to congratulate the team for the triumph. President Pratibha Patil also congratulated the Indian team for its outstanding performance.

Compiled By:
Saurav Chakraboty

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Hutch Delhi Half Marathon 2007

The Hutch Delhi half marathon will be held here on October 28, two weeks later than the last two editions.An increase of $10,000 in prize money was announced for the Hutch Delhi half marathon to be held here on October 28, 2007.

The countdown for the Delhi half marathon began with Reebok signing as the sportswear and training partner for the run.

Besides being the official sportswear supplier, Reebok will be actively involved in imparting training to the desirous runners in all aspects of marathon running.

Under the programme Reebok Instructor Alliance, which has over 900 certified trainer across the country, a three-day workshop was organised to educate the trainers about distance running and related aspects such as endurance and cross training, diet and nutrition, injury prevention and treatment, running kit and health issues.

Distance running expert Ian Ladbrooke and two elite Kenyan athletes, Catherine Mutwa and Zak Kihara, conducted the workshop for 50 certified trainers that ended on Monday.

These trainers in turn will train interested people in becoming more accomplished distance runners.

The prize money for this year now stands at $1,60,000. The organisers also announced that they would attempt to double the amount to be raised for charities on the occasion of the half marathon.

The Hutch half marathon, in its third edition, has now become a popular event in the Capital. More than 30,000 people are expected to participate in the event, including the Great Delhi run and the senior citizens run. The age limit for the open category will be 18 years and above while that for the veterans category it will be 45 years and above. The senior veterans category will be for men of 55 years and above and women of 50 years and above. A wheelchair event over 4.3km will also be held.

The entry fee for Indians will be Rs. 200 for the half marathon and Great Delhi run, and Rs. 100 for senior citizens. Overseas participants will be expected to pay $30 for the half marathon and $20 for the senior citizens run.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President, Suresh Kalmadi, said that the half marathon was a perfect build-up for the multi-discipline games Delhi was gearing up to host in the near future.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Secretary, Lalit Bhanot, will be the race director.

Register Yourself For Hutch Delhi Half Marathon at below given link:
http://hdhm.indiatimes.com

Compiled by:
Saurav Chakraborty

Chak De India....

Chak De India is surely one of this month’s most anticipated films. The Shah Rukh Khan - Yash Raj combo surely cann’t fail. Or can it? Recently Yash Raj Films has been going thorugh quite a bad patch with their two releases this year, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Ta Ra Rum Pum not doing that well at the box office.

Chak De India is based on the real life story of an Indian hockey legend Negi, who was charged with match fixing allegations in 1982 when India lost to Pakistan in the Asian Games, New Delhi. Negi was later called back to coach the Indian Women Hockey team. The women’s team, under Negi’s guidance, won gold in 2002 Common Wealth Games.

Shahrukh Khan, who plays the coach’s role in the movie, along with director Shimit Amin, did a lot of research before doing the role. He also spent a lot of time with Negi to understand the character better.

I know all Bollywood fans are waiting with bated breathe for Chak De India to release. So remember the date is August 10th, book your tickets in advance as there is going to be a big rush !!!!

Compiled by: Saurav Chakraborty
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Is global warming destroying Mount Everest?

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to successfully summit Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth. Now their sons are warning the world about the damage that global warming is doing to the mountain, one of world's most spectacular natural wonders. Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing, in an interview with British newspaper The Independent, lamented that global warming is radically altering the appearance, ecology and climate of Mount Everest and the surrounding area of Tibet. Inaction, they warn, could lead to an environmental disaster.

Peter Hillary said that base camp at Everest has slid from an elevation of 5,320 meters, when his father climbed Everest, to 5,280 meters and continues to sink each year. The younger Hillary, who has scaled Everest twice, also warned of the effects of glacial lakes bursting. Glacial lakes that fill up with too much water can breach their natural barriers -- which themselves are frequently made of ice -- unleashing a massive flood. (We recently wrote about a lake in Chile that disappeared because of the same effect.)

In the case of Mount Everest and the surrounding area, tens of thousands of people may be at risk. Forty thousand Sherpas live at the base of the mountain. Already there are 9,000 glacial lakes in the Himalayas, 200 of which face possible glacial outburst floods. A similar flood in 1985 created a torrent of 10 million cubic meters of water. Most of a village, including a local power station, was swept away, with some people and debris ending up 55 miles away. Some lakes now exist that are 20 times the size of the one that burst in 1985. When talking to The Independent, Peter Hillary compared the effects of a glacial outburst flood to an atomic bomb.

If current patterns keep up, most of the glaciers covering the Himalayas could melt within the next 50 years; 80 percent will be gone within 30 years. Some of these glaciers are three miles long. Mount Everest would then appear as an enormous peak of mostly exposed rock with limited areas of ice. The glacier used as Hillary and Norgay's original base camp has moved three miles in 20 years while others have disappeared entirely. Overall, glaciers in the area receded 74 meters in 2006, up from 42 meters a year between 1961 and 2001. The effects are already pronounced: climbers are warned to be on the lookout for rockslides and avalanches caused by increased snowmelt.

Beyond the effects on the immediate area, the glaciers of the Himalayas have worldwide importance. These glaciers contain 40 percent of the world's fresh water, feed nine large rivers and provide one-sixth of the world's drinking water. The fluctuations in the local water supply have caused desertification in some areas, which makes it difficult for farmers to irrigate their crops. Large rivers have appeared in some areas where they did not exist before (and at the expense of other streams).

The global warming claims of Hillary and Norgay are supported by a climate study conducted by an international team of scientists in association with the French Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The study, published in early 2007, confirmed that global warming is adversely affecting Mount Everest. Additionally, many Tibetan people, Sherpas, guides and frequent visitors to the area relate stories of glaciers and ice features such as serac forests -- huge columns of ice formed by glaciers -- disappearing or retreating to higher altitudes.

Compiled by: Saurav Chakraborty