TORONTO, April 15 /CNW/ - Asian Television Network International Limited
(ATN) (TSX-SAT) announced today that it has secured the exclusive Canadian
Broadcast Rights for five years (2008 to 2012) of the new Indian Premier
League (IPL).
"IPL is the most exciting new phenomena in World Cricket and we are
delighted to acquire the exclusive Canadian broadcast rights," said Shan
Chandrasekar, President and CEO of ATN, Canada's pioneer South Asian
Broadcaster. ATN is Canada's largest distributor of World Class Cricket
including the recently completed ICC World Cup and the Twenty-20 World Cup.
The IPL will debut on April 18, 2008. It is a tournament of elite
international players in a league of cricket games on par with the North
American (NHL) National Hockey League or the (NFL) -National Football League.
Top Bollywood stars are lending their support to the league's eight teams.
ATN will broadcast the 2008 games live on television on the Commonwealth
Broadcasting Network (CBN) and re-broadcast on ATN- Cricket Plus. The audio
commentary will be broadcast on ATN Asian Radio XM 159 across Canada and the
United States.
"We expect that the extraordinary combination of Cricket and Bollywood
stars will make a massive impact on our television viewers and radio
listeners," Mr. Chandrasekar added.
IPL players are of international World Cup stature and include such names
as Jacques Kallis, (South Africa), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, (West Indies),
Rahul Dravid (India) will play for Banglaore Royal Challengers. Muttiah
Muralitharan, (Sri Lanka), Matthew Hayden (Australia), Stephen Fleming, (New
Zealand), Mahendra Singh Dhoni, (India) will play for Chennai Super Kings.
Virender Sehwag ( India), Shoaib Malik, (Pakistan), Glen McGrath, (Australia),
will play for the Delhi Dare Devils. Andrew Symonds (Australia), Shahid
Afridi, (Pakistan), will play for the Deccan Chargers, Shane Warne,
(Australia), Grahme Smith, (South Africa), will play for the Rajasthan Royals.
Sourav Ganguly, (India), Chris Gayle, (West Indies), Ricky Ponting,
(Australia), will play for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Yuvrai Singh,( India),
Bret Lee, (Australia), will play for the Kings XI Punjab, and Sachin
Tendulkar, (India), Sanath Jayasuriya, (Sri Lanka), will play for the Mumbai
Indians. Many more International Star players have signed to play in this
exciting world class series.
Ownership of these new teams is an impressive mix of corporate India and
Bollywood interests who view the IPL as a serious business venture. Ownership
includes Reliance Industries, for instance, which paid $111.9 million USD for
Mumbai while the UB Group shelled out $111.6 million USD for Bangalore.
Chennai Super Kings is owned by India Cements The IPL will have the flair and
the flamboyance of Bollywood. Shah Rukh Khan paid $75.09 million USD for
Kolkatta. Preity Zinta took Mohali for $76 million USD. Emerging Media,
associated with Lachlan Murdoch, paid $67 million USD for Jaipur. The
international broadcasting rights for the IPL were sold for almost a billon US
dollars.
Bangalore Royal Challengers have also engaged actresses Katrina Kaif and
Deepika Padukone to record a music video to promote their Royal Challengers.
Hritik Roshan and Shahrukh Khan have shot music videos for their respective
teams that is Mumbai Indians and the Kolkatta Knight Riders. Whereas the Delhi
Dare Devils have roped in Akshay Kumar as their brand ambassador. In addition
India will experience their first North American style tailgate parties with
cheer leaders, song and dance by top Bollywood artists, all this before ,
during and after the game.
The 2008 Indian Premier League season will be the debut season,
established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2007 and
sanctioned by the ICC-International Cricket Council. Each year the season is
scheduled to have about 59 games. The league matches will be followed by two
semi-finals and a final match. The aim of the IPL is to broaden the appeal of
the game. Since matches will take place in the daytime EST the hope is that
families including women and children will tune in large numbers to watch this
new and very popular Twenty 20 format.
"We are very happy to bring Canadian cricket fans an exciting line-up of
matches as international and Indian cricket stars offer the very best in
Twenty 20 Cricket. For the first time you will have International players on
the same team," said Mr. Chandrasekar.
CBN and ATN-Cricket Plus are part of the 14 channels that ATN operates.
ATN also operates ATN Asian Radio on XM 159 the only Satellite Radio serving
North Americas South Asian Diaspora. ATN has programming alliances with
leading International Broadcasters. To subscribe to CBN, ATN-Cricket Plus or
ATN-Asian Radio and for more details about the cricket schedules and times of
live broadcast please visit www.asiantelevision.com or contact your local
service provider.
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this release. We rely on safe harbour provision.
For further information: B. Fulton, CFO, Asian Television Network
International Limited, Newmarket, Ontario, L3Y 5S9, (905) 836-6460
