ESS acquires the telecast rights for Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament

Televisionpoint.com Team
ESPN STAR Sports, India’s leading sports network, has acquired exclusive telecast rights for the 14th Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament to be held in Kuala Lumpur starting, Thursday, May 26, 2005. The broadcaster has entered into a 4-year agreement with Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) for the broadcast rights of the premier hockey tournament.

India will open their Azlan Shah Hockey campaign with a match against South Africa on the first day of the seven-nation tournament on May 26. Apart from India, Australia, Pakistan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Africa will compete in the round-robin format of the tournament that ends with the final on June 5. The tournament will kick off with a match between Pakistan and New Zealand. The much-anticipated India-Pakistan encounter will take place on June 1.

ESPN STAR Sports has made special arrangements to enhance viewer interest during the LIVE telecast of the tournament. There will be special Hindi commentary with expert comments from Jagbir Singh, former Assistant Coach of the Indian hockey team. Jagbir played an important role of familiarizing viewers with rules of hockey during the PHL telecast. Jagbir’s style of demystifying strategies of various teams was well appreciated by viewers and game analysts alike. Along with Partho Mukherjee and Darian Shahidi, Jagbir will be back for commentary on the Azlan Shah tournament and special 30-minute pre and post-match analysis shows.

Announcing the acquisition of the major hockey tournament, R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, said, "We are delighted to have picked up the broadcasting rights for the prestigious Azlan Shah Cup. With the entertaining telecast of PHL, we have proven the excitement, which can be added to hockey with localization. Viewers can expect a similarly entertaining treatment for the Azlan Shah matches as well. After the telecast of India-Pakistan 'Dosti’ series, India-Spain and PHL, this is a major hockey tournament viewers will be able to watch on our channels. We will continue to add value to our hockey coverage as we have done with our cricket telecast."

According to the President of Malaysian Hockey Federation, Duli-Yang-Teramat-Mulia Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, "It is our pleasure to be associated with the leading sports broadcaster of the region. ESPN STAR Sports has taken hockey broadcast to a completely new level with the recent experiment of PHL. We expect nothing less for the Azlan Shah Cup also and we are confident that the popularity of Azlan Shah Cup Hockey will only grow with this association."

Nurazmi Haji Ahmad, Chairman, Media & Sponsorship Committee, Malaysian Hockey Federation, said, "We are glad that ESPN STAR Sports will showcase 'LIVE’ 23 out of 24 matches of the tournament. This will be the first time that audience in India will be able to catch LIVE action from so many matches of the Azlan Shah Cup Hockey."

In the previous edition, India had finished last while Australia won the title. Pakistan was the losing finalist and South Korea bagged the bronze. With the game of hockey gaining popularity and other important tournaments round the corner, Azlan Shah is bound to attract viewer attention.

ESPN STAR Sports is committed to promoting hockey. Last year, ESPN STAR Sports showcased 'LIVE’ India-Pakistan and India-Spain test series. This was followed by the broadcasters’ successful foray into Premier Hockey League. The month long Hockey fiesta, ended on February 13, 2005 with a resounding victory for the hosts - Hyderabad Sultans. Brainchild of IHF, ESPN STAR Sports and Leisure Sports Management (LSM), PHL took an astounding 3 years of research. ESPN STAR Sports played an important role of marketing, producing and broadcasting PHL, to which the broadcaster is committed for ten years.

Aimed at reviving the popularity of hockey, PHL definitely achieved its aim as it took cricket crazy India by storm and made everybody take notice of an international class domestic hockey tournament being organized in India. The level of the hockey, played under floodlights, baffled every body. New innovative rule format made the game faster as well as interesting. This was reflected in the high ratings that ESPN STAR Sports received for PHL.

PHL garnered credible ratings across the country. Orissa saw PHL ratings touching a high of 3.0 while Punjab (1 Mn+ markets) returned with an impressive high of 3.4 The 1Mn+ towns of Gujarat & Maharashtra, peaked at 2.4 & 1.9 respectively. In north India, ratings reached a high of 1.0 in Delhi, 3.9 in UP (1 Mn+ towns). Hyderabad reached a high of 1.1 for the Sultans match while Mumbai registered a high of 0.8 for the Maratha Warriors match.