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It’s marketing
time for Abdulrahman Bukhatir-promoted TV channel TEN Sports. Having
bagged the World Cup Football 2002 telecast rights for the Indian
subcontinent, though the company hasn’t made an announcement
yet, TEN Sports is trying to ensure that it’s seen in as many
cable homes in India as possible.
As a strong
marketing initiative, TEN Sports flew around 50 independent cable
operators this week to UAE for the Sharjah Cup cricket final. Say
cable operators, who were given this free trip, that it came as
a prize after a lucky draw.
But admits programming
and events vice-president of TEN Sports Peter Hutton that it’s
a marketing exercise for the channel.
On whether the
free trip to Sharjah for cable operators was a way to market TEN
Sports, Hutton told: “Yes, we are clearly marketing the channel
aggressively to the cable operators.” He added: “The fact
that the company has its own cricket events in Sharjah and Morocco,
allows us to create some good corporate entertainment for those
cable operators that support us.” The channel is planning other
awareness campaigns also.
For instance,
around the end of this month, it is scheduled to invite some of
the WWF participants and organise events with them in several cities
including Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. TEN Sports feels the need
to intensify its marketing efforts as its penetration into cable
homes is quite low at present.
As per company
estimates, TEN Sports is seen in around 8 million cable homes in
the country out of a total of 38 million cable homes. With little
over a month to go for the World Cup Football 2002, it’s on
an overdrive to increase the numbers. According to sources, TEN
Sports is looking at a threefold jump by the time World Cup Football
starts. It’s hoping to reach around 24 million to 25 million
cable homes by June! That’s big numbers. But the channel is
already cashing in on its World Cup Football advantage. In fact,
within a week of announcing the launch of TEN Sports in India as
a free-to-air channel, it decided to go pay, after realising that
it was the frontrunner in the bid for World Cup Football 2002.
Marketing initiatives
apart, one sees similarities with other channels here. If TEN Sports
is using the World Cup Football as its trump card now, so did Doordarshan’s
sport channel DD Sports in September 2000. Just before Sydney Olympics,
DD Sports, which had the rights to telecast the Games, the channel
went pay. Also, after acquiring the Cricket World Cup rights recently,
Sony Entertainment Television has indicated a hike in its bouquet
price.
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