VIDEO: Ten Sports Promo of Celebrity Charity Football Match - ASFC vs AHFC

Here is the Ten Sports promo ahead of showing tomorrow at 9pm IST the highlights of the Celebrity Charity Football Match played between Bollywood Stars (All Stars FC) and Cricketers (All Hearts FC) on March 30 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

VIDEO: Mohun Bagan 3-2 Air India - Goals!

Mohun Bagan yesterday won a thriller 3-2 against Air India at the Kalyani Municipal Stadium. Here the video of all five goals from the match.

VIDEO: Prayag United 4-1 Pailan Arrows - Goals!

Yesterday Prayag United SC scored an impressive 4-1 victory against the young Pailan Arrows at the Kalyani Municipal Stadium. Here come all the five goals!

VIDEO: Churchill Brothers SC 2-1 Pune FC - Goals!

Here are the goals from yesterday's top I-League clash between Churchill Brothers SC and Pune FC at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco, which Churchill Brothers won 2-1 and moved closer to regaining the title.

FICCI GOAL 2013: Me moderating session on Reconceptualizing of Indian League system: Club vs City Franchisee!

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will organise its first-ever FICCI GOAL 2013 - India Football, which will be an International Convention on Football Business on February 14/15 at Federation House on Tansen Marg in New Delhi.

I have been asked to moderate the second panel session titled 'Reconceptualizing of Indian League system: Club vs City Franchisee'. And I really look forward to it as it is a decisive question about where our league football could be heading in the years to come.

The brief about the session says, "After the success of IPL in cricket, it has been proven that Indians like city based league system but what is going to be the future of historic Football Clubs in India. What kind of league model should Indian football follow - MLS/IPL model or Club/EPL model? This session will discuss taking football to the masses."

Confirmed participants of the session are Sunando Dhar (CEO, I-League), Atul Pande (CEO, Ten Sports), Nandan Piramal (Chairman of Pune FC), Shirish Kulkari, (Chairman of DSK Shivajians) and Yajurvindra Singh Bilkha (Head Corporate Events and Sports, Tata Consultancy Services).


Other Sessions over the two days will include a wide range of topics concerning Indian football. Here an overview

- Football in Asia: Opportunities for India with focus on youth development

- Joining the dots of AIFF Lakshya 2022 & IMG-RIL 2026 Vision

- Football Stadia: Sustenance and Legacy of 'White Elephant'

- Strategy of acquisition and successful executive of 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in India

- A focused session on Success Stories in Indian football


To register for the event go to: http://www.ficci.com/events-page.asp?evid=21288 .

BREAKING NEWS: IMG-Reliance signs long-term broadcast deal with Ten Sports for I-League & Federation Cup!

IMG-Reliance, the commercial partner of All India Football Federation, today announced a three-year deal, contracting Ten Sports to broadcast I-League and Federation Cup competitions across various platforms, such as Television, IPTV, DTH, HITS, Internet TV and Mobile.

As part of this deal, TEN Sports will broadcast the I-League competition through its football channel TenAction+, for three consecutive seasons starting with the 2012/13 season this weekend.

With the I-League competition kicking off on October 6, 2012, TenAction+ will telecast 75 matches of the league live and delayed throughout the season. Football fans across the country can catch the inaugural day action between Pailan Arrow vs Mumbai FC to be played at the Saltlake Stadium in Kolkata at 2.30 pm and the Goan derby Dempo SC vs Churchill Brothers SC to be played at the Nehru Stadium in Margao at 5.30 pm.

As part of the deal TenAction+ also has the mandate for telecasting the Federation Cup competition for the next two seasons starting 2013.

AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said, "The fiercely contested Federation Cup, concluded recently, has set the ball rolling for the 2012/13 football calendar year. The I-League competition brings in even more enthusiasm and excitement, as the clubs are eager to renew their rivalry and fight it out from Round One."

Ten Sports CEO Atul Pande said, "We are delighted to partner with IMG-Reliance to telecast I-League and Federation Cup, two of India's premier football tournaments." He went on to add, "Ten Sports has always supported Indian football and we continue committed to our vision of enhancing and adding value to the sport."

The spokesperson for IMG-Reliance said, "We are happy to bring Ten Sports on board as a broadcast partner in (Indian) football. Having a long-term partnership with the broadcaster is an important step in ensuring quality and continuous coverage of the two competitions. This is one of many initiatives IMG-Reliance has undertaken and we remain committed to the development of Indian football."

34th Federation Cup: DD Sports to telecast Semifinals & Final!

There is good news for Indian football fans then there will be coverage from the 34th Federation Cup!

The All India Football Federation has informed the media that the two semifinals on September 27 and 28 plus the final on September 30 of the 34th Federation Cup will be telecast live on Doordarshan Sports from Siliguri, West Bengal. But there will be no live coverage from the ongoing group stage of the tournament.

This positive news for fans of Indian football comes after talks of coverage from the tournament on TenAction+ had failed to yield a result and it had been feared that there could be no coverage from the tournament at all.

Ten Sports ads Brazilian League to its football portfolio

Sports broadcaster Ten Sports has acquired further football rights to enhance its portfolio further. In its latest acquisition they have acquired exclusive rights from Total Sports Asia to broadcast the Brazilian Football League for the ongoing season until 2014 on multiple distribution platforms across South Asia.

As part of the agreement, Ten Sports will be showcasing two leagues from Brazil - The São Paulo State Championship (Paulista) and The Brazilian National Championship (Brasileirao Serie A). Ten Sports will be telecasting 82 matches live and exclusive in total, 28 from the Paulista and 54 from the Brasileirao Serie A.

In addition, Ten Sports will be telecasting "FootBrazil Highlights" and "FootBrazil Magazine show" from the Brazilian League which all will be broadcast on channels TenAction+ and Ten HD.

Atul Pande, Zeel Sports Business CEO, said, "Acquisition of Brazilian League underlines our commitment to football fans in the region as we continue providing the most entertaining content to our viewers, and an excellent promotional platform for our advertisers. We have established a strong tradition in building and strengthening top-class football properties on our channels with the reach of our networks, multiple media platforms and world-class match presentation."

"Together with the broadcast of UEFA Champions League and Europa League, Ten Sports reinforces its position as the 'Home of Football' for fans in the Indian subcontinent."

Suvrangsu Mukherjee, Total Sports Asias South Asia MD, said, "We are delighted to join hands with Ten Sports to bring the exciting Brazilian Football League to India. This will be the first time that the league will be shown on a national channel in India. We are sure that Brazilian Football League will draw a lot of interest from football fans around the country, especially since Indians have been passionate supporters of the Brazilian national team and great fans of the Brazilian style of football."

Earlier rights of the Brazilian League had been sold to a local Bengali channel, but it didn't get much viewership.

Ten Sports hopes it can do more with the acquired rights. The acquisition of the Brazilian rights follows deal to broadcast the French Football League and from England The Football League and The League Cup across the South Asian market.

Ten Sports acquires broadcast rights for English Football League & League Cup

Sports broadcaster Ten Sports has secured Live and Exclusive rights to broadcast England's The Football League and League Cup for the next three seasons from this season onwards until 2014/15 for the South Asian market. As part of the agreement with rights agency MP & Silva, the TEN Network will be showcasing approximately 145 matches Live and Exclusive throughout the season.

TEN Network will be showcasing comprehensive, engaging coverage through its broadcast channels: TenAction+ and TEN HD. Together with the broadcast of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the recently acquired French league rights, the TEN Network reinforces its position as the 'Home of Football' for the fans of the beautiful game in the Indian subcontinent.

Atul Pande CEO, Sports Business-ZEEL said, "Acquisition of The Football League and The League Cup till 2015 underlines TEN Network's commitment to football fans in the region to bring best of football action. This latest acquisition gives us an excellent promotional platform for our advertisers and partners. We have established a strong tradition in building and strengthening top-class football properties on our channels with the reach of our networks, multiple media platforms and world-class match presentation."

Andrea Radrizzani, MP & Silva's Group CEO, said, "We are glad to bring some of English football's most prestigious competitions to fans in South Asia, where the demand for quality football programming is on the rise."

The Football League is the world's oldest league football competition, consisting of the Championship, League One and League Two - the second, third and fourth tier of English football. Each league consists of 24 teams with the Championship including teams like Cardiff City, Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday. The Championship itself is the fourth most-watched league in Europe and the Championship final is the world's most lucrative football match - with the winner standing to earn an estimated £90 million from promotion to the English Premier League.

The League Cup (known as Capital One Cup for sponsorship reasons) is part of the English football treble besides the Premiership and FA Cup, and is one of the most prestigious titles in England. A knockout competition that features all 20 clubs of the Premier League and 72 clubs of The Football League, the match calendar runs from August to February and it is the first major football title to be crowned during the season. Liverpool FC will defend their 2011/12 title after a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory against Cardiff City in the final at Wembley Stadium earlier this year.

French Ligue 1 on Ten Sports for three seasons!

The Zee Group owned Ten Sports has signed a three years multi-platform deal for south Asia to show the French Football League from this season, 2012/13 onwards. The deal has been negotiated by rights agency MP&Silva, which include 232 matches from the French top division - Ligue 1 along with games from the French League Cup plus a weekly Ligue 1 Preview show.

Ten Sports has been on the lookout to add quality football content to their channels after losing the rights to the Spanish La Liga from this season onwards to ESPN-Star Sports. Amongst the top 5 leagues in Europe - English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1 - only the French rights were still available.

The channels TenAction+ and Ten HD in the Ten stable of sports channel are the football specific channel which will from now on show French football.

The Zeel sports business CEO Atul Pande said, "Acquisition of the French League, one of the most competitive football leagues in Europe, underlines our commitment to football fans in the region as we continue providing the most entertaining content to our viewers, and an excellent promotional platform for our advertisers. We have established a strong tradition in building and strengthening top-class football properties on our channels with the reach of our networks, multiple media platforms and world-class match presentation."

The 20 team Ligue 1 will have 38 rounds of matches home-and-away with their star attractions being Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique Marseille and the high spending FC Paris Saint-Germain with their start-studded line-up which includes new signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Thiago Silva besides Javier Pastore, Thiago Motta and Jérémy Ménez.

Andrea Radrizzani, the MP&Silva Group CEO, said on the deal, "We are delighted to facilitate the growth of French football in India. European football TV audiences in India are rapidly growing, attracting more interest from leagues, competitions, sponsors and players to satisfy this appetite."

Besides the French rights the Ten stable also has the rights to the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the English Carling Cup, the Npower Football League (English Championship, League One, League Two) besides the Dutch Eredivisie and Scottish Premier League for the upcoming 2012/13 season.

Visiting Ten Sports' C2K show

On my way back from India to Germany over the weekend I had a stopover in Dubai and I always try to utilise the long stops to meet friends and contacts in football.

This time around I visited the offices-cum-studios of Ten Sports in Dubai's Media City. There I met production guys, saw how Ten produce their program, while I then had an enjoyable evening at the sets of the C2K show (Countdown 2 Kickoff), TenAction+ football show, with anchor Joe Morrison and experts-cum-pundits John 'Budgie' Burridge and Carlton Palmer.

As someone working in football media I am always interested to see the operations of a TV channel. And while being taken into production at Ten Sports I met Joe Morrison, with whom I have had numerous Twitter interactions and who told me that he follows my blog for Indian football. Good to know.

After the initial interaction in the production room, we went across to the set of C2K where Joe introduced me to Budgie and Carlton. All three are interesting individuals, who really enjoy doing the show! The three talk and discuss football - not in a cool, analytical way, but rather with flair and an entertainment aspect attached to it. Watching it from close quarters was really enjoyable.

There was also a football match in-between - Racing Santander vs FC Valencia. Not much happened in the first session, but a lot after the break. During the game we four had interesting discussions about football in general, but especially Indian football then these guys have to cover Indian football too these days. And at this stage I did most of the talking, a topic I speak about for hours...

The show ended, a small chit-chat thereafter and then I went back to my hotel. It surely was an enjoyable visit...


Here some photos on my Facebook Fanpage from the visit .

VIDEO: TenAction+ I-League Promo

The new season of the I-League which kicks-off on Saturday will be shown on TenAction+ and News Time Bangla. The Dubai-based sports channel TenAction+ has created a promo to promote their broadcast of the I-League.

UEFA renew rights deal with Ten Sports

Ten Sports and UEFA have renewed their contract for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League from 2012 to 2015. This means that Ten Sports and its sister channel Ten Action+ will broadcast matches live, deferred and as capsules of Europe's premier club competitions.

European football governing body UEFA said in a statement, "The media rights sales process is successfully continuing in Asia, reflecting the growing interest for UEFA's club football competitions in the region. UEFA is happy to announce these deals as they will enable football fans throughout the respective territories to enjoy increased levels of match choice and coverage of both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League."

UEFA not only sold the rights for south Asia, but also in Malaysia, Brunei and Myanmar to ensure continued coverage of its flagship club competitions. Ten Sports channel competitors ESPN-Star Sports and Neo Sports had also bid for the rights, which have become very lucrative in India though match kick-off timings in Europe are often well past midnight.

Ten Sports channels (Ten Sports & Zee Sports in the past, now Ten Sports & Ten Action+) have been airing the top club football from UEFA for a couple of years and showcase more than 55 UEFA Champions League and 60 Europa League matches from September to May every year. Ten Sports offers the most comprehensive coverage of the UEFA Champions League & UEFA Europa League in India, with a choice of live matches and a full round up of all the match day action throughout the week.

The rights are not only for television but across all broadcast platforms and besides India Ten Sports channels will be showing the matches across south Asia in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Ten Sports bag I-League rights, TenAction+ to show matches

The All India Football Federation and their marketing partners IMG-Reliance have signed a deal for the 2011/12 season of the I-League with Ten Sports for coverage on their Ten Action+ channel. This new deal ensures national coverage after the AIFF/IMG-Reliance had signed a deal for regional coverage in West Bengal and Assam.

As per the contract Ten Action+ will be broadcasting 75 of the 182 matches from the upcoming I-League live with the federation, their marketing partners and tv rights holders looking to show matches over weekends and at suitable times for the viewers.

A release from IMG-Reliance said, "We are happy to confirm Ten Sports as the national broadcaster for the 2011-12 season of I-League as part of our ongoing efforts to develop the following of the sport in India. We are committed to pursuing various initiatives as part of our strategic plan to enhance the level of competition as also harness the domestic football talent in the country. Ten Sports shares our vision for the sport in India and we are delighted to partner with them in bringing football into the homes of fans across the nation."

Ten Action+, formerly Zee Sports, is India's only football centric channel in the stable of Ten Sports which is owner by the Zee Group. This marks an interesting return of the I-League rights to the Zee Group, who had bought the combined marketing and television rights from the AIFF in 2005, but with coverage and marketing not up to the necessary standard the contract had been cancelled in 2010 with IMG-Reliance taking over from them.

Ten Sports CEO Atul Pande said, "We are delighted to be associated with IMG Reliance, to telecast the I-League, India’s premier’s football tournament. We are committed to bringing the best sports action to our viewers, and this new agreement with the IMG Reliance reaffirms our commitment to grow the sports business and consolidate our position as the leading sports broadcaster. Zee and Ten have been supporters of Indian football for many years and we continue committed to our vision of enhancing and adding value to the sport."

AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das added, "Ten Action+ is a niche football channel and I am sure the visibility and on air promotional activities of the channel will go a long way in enhancing the profile of the I-League. Our partners IMG Reliance deserve all credit for forging this significant partnership."

Earlier a regional broadcast partner in Brand Value Communications Limited, the owners of channels News Time Bangla and News Time Assam, had been announced. Here the write-up about it: I-League: Regional Broadcast partner announced .

Ten Sports retain UEFA club football rights for India!

UEFA have confirmed that that the Taj TV/Essel Group owned Ten Sports channels will continue to show continental European club football on their channels from 2012 to 2015. The rights for three seasons of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League are said to have been sold by UEFA for 3,5 Million US-Dollars, nearly a three fold increase from the last cycle.

Ten Sports channel competitors ESPN-Star Sports and Neo Sports had also bid for the rights, which have become very lucrative in India though match kick-off timings in Europe are often well past midnight.

Ten Sports CEO Atul Pande said, "We are committed to bringing the best sports action to our viewers, and with this long-term renewal of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League we have reinforced our leadership further."

"With the best football line up on Ten Channels it reaffirms the belief of our viewers and our associates in us. We are committed to bringing the best football action to our viewers and we will continue delivering to our promise," Mr. Pande added.

Ten Sports channels (Ten Sports & Zee Sports in the past, now Ten Sports & Ten Action+) have been airing the top club football from UEFA for a couple of years and showcase more than 55 UEFA Champions League and 60 Europa League matches from September to May every year. Ten Sports offers the most comprehensive coverage of the UEFA Champions League & UEFA Europa League in India, with a choice of live matches and a full round up of all the match day action throughout the week.

The rights are not only for television but across all broadcast platforms and besides India Ten Sports channels will be showing the matches across south Asia in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.