Earlier films used to define and characterize the content business for an entertainment channel, but the advent of the Indian Premier League and before it the Indian Cricket League has changed the rules of the gamer. Now Cricket is the deciding factor that has a profound effect on the fortunes of a television channel. No wonder, Sony channel, which had the exclusive rights to broadcast the IPL, matches, after making handsome profits, has decided to take one more step forward. It would be coming up with a sports channel in the near future.

Cricket has emerged as one sport that can change the fortunes of television channels. The chief operating officer of Multi Screen Media (formerly known as Sony Entertainment Television) N P Singh has acceded to it. He holds the view that it indeed is strategic to launch a sports channel owing to the quantum of cricket being played around the world.

Sony has already made deep inroads into the business of sports after whetting its appetite with the IPL rights, and has stakes in the New Zealand cricket series and the Football Association Challenge Cup.

Though Set Max is channel that is characterized by telecast of films and cricket, the authorities at Sony Channel hold the view that cricket needs to be given more focused attention as also there is a need for further diversification. If the boxing league on the patterns of IPL start, Sony's sports channel may have the edge over competitors at the time of bidding for it as it already has the experience of IPL to back its claim which no other channel has.

Sony seems to be preparing itself for competition from with Star India and Zee Entertainment, which have a host of regional channels under their wing. As the content is getting more specialized and regional flavor is getting more accentuated, it indeed is an apt business strategy to spread the wings in all the directions. To continue to sustain the momentum Sony has launched a plethora of entertainment programmes coinciding with the IPL timings, in its effort to continue to have the eyeballs glued to its channel.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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