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Sony Pictures Television-backed television network in India, Multi-Screen Media (MSM), on Monday launched Sony Kix, its second foray in sports telecast after Sony Six, which will broadcast Telugu and Tamil sports feed.
As part of its line-up, Sony Kix channels will begin the local language telecast with live Telugu and Tamil commentary with Pepsi IPL T20 cricket league from April 8, followed by Ultimate Fighting Championship, Australian Open Tennis, National Football League, Rugby World Cup 2015 and other Sony’s sports properties.
“We have come up with the local language strategy to further expand sports viewership in the country. Though the advertisements on Sony Kix will not be in the local languages, we will see how the market evolves before broadcasting ads in Telugu and Tamil, besides adding new languages like Marathi in few years from now,” Prasana Krishnan, business head, Sony Six and Sony Kix, told mediapersons here.
Production activities for Sony Kix will be executed from MSM’s central studios in Mumbai. The network has identified former Indian cricketers Venugopala Rao, Venkatapati Raju, MSK Prasad, and C Venkatesh and Sudhir Mahavadi for the Telugu commentators panel.
Krishnan said as part of their IPL Fan Parks, an initiative to give a stadium-like experience to cricket fans, Sony has identified 15 cities across the country, including Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and Warangal in Telangana, where it will live telecast on giant screens IPL matches on every weekends.
According to him, Hyderabad is the third biggest market for cricket in India, after Mumbai and Kolkata, with a 25 per cent higher viewership than the national average.
Sony is expecting to rake in Rs 950 crore from this IPL season on the back of 15 per cent higher advertising spot rates than last year, he said, adding the channel network had witnessed 200 million viewership for the last IPL season.
