Network TEN wins IPL overseas rights

Australian sports channel Network TEN has been awarded the five-year overseas television telecast rights for the India Premier League (IPL), the Twenty20 format tournament promoted by the Indian cricket board, BCCI for a reported sum of $10-$15 million.

The deal is likely to provide a challenge to Channel Nine, Australia's leading cricket broadcaster in the last 30 years.

SetMax, the sports and movie channel of Sony Entertainment Network, enjoys the domestic telecast rights for IPL.

The Network TEN deal was announced today by the World Sport Group, the Singapore-based sports marketing company that owns the global media rights to the IPL. TEN is a free-to-air sports channel in Australia.

"We are delighted with the agreement reached with TEN to broadcast the IPL," Venu Nair, CEO, South East Asia, World Sport Group said in a statement.

TEN will exclusively broadcast all 59 matches of IPL spread over 44 days from 18 April-1 June. On February 28, the IPL will hold its player auction in which each of the eight team owners will bid for players to represent their team. This will ensure that each team has a mix of the world's best players, a format never seen before. TEN will broadcast the player auction.

SetMax will air a capsule tracking the player auction, said a statement from World Sport Group.

The IPL consists of eight teams competing in action-packed Twenty20 matches.

Australian legends Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, in addition to current stars such as Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke and Brett Lee, are confirmed to play.

The tournament will also feature the best international players, including India's Sachin Tendulkar, South Africa's Jacques Kallis, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralidaran, Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar, West Indian Chris Gayle and New Zealander Stephen Fleming.