The upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will reach 2.5 billion viewers globally, courtesy of official broadcaster Star Sports’ syndication deals with broadcasters in several key markets.
In India, the tournament will be aired in six languages on Star Sports network and on regional-language channels of Star India. It will be aired on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 2 (13 matches), Star Sports 3, Star Sports 4 (13 matches), SS HD 1, SS HD 2, Star Vijay, Asianet Plus (Malayalam), Star Vijay (Tamil), Jalsha Movies (Bengali), and Suvarna Plus (Kannada).
Besides Star network, the event will be aired on pubcaster Doordarshan.
In Pakistan, the event will be aired on PTV Sports and Ten Sports. In Bangladesh, the tournament will be aired on non-exclusive basis on three channels Bangladesh TV, Maasranga TV and Gazi TV.
In Sri Lanka, the tournament will be telecast only on public broadcaster SLRC. Incidentally, Carlton Sports, a private sports broadcaster with links to ousted Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, will not be telecasting a major cricketing event for the first time in recent years.
Sky Sports, a sister concern of Star India, will telecast the tournament in England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. ITV Network will telecast the highlights in the UK on free-to-air (FTA) basis.
Fox Sports and Sky TV will air the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. Channel 9 will telecast the tournament on FTA basis in Australia. OSN Sport Cricket and SuperSport will air the tournament in the Middle East & North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa respectively. In South Africa, SABC 3 will air the tournament on FTA basis. ESPN will lead the ICC World Cup telecast in the Caribbean, North and South America. In Canada, Sportsnet will air the tournament.
Star Cricket (Star Hub and Singtel) will broadcast the tournament in Singapore. The event will be available on Now TV (PCCW) in Hong Kong. Fiji TV and Fiji Broadcasting Corporation will do the live telecast and highlights of the tournament respectively.
To complement the television coverage, live online and mobile streaming will be visible on digital channels of most official broadcasters, while starsports.com will also stream the matches live in territories where television broadcast is unavailable.
There will be extensive radio coverage of the ICC CWC 2015. In Australia, national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation will be broadcasting all matches live while CrocMedia will provide live coverage of all Australia matches, the semifinals and the final.
In the other host country New Zealand, Sport Radio will provide radio coverage. Outside the host countries, the event will have ball-by-ball commentary from the BBC (UK), All India Radio (India), SLCB (Sri Lanka), SABC (South Africa), 107 FM (Pakistan) and Channel 2 (Middle East and the USA).
Production will see array of on-air enhancements
On the production front, the World Cup broadcast will see an array of on-air enhancements and new graphic presentation to accompany the insightful voices of its expert commentators.
The production will be in high definition (HD) and every match will be covered by at least 29 cameras, including Ultra motion cameras, Spider cam at 13 matches and the drone camera at all the knock-out matches. Technology in use includes Real-Time Snicko and LED stumps. Other innovative features will be introduced in the latter stages of the event.
For the first time ever, cricket will be covered using cutting-edge 4K technology. To bring its viewers closer to the game, Star Sports will produce live coverage of seven matches in 4K, including the semifinals and the final.
The live broadcast will feature more than 30 commentators, past ICC Cricket World Cup winners and legends of the game from the leading participating countries. These include Wasim Akram, Russell Arnold, Michael Atherton, Ian Bishop, Allan Border, Ian Botham, Simon Doull, Rahul Dravid, Damien Fleming, Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Dean Jones, Nasser Hussain, Brendon Julian, Nick Knight, Brett Lee, David Lloyd, Sanjay Manjrekar, Damien Martyn, Mpumelelo Mbangwa, Tom Moody, Shaun Pollock, Rameez Raja, Mark Richardson, Michael Slater, Ian Smith, Scott Styris, Mark Taylor, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh alongside Harsha Bhogle, Mark Nicholas and Alan Wilkins.
ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “We expect the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be the most viewed cricket event in the history of the game. With a great line-up of commentators and innovative features, it promises to be an event to remember and the biggest and greatest sporting event anywhere in the world this year.
“And for those people around the world who can’t be there in person, Star Sports and its broadcast licensees’ coverage will ensure that 2.5 billion people can view every single game from across all 14 venues in Australia and New Zealand.”
Star India CEO Uday Shankar speaks
Star India CEO Uday Shankar said: “Cricket’s most prestigious event is upon us. As big as the event is, nothing is greater than brilliant sportsmanship that will eventually define Cricket’s World Cup. That defining moment may be in India successfully defending its World Champion title or a new nation rising to glory. Whatever the outcome in cricket’s greatest face-off in Australia and New Zealand, this edition of the Cup promises to be bigger and better.
“While now synonymous with broadcast innovations and firsts, Star won’t rest on its laurels and would ensure that fans feel closer to the game and their heroes, like never before. The scale of the broadcast will be unprecedented. Four production teams with seven state-of-the-art technology kits will cover action from each of the 49 games across the 14 stadia in Australia and New Zealand in 44 days, to create an exciting visual spectacle for cricket fans all around the world.
“The top-quality action will be broadcast in multi-lingual feeds in India, in seven languages, brought together by Star’s expansive world feed, Hindi and regional commentary panel consisting of 13 former skippers, 20 World Cup winners and 26 World Cup semi-finalists. We will be working closely with 45 of our channel partners across the globe, making this one of the most widely covered ICC Cricket World Cup.”
In addition to live coverage of the 49 tournament matches, Star Sports will produce live broadcast coverage for the warm-up matches from Adelaide and Sydney.
Source: Televisionpost.com
