The inaugural edition of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) will be broadcast in more than 125 countries, potentially reaching over 300 million households internationally, the organisers have said.
All matches will be produced in HD quality with IPTL graphics and commentary.
The league will be telecast in regions such as the US, UK, France, the Czech Republic, Serbia, across South-East Asia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Brazil, giving it a truly global broadcast footprint.
Star Sports has acquired the rights to telecast the event in the Indian subcontinent, while ABS-CBN will take the event to households in the Philippines. Singapore viewers will be served by SingTel, and in the UAE, the event will be broadcast through the Abu Dhabi Media Group.
UFA Sports is the exclusive marketer of the league’s worldwide media rights. Powered by an exciting format and unique innovations, IPTL features the world’s leading tennis players. It will be between 28 November and 13 December 2014.
“We are thrilled to take the inaugural Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League to global audiences through many of the world’s leading broadcasters. In an era in which the media is at the forefront of all live action, we are pleased to offer an unmatched viewing experience to audiences across the world and believe the event will change the way the world looks at the sport of tennis in the seasons to come,” said IPTL founder Mahesh Bhupathi.
As a sporting event, IPTL will be the first professional tennis league to go beyond cross boundaries, bringing into play a competitive franchise-based contest blending quality sport and entertainment in a thoroughly new format.
The star-studded teams include 21 Grand Slam champions and 14 current and former World Number Ones. Iconic players such as Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki and others representing four franchises—the Micromax Indian ‘Aces’, the Singapore ‘Slammers’, the UAE ‘Royals’, and the Manila ‘Mavericks’.
Tennis’ traditional scoring format has been changed to single-set no-add scoring, which will speed up the games and enable fans to experience up to 24 different players in one evening. Thrilling features such as time-outs, power points, shootouts, a running shot clock, HAWK eye and more will ensure edge-of-the-seat action for spectators at stadiums and viewers catching it on television.
Source: Televisionpost.com
