Sports satcaster gets a sheikh-down
Dispatch
"We are weighing options to enter Europe and South Africa," says Sharmista Rijhwani, Ten Sports' managing director in India. The English-lingo 24-hour satellite channel also is mulling Hindi and Indian regional language feeds.
The Ten Sports team describes the channel as a "sports entertainment" brand.
"Sports television has always been event-led. Ten Sports is attempting to inject a difference with programs like 'Cricket Classics,' 'Robot Wars' and 'Weird World of Sports,' " Rijhwani says.
Sheikh Abdur Rahman Bukhatir organizes the Sharjah and Morocco Cricket Matches, which the channel airs along with international cricket from Pakistan, the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
"Our next initiative is to telecast the Olympic hockey qualifiers from Spain in February and the Champions Trophy Hockey in December," Rijhwani says.
He also is eyeing the World Rally Championships plus live broadcasts of horse racing from India, Dubai and the U.K.
