MUMBAI: Viacom18 has launched Sports18, the network’s dedicated sports broadcasting channel.
The pay TV channel, available in SD & HD, which officially began broadcasting at 6 pm on Friday, 15th April, brings the sports broadcaster count in the Indian market to five. Star Sports (owned by Disney Star), Sony Sports (Sony Pictures Networks India) Sports 18 (Viacom18), Eurosport (Discovery India) and 1Sports (Lex Sportel Vision).
The sports properties that Sports18 has the broadcast rights to include the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, NBA, LaLiga, Ligue 1, Serie A, Abu Dhabi T10, and top ATP & BWF events. As per an official release, the channel will also “provide fans access to top programming covering international sports news, magazine and highlights shows”.
It goes without saying that the most high profile property that Sports18 has in its kitty is the World Cup. After the Indian Premier League, the television broadcast rights for which Viacom18 will most certainly be bidding, there is no better property to ensure all-India distribution from the get-go.
“We are pleased to launch a dedicated sports channel for an audience across demographics and geographies,” Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj is quoted as having said in the release. “Sports18 will strive to be India’s most-coveted broadcast network by providing fans easy access to a comprehensive bouquet of international and premier sports content.”
All the content available on Sports18 can be viewed on Viacom18’s video-on-demand platform Voot and Reliance Jio’s JioTV.
It bears noting that the sports content rights available to Viacom18, which was earlier being spread across the network’s youth channel MTV, its dedicated music channel vh1 and on some of Network18’s regional news channels, will still be available on those channels. The “content spread” is still a work in progress, SportzPower has been given to understand.
Effective Friday, Sports18 became available on leading DTH service providers across the country.
For the record, Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd is a joint venture of Network18, which owns 51%, and ViacomCBS, which has a 49% stake. Pertinently, after news floated in January that the Indian arm of James Murdoch’s investment company Lupa Systems was teaming up with former Disney Star India boss Uday Shankar to pick up a 39% stake in Viacom 18, there has been absolute “radio silence”.
