KOLKATA: Star Sports, India’s leading sports broadcaster, Tuesday expanded its portfolio of regional channels by announcing the launch of Star Sports 1 Bangla, India’s first dedicated sports channel for sports fanatics in the Bengali language.
The channel launch is in line with Star Sports’ commitment to foster a multi-sports culture in the country while bringing fans closer to the sporting ecosystem.
The broadcaster had revealed in February that Star Sports 1 Bangla will launch on or before 31 March and will be available at Rs 19. This will be the forth regional language offering in the Star Sports channel line-up after Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.
It has a rich calendar of sports in 2019 starting with the VIVO IPL 2019, moving into the most anticipated event of the year ICC Cricket World Cup, VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 7 and the Hero ISL. Star Sports 1 Bangla would provide curated Bengali content localized to various franchises such as Kolkata Knight Riders, Bengal Warriors, ATK, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.
A Star India spokesperson commented on the development: “West Bengal is a unique market with high affinity to language content and very distinctive viewing habits. Nuances of the game and local flavour add to a fan’s viewing experience and builds a local affinity for sports in the region. With the VIVO IPL, followed by the ICC World Cup this year – it is indeed a ‘Summer of Cricket’ on Star Sports, and with Star Sports 1 Bangla, we have taken one more step towards treating fans to a customised and acquainted exposure”.
Indulging viewers from the onset, the channel delivered a gusto experience with ‘Ebar Khelbe Bangla’ hosted by cricket historian Boria Majumdar. This panel discussion encompassed sporting stalwarts from the region discussing sports and the need of regional sports channels in the country. During the discussion the panellists unanimously agreed that the launch of a dedicated Bangla sports channel will bring back the love for sport among youth in the region.
Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President and former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly stated: “It was a beautiful day today and a great experience shooting for Star Sports Bangla. Sports is a part of every Bengali’s life and launching a dedicated Bengali sports channel is a great initiative. This platform will help sports reach out to people in faraway places and people, who don’t understand English or Hindi. With this initiative, Star Sports will be able to reach every nook and corner of the West Bengal market and dish out sport stars.”
Indian women’s all-rounder Jhulan Goswami added: “The launch of a dedicated Bengali sports channel in my opinion is going to be good fun. A few months back I watched the Star Sports Tamil dedicated sports channel, so I saw couple of cricket matches on the channel and I found it very interesting, As a viewer if you see sports in your own language and televised, it looks very interesting, of course when I watched Star Sports Tamil, I did not understand the language, but I did understand the emotional connect that viewers may have.”
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Star Sports Bangla to launch by 31st March
