Champions League: Less takers for the tournament?

Ashish Khurana - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
The Indian media and entertainment industry is in turmoil amid reports that the ESPN Software India, has been hit hard by the global financial crisis and that the sponsorship for Champions League T20 tournament has no takers.

The company, which operates three sports channels in the country, has reduced its 10 second advertisement slot rates from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh. The sports channel group had earlier won a 10 year broadcast and ground rights from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) bid for $ 975 million for broadcast of Champions League T20. ESPN Software also has the rights to the one-day World Cup until 2015.

When contacted, a spokesperson of ESPN Star Sports said to Televisionpoint.com, "As a corporate policy, we do not share financial details, and are in negotiations with multiple sponsors. We will soon share the names of the sponsors of T20."

ESPN Star has reportedly cropped its advertising rates in the face of the global crisis, as companies from various sectors such as infrastructure, automobile, real estate and banking are reluctant to spend money on advertising due to the slowdown.

The 2.5 lakh per 10 seconds rate is higher than what advertisers had to pay for the Indian Premier League (IPL). The cost for a 10-second advertisement during the IPL on SET Max was between Rs 1.8 lakh and Rs 2 lakh. However, for the recent India-England one-day series, Neo Sports was charging Rs 2.5 to Rs 2.75 lakh per ten seconds.