Set And Matchpoint

AUGUST could well be a make-or-break month for the four-year-old Sony Entertainment Television (set). Having inveigled viewers and advertisers with innovative programming and attractive airtime pricing during the last financial year, the channel is now ready to play a totally new ball game. Coming up later this month is its first major foray into live cricket, a triangular limited-overs series in Sri Lanka involving India, Australia and the host nation. It'll be the first of seven international events for which set's bought exclusive TV rights from the Sri Lankan Cricket Board for $7.5 million (approximately Rs 34 crore).

There's more. A couple of days before the triangular event kicks off in Colombo on August 22, all eyes will be on a crucial meet of the working committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (bcci). It will decide the fate of set's Rs 100-crore bid for the telecast rights of all cricket to be played under bcci's aegis during the next five years. In the first year itself, 35 days of international cricket are guaranteed and the revenue-earning potential could completely change the pace of growth for a fledgling network.

If set-a stand-alone channel on the verge of transforming itself into a full-fledged network with the launch of at least four new 24-hour channels, including one dedicated exclusively to sports, within the next year-manages to swing the high-profile bcci deal, it would be one of the greatest-ever coups in the history of satellite TV in India. Set has, over the past two years, telecast the Princess Diana memorial match live from England, besides a few Cricket for Care events, but the Sri Lankan rights belong to a different league altogether. Says hta media director Sanjoy Chakraborty: "Though it's difficult to say exactly how successful set's foray into cricket will be, there can be no denying the potential is enormous." Nobody knows that better that set chief executive Kunal Dasgupta. So he, along with executive vice-president Rajesh Pant, has swung into action to make the new tie-up work. Striking a sceptic note, however, media veteran and Plus Channel managing director Amit Khanna says: "I'm not very sure of the efficacy of set's attempts to get numbers through cricket. Cricket definitely gets the numbers, but I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Indeed, wresting the bcci rights may not be a cakewalk for set. The channel is on a roll no doubt-in '98-99, it registered 120 per cent growth in advertising billings and is expected to record a 40 per cent annual increase at least for the next two or three years-but three major bidders, Doordarshan, espn-Star Sports and Zee TV, block its path to bcci's parlour. While each network has committed upwards of Rs 100 crore for bcci's TV rights, Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra is known to be aggressively pushing his case. Says one media analyst: "Zee's chances are the brightest." This despite bcci secretary Jaywant Lele's assertion that the rights will go to a network with "vast reach and has given adequate coverage to Indian cricket over the years".

Chandra was reportedly in Calcutta and in constant touch with senior bcci officials even as the board's marketing committee met on August 2 to consider the pros and cons of the various bids. When Chandra says "pay channels will drive the future of the business", he knows live cricket will be the engine room of any TV juggernaut of the kind he's envisaging as he readies himself for the launch of eight new digitally encrypted channels. Says Stracon India's Siddhartha Ray, a key member of the now-defunct Doordarshan Sports Consortium that handled the purchase and marketing of events in '98-99: "Sports will propel the pay TV platforms Zee and Sony are planning. They'll emerge as real threats to espn-Star Sports in the years ahead."

The Zee-Sony war has clearly moved on to a new turf. While set is planning a Rs 200 crore-plus public issue to fund its new channels, Zee has earmarked over Rs 1,000 crore to bankroll its ambitious expansion plans. In addition to the eight new channels that will, to begin with, include three regional services (Punjabi, Marathi and Bengali), a sports channel and two English-language channels, "Zee's diversifying into IT, Net-related services, e-commerce and print, while strengthening its position as a leader in satellite communications and ground distribution," says Ranjan Bakshi, Zee's vice-president (corporate communications). In preparation for the launch of the regional channels-the first three by September, followed by Gujarati, Tamil and Teluguchannels next year-Zee's setting up an uplink station in Noida, UP, at the cost of Rs 25 crore.

But though Zee Network recently named several deputy ceos as part of a major restructuring exercise to tap, in ceo Vijay Jindal's words, "the symbiotic and synergistic relationships among the business units of the network", sports remains under Jindal's direct charge. According to indications, the network is planning to hive off Zee Sports into a separate company under an independent ceo. The network has already invested Rs 5 crore to build a stadium in Kathmandu in collaboration with the Nepal Cricket Association. The new stadium will be promoted as a venue of many made-for-TV cricketing events.

So, is cricket the future for both Zee and Sony? "Cricket is a nice door that opens on to greater revenue flow into a satellite TV network," says Ray. General entertainment-soaps and sitcoms, blockbusters and special events-continues to rake in big bucks for the two channels.

And it's here that Sony, despite Zee's continuing pre-eminence, has scored heavily in the recent past. Rajiv Agarwal, MD, Enterprise-Nexus, thinks "it all started about a year-and-a-half ago with Sony revamping its software and climbing up the charts." What's worked to set's advantage, feels Chakraborty, is its decision to target a younger audience. "Sony's image is more yuppie, city-oriented and upmarket even as it delivers mass audiences to the advertisers," he says.

Zee's Bakshi may describe Sony as a 'me-too channel', but there's no doubt that the latter can no longer be taken lightly. Following the first flush of success with shows like Mahayagya, the airing of Sholay and the telecast of the Lata Mangeshkar concert, Sony achieved the penetration Dasgupta had sought when he took over as chief executive in late '96. It has built on that opening with successful programming brands like Movers and Shakers, Boogie Woogie, cid and Aahat. In response, Zee's continued to bank on the long-running Close-up Antakshari, tvs Sa Re Ga Ma and Amanat, even as it's unleashed a host of new shows.

"We don't look at serials individually as revenue grossers," says Bakshi. "We believe in creating successful time bands giving advertisers best exposure."

As the two rivals pitch for cricket telecast rights, the ball will eventually be in the viewer's court. If he is game, the future of pay TV, as it rides a sport the nation is passionate about, is bound to be secure.