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Ten Sports high on beautiful game, strikes goal
In what could make football fans in the country smile from ear to ear, Ten Sports has scored an off-field goal – a licence and production pact with Goal TV, a dedicated football network
Bring home the beautiful game. It doesn’t matter if our team and clubs aren’t doing enough to bring cheer to soccer fans in the country, Ten Sports will. In a move that will make football fans in the country smile from ear to ear, Ten Sports has scored an off-field goal – a licence and production pact with Goal TV, a dedicated football network jointly owned by Yes Television (Hong Kong) Limited and Astro All Asia Networks in Malaysia.
As per the deal, Ten Sports and Goal TV have agreed to a new multi-year deal that will allow Ten Sports and Zee Sports to show Goal TV’s exclusive football content to 50 million households in the Indian sub-continent. Under the agreement, the production of Goal TV’s two all-football channels will shift to the Ten Sports headquarters in Dubai.
In November last year, Zee Telefilms acquired a 50 per cent stake in Ten Sports in an all-cash deal for $57.15 million.
The new agreement means that Taj TV, parent company of Ten Sports, will now produce and transmit nine channels from its Dubai headquarters, ranging from Cricket Plus, the channel for Directv in North America, to the Football Channel for Singapore cable operator Starhub.
With ESS (ESPN STAR Sports) banking on its cricket coverage, other sports channels are looking for other mediums to hook the audience. Ten Sports has the hugely popular UEFA Champions League in its kitty and it will now see valuable additions such as European leagues.
Goal TV’s content includes exclusive live action from the French, Scottish and Dutch premier leagues and programming from top English clubs Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, and the Spanish La Liga club Barcelona.
The network offers targeted, localised programming of top European soccer to the millions of football fans in Asia. Goal TV’s original channels, Goal TV 1 and Goal TV 2, are among Asia’s fastest-growing sports channels, reaching 60 million viewers in 16 countries.