Type | Sports |
---|---|
Country | India |
Broadcast area | Indian subcontinent |
Network | Culver Max Entertainment |
Headquarters | Mumbai, India |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English Hindi Malayalam Telugu Tamil |
Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to 576i 4:3 for SDTV simulcasts) |
Ownership | |
Parent | Culver Max Entertainment |
Sister channels | See List of channels owned by Culver Max |
History | |
Launched | 1 April 2002 |
Founder | Sony |
Former names | TEN SPORTS (2002-2017) SONY TEN (2017-2022) SONY SIX (2012-2022) |
Links | |
Website | sonysportsnetwork |
The Sony Sports Network, formerly known as the Sony Pictures Sports Network and also known as Sony TEN, is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by Culver Max Entertainment.
The original TEN Sports channel was first established on 1 April 2002 by Abdul Rahman Bukhatir. It was acquired by the Essel Group in 2010 and was added to Essel's existing Zee Sports channel, launched in 2005. After the acquisition, Zee launched two new channels, TEN Cricket and TEN Golf, and rebranded Zee Sports as TEN Action.
In August 2016, Sony Pictures Networks India acquired all of the sports channels under Zee from Essel. In 2017, the networks were formally merged with Sony's existing Sony ESPN and Sony Six channels as the Sony Pictures Sports Network, with the TEN channels rebranded as Sony TEN. The channels were then rebranded as the Sony Sports Network in October 2022, with all five channels now carrying the "Sony Sports Ten" prefix.
In January 2001, Taj Television Ltd was formed in Dubai with Abdul Rahman Bukhatir as a backer. [1] Bukhatir had various business interests and was known for transforming Sharjah as a major international cricket venue. [1] [2] [3] The company launched the channel as TEN Sports (as part of its Taj Entertainment Network) on 1 April 2002. [3] [4] [5] As of March 2004, the company was headed by Chris McDonald as the CEO and had 100 employees. [1]
In June 2005, Zee Telefilms Limited launched Zee Sports, reportedly India's first private sports channel. [6] [7] Zee Telefilms acquired a 50% stake in TEN Sports for ₹800 crore (₹8,000,000,000) in 2006, and eventually acquired the remainder of its Indian operations in 2010. [8] The sale did not include its Pakistani operations, which were retained by the Essel Group via its subsidiary, Tower Sports. [9]
In 2010, Zee rebranded Zee Sports as Ten Action which featured adventure sports and non-cricket content. In 2011 Zee launched a new channel called Ten Cricket, exclusively for cricket matches. In March 2016, all channels in the Zee network were rebranded as Ten 1, Ten 2, and Ten 3 respectively. [10]
In August 2016, Sony Pictures Networks India announced its intent to acquire Zee's sports networks for US$385 million; the first phase of the sale, which included equity stakes in the holding companies Taj Television (India) Pvt Ltd and part of Taj TV Limited Mauritius, was completed in February 2017 for US$350 million. [11] [12] On 18 July 2017, all of Sony's sports channels in India were rebranded as Sony TEN, and the high-definition feeds of Sony TEN 2 and 3 were also launched. [13] The remainder of the sale was completed in September 2017. [14] [15]
The networks, along with new sisters Sony Six and Sony ESPN, were branded under the umbrella name, Sony Pictures Sports Network and began to phase in a rebranding as Sony Sports in 2020. [16] Sony ESPN was shut down on 30 March 2020. [17]
In June 2021, Sony launched Sony TEN 4, which broadcasts in the Telugu and Tamil languages. Actor Rana Daggubati served as a promotional ambassador for the network's launch. [18]
On 24 October 2022, the Sony Pictures Sports Network was rebranded as the Sony Sports Network, as part of a wider rebranding of all Sony Pictures Networks channels, under the versions of the global Sony television branding. Its channels were likewise rebranded under the new prefix Sony Sports Ten, and Sony Six was brought under the Ten branding for the first time as Sony Sports Ten 5. [19]
Sony Sports Ten 1 is an English-language channel that broadcasts events from the World Athletics Championships, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Sukma Games. Its programming schedule also consists of live coverage of tennis, rally, horse racing, beach volleyball events and basketball. WWE Raw and SmackDown are currently broadcast live weekly, along with NXT , Main Event , Sunday Dhamaal and all premium live events. [20]
Sony Sports Ten 2 is an English-language channel that broadcasts football matches from European football leagues such as Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, DFL-Supercup of Germany and MMA promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in English. [21]
Sony Sports Ten 3 is a Hindi-language channel that airs cricket matches from the Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England cricket boards. [22] It also broadcasts football matches. [23] [24] Sony Ten 3 and Sony Ten 3 HD broadcasts the UFC matches in the SD and HD format respectively in the Hindi language. It also broadcasts WWE with the Hindi commentary.
Sony Sports Ten 4 is a Telugu and Tamil-language channel launched on 1 June 2021.It broadcasts WWE in Tamil and Telugu commentary.
Sony Sports Ten 5 is an English-language channel originally launched as Sony Six in April 2012, before the acquisition of TEN. It has historically featured international cricket.
Sony KIX was launched on 8 April 2015, by what is now Sony Pictures Networks India, it was the second sports television channel launched by the company after Sony Six. The channel was rebranded as Sony ESPN on 17 January 2016. [25] [26]
Sony and ESPN would partner together on website and app efforts, with ESPN providing and producing content such as cricket, football, tennis, basketball, badminton, field hockey, golf, rugby union, motorsport along with other events. Sony Six and Sony ESPN, which were launched before Sony's purchase of Ten, effectively became part of the group when the acquisition was completed. Sony ESPN was shut down on 31 March 2020. [16]
It was an HD, golf-focused channel launched on 7 October 2015. It had the broadcasting rights to the European Tour, Asian Tour, Ryder Cup, LPGA Tour, Royal Trophy, US PGA Championship, Senior PGA Championship, Professional Golf Tour of India, and Ladies European Tour. [27] The channel was closed on 31 December 2018.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) is an Indian media conglomerate. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has interests in television, print, internet, film, and businesses related to mobile content, and operates 45 channels worldwide.
SuperSport is a South African-based group of television channels carried on the DStv & Canal+ satellite platforms alongside the GOtv terrestrial platform and Showmax for live sports programming. It provides sports content in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and many other African countries.
Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as well as Fox Sports News, Fox Cricket, Fox League, Fox Footy, Watch AFL and Watch NRL. Fox Sports channels such as Fox Netball are available via Foxtel or Kayo. The group's main competitors are beIN Sports, ESPN, Optus Sport and Stan Sport. Unlike The American Fox Sports, the group is not owned directly by the Fox Corporation. However News Corp which holds a 65% stake in Foxtel is Fox Corporation's sister company.
Ten Sports HD is a Pakistani sports channel operated by the Hum Network. It mainly broadcasts Cricket, Football, Mixed martial arts, UFC, WWE, Tennis.
Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an Indian media company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 2007 by the MTV Networks Europe division, it later became a joint venture between TV18 and Viacom in 2014, with TV18 becoming the majority shareholder in the company in January 2018 and Bodhi Tree Systems currently owning minority stakes. The company owns and operates various channels, as well as content production studios in India.
Essel Group, is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company and corporate promoter headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company has had business interests in mass media, infrastructure and packaging. It operates the subsidiary of Zee Media Corporation.
Culver Max Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., trading as Sony Pictures Networks India, is an Indian media conglomerate owned by Sony Pictures Television.
Astro SuperSport is an English language in-house subscription satellite television network in Malaysia dedicated to broadcasting sports-related content 24 hours a day. Astro SuperSport 1 to 4 are available on the Astro via Channels 811 to 814 (HD) to subscribers of the Sports Pack only. The Sports Pack features a total of 15 sports channels covering sporting events from all over the world.
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group, and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It has played a major role in the increased commercialisation of British sport since 1991, and has sometimes played a large role inducing organisational changes in the sports it broadcasts, most notably when it encouraged the First Division to break away from the Football League to form the Premier League in 1992.
Disney Star is an Indian media conglomerate owned by Disney India, which is the Indian regional subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Disney Star runs more than 70 television channels in eight languages, reaching out to 9 out of 10 cable and satellite television homes in India. The network reaches approximately 790 million viewers a month across India and more than 100 countries. Disney Star generates more than 30,000 hours of content every year. Disney Star is the largest television and entertainment network in India.
Fox Sports Asia was a pan-Asian pay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version of Star Sports available in Mainland China and South Korea. Originally launched in early 1990s as Star Sports and ESPN by Satellite Television Asian Region and ESPN International respectively, both parties agreed to combine their operations in Asia in October 1996. News Corporation took the full control of the venture in 2012, and relaunched the channels in two phases in January 2013 and August 2014, respectively.
TNT Sports is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at Warner Bros. Discovery's complex in Chiswick Business Park, London, having been based at Here East, the former International Broadcast Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London until July 2023. The channels are available on the EE TV, Sky and Virgin Media television platforms in the UK and Sky and Vodafone TV in the Republic of Ireland.
SonyLIV is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Culver Max Entertainment. SonyLIV was introduced in 2013 as the first OTT service in India. As a streaming service, it provides live sports, original titles, other content titles from its own networks and content titles in India licensed from third-parties such as Lionsgate and ITV among others. The Sony Liv content library includes films, TV shows and series, and sports.
Sony Max is an Indian pay television entertainment channel which is a sister channel to Sony Entertainment Television, operated by Culver Max Entertainment. The channel started broadcasting on 20 July 1999 and is available internationally. It launched a HD simulcast version on 25 December 2015.
Sony ESPN was an Indian pay television sports channel which was a joint venture between ESPN and Sony Pictures Networks. The channel targeted the Indian subcontinent including India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It was part of the Sony Sports Network group.
Star Sports Network is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by Disney Star, a subsidiary of Disney India, the channel currently holds rights of flagship tournaments like Indian Premier League, ICC Events, Premier League, ONE Championship, Wimbledon etc.
This is a timeline of the history of TNT Sports , and of its predecessor, BT Sport.
Abdul Rahman Bukhatir is an Emirati businessman, media entrepreneur, and cricket administrator. He is the founder of the Bukhatir Group which has business interests in construction, education, information technology, real estate, shopping, sports, and leisure sectors. He also founded the sports TV channel Ten Sports. He is known as the Kerry Packer of the Gulf region. He was the founder of Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, which aimed to benefit retired cricketers from the Indian subcontinent. He is the father of Nasheed singer Ahmed Bukhatir.
Fox Sports is a group of channels available in Argentina and operated by Mediapro. The network is focused on sports-related programming including live and pre-recorded event broadcasts, sports talk shows and original programming, available throughout Argentina. The network is based in Argentina. The channel's name and various programs are licensed from Fox Sports Media Group, a subsidiary of Fox Corporation.