NEW DELHI: In a bid to derisk their business model, multiplex owners are turning to sports to generate an alternate source of revenues. While PVR Cinemas would test-pilot the screening of the entire F1 series and Euro 2008, others like Adlabs and Inox are also keen on screening sports content like the Indian Premier League (IPL) to sustain occupancies.

PVR Cinemas has acquired the theatrical rights from Star India to showcase the entire F1 series. In addition the multiplex chain would show some of the key matches of soccer series — Euro 2008. PVR Cinemedia CEO Gautam Dutta said: “We are partnering the UB Group (Kingfisher brand) for the live screening of F1 series in select cities from May 11. It will be our first experiment with live sports series. We believe that as a multiplex player we need to transform ourselves into a complete entertainment brand.”

UB Group, which owns Force India, would partner with PVR and sponsor some of these races by inviting F1 enthusiasts to watch the races. Mr Dutta added that initially the revenue stream through sports content would be low, given the fact that F1 has niche audience. However, it has the potential to become a significant alternate revenue stream.

Adlabs Cinemas, which is in the process of building megaplexes in 15 cities, has said in the past that it would look at screening sports and other genre of content. This would be necessary as it will be unviable to screen only films in these megaplexes, believe experts.

The Indian Premier League has already caught the fancy of multiplex players. High costs per screen is currently making it economically unviable for cineplexes to show the entire series. However, all multiplexes are in the fray to screen at least the last key matches. Inox Leisure COO Alok Tandon said: “We are looking for the best viable options to be able to screen sports content, as and when they happen. We are even in talks to screen IPL matches and would like to show at lease the last few matches.”

With real estate prices going on an overdrive and movie producers asking for higher margins, sports could emerge as an interesting alternative. Says AT Kearney principal Debashish Mukherjee: “Movies would be the primary source of revenues for multiplex players. Sports, if well timed, can also bring in good revenue for movie exhibition players.”

Mr Mukherjee added that usually movie producers release their movies during summer, Diwali or in the Christmas season. “If sports content can help fill in the gaps for cineplexes, it can be an add-on source of revenue,” he said.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com

Bangalore, May 7: Owned by the King of good times, the Bangalore Royal Challengers are not having the best of times.Following the team’s dismal performance in the Indian Premier League, CEO Charu Sharma’s head was the first to roll and he was replaced by Brijesh Patel, the KSCA secretary. It is learnt that Venkatesh Prasad was saved the axe as skipper Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble stepped in for the beleaguered coach and persuaded Mallya to retain him.

According to team sources, infuriated by the string of failures, Mallya, who had left the team selection to Dravid and Charu during the auction, decided that enough was enough. Mallya was also keen on seeing the exit of the Indian bowling coach, but relented after Dravid and Kumble vouched for Prasad’s usefulness.On Wednesday, things took an interesting turn as Charu claimed that he had not resigned and that he was dismissed. “I was summarily dismissed from my duties, three hours before I was to board a flight to Kolkata for the next match,” Charu said in a statement. “I am not a quitter, especially, when the chips are down,” he added.

Though it’s not exactly washing dirty linen in public the issue seems to be snowballing into a controversy.It’s said that there no enemies and friends in politics, and it proved true when Brijesh stepped into Charu’s shoes. Brijesh and Mallya were involved in a bitter battle during the KSCA elections last year. Mallya had backed Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, who had led the anti-Brijesh campaign during the elections.

It is true that Brijesh has a vast experience when it comes to management, but it remains to be seen how much he can impact the performance of the Challengers.Not only did the selection of players during the auction throw up a question mark, it also rankled that several local talents were ignored. The Challengers’ loss proved to be Mumbai’s gain as Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, and Gaurav Dhiman were roped in by the Mumbai Indians.

With Goa coming under the Challengers’ domain, they had the option of selecting opener Swapnil Asnodkar.Instead, they picked up former Karnataka skipper J. Arun Kumar, who is playing for Goa these days. Asnodkar would have also solved the opening conundrum for the Bangalore team and his ability can be gauged by his performances for the Rajasthan Royals.

With the odds stacked against them and stuck at the bottom of the points table, life can only get tougher for the Challengers.

Source:howrah.org

In the rain interrupted match, Kolkata Knight Riders broke the jinx and atlast won the match by runs. They had set a target of 130 for the Royal Challengers and that proved to be too much for the Royal Challengers. They started off miserably and lost Chaderpaul of just 17 and then the next to go was Jagadeesh Arunkumar.The problem for Challengers was not wickets but the climbing runrate. The bowlers of Knight Riders were superbly assisted by the fielders. Fielders were throwing themself for saving each run and in the end it was the combine efforts of superb bowling and fielding which helped Knight Riders win the match. In the last over Royal Challengers needed 19 runs and they were short by 5 runs. So after loosing the last 4 matches Knight Riders are back and the happiness was seen on in the camp and also on the dancing Shahrukh Khan’s face.

Today – Match 29 – Scorecard – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Bangalore Royal Challengers

The 29th match of DLF – IPL was interrupted by rain and due to this, umpires had decided to reduce the overs to 16 over each. Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and decided to bat first but had a dismal start as they lost Akash Chopra when the team score was 9. Soon Hodge also was out leaving the Knight Riders at 20/2. Captain Ganguly then played some brave shots before he was brilliantly run out and the team score was 46/3. Hussey and Taibu then took the score past 50 and at a team score of 64 at which Hussey also returned to pavilion.Taibu and L.N Shukla also felt soon and the Knight Riders were struggling at 88/6 in 12 overs. Some sloppy fielding and some good hits to the boundary finally took the score of Knight Riders to 129 runs in 16 overs.

Lets see how the bowlers try to restrict the Royal Challengers Batsmen.

Today – Match 29 – Scorecard – Kolkata Knight Riders vs Bangalore Royal Challengers

Batting: Bangalore Royal Challengers Innings

Bowling : Kolkata Knight Riders

Batting: Kolkata Knight Riders Innings

Bowling: Bangalore Royal Challengers

In a cliffhanger today, Chennai Super Kings defeated Delhi DareDevils by 4 wickets. Chasing a target of 188, Chennai Super Kings just got the start they wished and the opening partnership of 62 in 6.1 overs provided the platform for a successful chase. Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan scored 40 and Stephen Fleming scored 44 respectively. Stephen Fleming and Raina got out in succession and it looked like Delhi Daredevils are back in the game. Albel Morkel played a useful innings of 30 runs before he was run out by Sehwag. A cameo was needed by M.S. Dhoni but he could not manage more than 33 runs.He got out in the second last over and on the very next ball one more wicket felt. Two vital wickets felt at a very critical moment and thus it looked like things are getting harder for Chennai Super Kings. The Circket Game was swinging from one side’s favor to another. 22 runs were needed in 10 balls when Manpreet Gony came into the center.In the last over Chennai Super Kings needed 15 runs and it was Manpreet Gony who hit a six on the very first ball (300th six of DLF – IPL), the very next ball was a wide and then Gony scored a 4. Chennai Super Kings needed just 3 from 3 balls.They needed 1 run on the last ball and it was Badrinath who chipped the ball and scored the winning run.

Today – Match 28 – Scorecard – Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings

In the Match No: 28, it was Delhi DareDevils vs Chennai Super Kings and this was expected to be a thriller. The expectations were met and Delhi Daredevils started with a flying runrate and scored 50 in just 5.4 overs for the loss of 2 wickets. The batsmen who got out were Sehwag for 23 and AB de Villiers for a duck. But after that there was no looking back and it was Gambhir who took the centerstage and hammered all bowlers. He scored 80 runs in just 49 balls and provided the much needed thrust.Due to this wonderful innings he became the highest run getter in the Indian Premier League and will thus wear the orange cap. On the other end S Dhawan also played a splendid innings and got on to score 59 runs. Gambhir and Dhawan were out one after the other and it thus reduced the scoring rate but still the damage was done and the total score for Chennai Super Kings to chase is 188 in 20 overs
Today – Match 28 – Scorecard – Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings

Batting: Chennai Super Kings Innings

Bowling: Delhi Daredevils 

Batting: Delhi Daredevils Innings

Bowling : Chennai Super Kings