Dish to broadcast India Vs. Pakistan Cricket Tour

[Chris Blount]

DISH Network Secures Exclusive Rights to Broadcast Historic and Emotionally Charged Cricket Tournament

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2004--EchoStar Communications Corporation announced today that its DISH Network(TM) satellite television service will broadcast the historic India vs. Pakistan cricket tour exclusively on DISH On Demand Pay-Per-View in the United States.

The tournament will begin Friday, March 12, at 11:30 p.m. ET and continue through Saturday, April 17. The tournament, to be held in Pakistan, will mark the first time in 15 years the two teams have met on Pakistani soil.

"DISH Network is pleased to broadcast this historic cricket event," said Michael Schwimmer, senior vice president of Programming for EchoStar. "DISH Network is the U.S. leader in delivering the best in cricket and continues to enhance its international channel offerings for speakers of foreign languages including Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Tamil and more from South Asia."

DISH Network residential customers can purchase the entire India vs. Pakistan tour for $199.95 or the One Day International package for $179.95. To order or for more information on becoming a DISH Network subscriber, call 800-333-DISH (3474).

The India vs. Pakistan tour is also available for commercial establishments such as restaurants and universities. Commercial establishments can call 800-454-0843 for more information.

In addition to the India vs. Pakistan tour, DISH Network recently acquired the rights from ARY Digital to broadcast all Pakistani home matches through 2008.

Coming soon, DISH Network will begin broadcasting two new Urdu-language channels: Geo TV and ARY Digital. DISH Network currently broadcasts the following South Asian and Pakistani channels: Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Television Asia, TV Asia, B4U, Zee Cinema, Sun TV, Kairali TV, Surya TV, Gemini TV and PTV Prime.

Dish Press Release (http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=dish&script=410&layout=-6&item_id=501586)

[IanF]

Very cool, though bloody expensive. DISH's commitment to broadcasting international content is impressive.

Now if only someone would explain cricket to me... :)

[greggg]

And to think I was upset about PQ. Shame on myself for complaining about PQ when E* brings me these stellar offerings.

[bcadotte1]

I wonder if this is going to be in HD :D :D

[greggg]

Yea, they'll probably take up even more bandwidth with 5.1.

[BobMurdoch]

And ironically all I hear are crickets chirping with the customer response to this announcement........

[IanF]

And to think I was upset about PQ. Shame on myself for complaining about PQ when E* brings me these stellar offerings.
A very good point, I keep forgetting about PQ. My local Comcrap feed is so bad SD DISH looks fantastic next to it. That and the fact that I probably need new glasses... :cool:

Given the pricing I wonder if DISH makes a healthy profit from the international subs, or is it a break-even proposition designed to broaden their subscriber base?

[BobMurdoch]

SOMEONE must be buying it to make it feasible. They also probably don't ask for the guaranteed minimum amounts that the big boys do (MLB, NFL) which keeps these sports off of E*.

[greggg]

Actually I said that a little tongue in cheek. I live in the Chicago area and we have a very large Indian/Pakistani population I am sure E* will do well with this. All the restaurants and clubs will have it.

[IanF]

Actually I said that a little tongue in cheek. I live in the Chicago area and we have a very large Indian/Pakistani population I am sure E* will do well with this. All the restaurants and clubs will have it.
We have a huge population as well here in Seattle: Microsoft recruits pretty heavily all around the world. I've got some guys on my hall who play cricket in the office a couple times a week: hearly took my head off a while back with an errant hit. They tried to explain the rules/game to me, but soon lost me on scoring and field position of players... :eek2:

[rajeev28]

Last year, there were couple of games which Dish did not offer, and everyone seemed confused as to what happened. Dish was getting competition from www.willow.tv. There was much confusion in many cricket forums of North America that the leader in Cricket Broadcasting will never show cricket except for the big tournaments. We sent numerous emails to Dish with all we could give, and now they kicked those guys way out, "a six outta the ground" or as u say "homerun". This is certainaly the series of series. " Ian f "Now if only someone would explain cricket to me" http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ABOUT_CRICKET/ . Its gonna be an exciting series between

[rajeev28]

Ahh, the gif image doesnt work. Click on it, coz the series highlights is gonna be between these 2

[IanF]

IanF "Now if only someone would explain cricket to me" http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ABOUT_CRICKET/ .
Thanks man: this is a really good link! Maybe I can now join the lads in the hall for a couple. :)

[rajeev28]

Have fun learning, also if u like International movies, check out "Lagaan: Once Upona time in India", they do show on dish sometimes. It was also nominated for Oscars, Best foreign Film, 2001. Oh, ya it's shot in 1800 , and it's abt cricket

[mwgiii]

So...Dish will show Cricket but not the weekly TNA wrestling PPV @ $9.99 a week. :rolleyes:

[rajeev28]

I guess they want to show everything, so it seems when u watch the Dish Live forum, they say it's either not enough subscribers or the broadcasters want too much

[shankar]

Thanks man: this is a really good link! Maybe I can now join the lads in the hall for a couple. :)
Plans are afoot to have professional cricket USA style. Details at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/3533247.stm

:grin::grin::D:D:):)

[rajeev28]

http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/MAR/087093_WCI_06MAR2004.html

[billpa]

Plans are afoot to have professional cricket USA style. Details at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/3533247.stm

:grin::grin::D:D:):)



I'm a baseball fan, but I'd go to a cricket match; I personally think it's a pretty easy game to pick up if you already understand baseball. Instead of the "run" being the 'big event', it's the 'out'. The celebration after hitting a 6 seems a lot less enthusiastic than when the wicket falls.