Incubator escapee wiki

Sony Sports Network

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Infobox television channel

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.

HistoryEdit

In January 2001, Taj Television Ltd was formed in Dubai with Abdul Rahman Bukhatir as a backer.<ref name=":03">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bukhatir had various business interests and was known for transforming Sharjah as a major international cricket venue.<ref name=":03" /><ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":3" /> The company launched the channel as TEN Sports (as part of its Taj Entertainment Network) on 1 April 2002.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As of March 2004, the company was headed by Chris McDonald as the CEO and had 100 employees.<ref name=":03" />

In June 2005, Zee Telefilms Limited launched Zee Sports, reportedly India's first private sports channel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Zee Telefilms acquired a 50% stake in TEN Sports for Template:Indian Rupee800 crore (₹Template:Crore) in 2006, and eventually acquired the remainder of its Indian operations in 2010.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The sale did not include its Pakistani operations, which were retained by the Essel Group via its subsidiary, Tower Sports.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Sony six logo 460.jpg
Former logo of Sony Six used from 2012-2017

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Sony TEN logo new.png
The former logos of the Sony Pictures Sports Network and its channels, used from 2017 to 2022

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> The remainder of the sale was completed in September 2017.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Sony ESPN was shut down on 30 March 2020.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Owned channelsEdit

Current ChannelsEdit

File:All-logos4.gif
The official logos of the Sony Pictures Sports Network's channels, used since 2022

Sony Sports Ten 1Edit

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Sony Sports Ten 2Edit

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Sony Sports Ten 3Edit

Sony Sports Ten 3 is a Hindi-language channel that airs cricket matches from the Sri Lanka New Zealand England cricket boards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It also broadcasts football matches.<ref>Template:Cite news.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Sony Ten 3 and Sony Ten 3 HD broadcasts the UFC matches in the SD and HD format respectively in the Hindi language.

Sony Sports Ten 4Edit

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 5Edit

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.

Former channelsEdit

Sony ESPNEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Sony ESPN logo.svg
Sony ESPN logo

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.<ref name=":4" />

Sony Ten Golf HDEdit

File:Sonytengolf.jpg
Sony Ten Golf logo

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The channel was closed on 31 December 2018.

Programming rightsEdit

TennisEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CricketEdit

FootballEdit

National teamsEdit

ClubsEdit

Mixed martial artsEdit

VolleyballEdit

Multi Sport EventEdit

MotosportsEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

Template:Sony Pictures Networks India

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Sony_Sports_Network&oldid=326806"