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It's really sad to see Ten Sports getting TV rights for Champion's League. I have been critical of ESPN in one of my previous posts (link thanks to pkblogs.com), but I still maintain that ESPN is the best sport broadcaster in India and it's really sad to see them losing rights of so many sporting events. It started with Cricket, then it was Tennis and now Football!

ESPN have lost rights of Cricket in almost all cricket-playing nation, except for England and Australia and with no live Indian cricket on offer, they have resorted to showing some of the most boring programmes like, Hitz, India Classics n so on. ESPN have even lost rights of US Open Tennis and Tour de France. Football has been forte of ESPN with broadcasting rights of EPL and Champion's League. Ten Sports and Zee Sports had already started infilterating in the ESPN's domain, by bagging rights of other big leagues in Europe, like Serie A and Bundesliga. And with Champion's League going to Ten Sports , it's really a bad news for football fanatics.

The reason for this may be the financial, with Ten Sports and Zee Sports bidding for larger amount. I wonder why ESPN , with Rupert Murdoch, a media barron, being it's head, can't match that. But even then other issues must be given preferrence, as was the case in 1999 World Cup (IIRC), when Zee bid was rejected citing the lack of infrastructure.

Ten Sports haven't given a good sporting experience, with an antiquated look and listless commentators (how can Srinath, Arun Lal and Laxman Sivaramkrishnan be commentators?). The post and pre match shows are pathetic. The highlights package is also bad. I fear that same will happen for Champion's League as well. I remember, when Ten Sports used to telecast FA Cup, there used to be no analysis programmes and same was the case for Serie A matches last season. Sports is not just about watching matches. It's a complete experience, which, I am sad to say, is completely absent on Ten Sports Broadcasting.

I hope that Ten Sports will improve it's broadcasting standards for both Cricket and football, to match those of ESPN, because people don't care about the channel, they just want to see good action and that's what ESPN has delivered so far!