Six months of non- stop cricketing action on NEO Cricket

NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd. has announced the beginning of an action-packed cricket season on NEO Cricket, beginning first week of September and continuing till March 2010. India's ace cricketer Harbhajan Singh and the big Indian cricket fan Amrita Rao launched the back –to – back cricket series on the channel today.

The cricket season on the channel begins with SAHARA BCCI Corporate Trophy which features the best of Indian players playing against each other is scheduled to take place in September 2009, followed by international cricket tournaments: the India-Australia ODI series in October, the India-Sri Lanka in November-December 2009, a tri Series featuring India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in January 2010 and the India-South Africa series from February through March 2010.

Commenting on the launch of the cricket season Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd, said, ''We are all geared up for six months of a fantastic international cricket season back to back, all of which will be Live and exclusive on NEO Cricket. We are looking at viewership numbers that are higher than IPL and ad rates in the range of Rs4.5 lakh to Rs5 lakh for a 10 second spot. We also have aggressive marketing plans which have already begun with print advertising followed by Television commercials.''

With over six months of action-packed cricket series lined up, the channel is targeting over Rs650-700 crore in advertising revenues, and in addition to this, the broadcasting company is also eyeing over Rs300 crore revenues from subscriptions, bringing the overall revenue target to nearly Rs1,000 crore this year.

The International cricketing calendar on Neo Cricket will be augmented by domestic cricket tournaments such as the Ranji, Duleep and Irani Trophies. The long window period of six months involving one of the most loved sports, cricket, NEO Sports Broadcast consolidates their leadership as the No. 1 sports channel for the year.