# DIRECTV launches first dedicated cricket channel in US



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

*DIRECTV launches first dedicated cricket channel in US *



> El Segundo, California, Nov 21: DIRECTV, the leading provider of cricket programming in the United States, on Tuesday launched the nation's first 24-hour cricket channel dedicated to in-depth coverage of the sport.
> 
> Available exclusively on DIRECTV, Cricket Plus will showcase rebroadcasts and same day highlights of ICC events including the Cricket World Cup 2007, as well as cricket from the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe. It will continue to broadcast matches live, on a pay-per-view basis, through its CricketTicket package.
> 
> .........


Read the rest of the story at: *Zeenews.com*


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## rgraham541 (Aug 6, 2006)

I don't know what to say............:lol:


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## CerpinTaxt (Sep 29, 2006)

Is this taking up bandwidth that could be used for national geographic or some other "mainstream" HD channel? If so, wow, what a waste!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

CerpinTaxt said:


> Is this taking up bandwidth that could be used for national geographic or some other "mainstream" HD channel? If so, wow, what a waste!


Don't under estimate the number of people that watch Cricket.

Just because you don't watch it...


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## CerpinTaxt (Sep 29, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Don't under estimate the number of people that watch Cricket.
> 
> Just because you don't watch it...


well the article said 5 million, but i doubt all of those fans have directv. do you seriously think more people want the cricket channel than national geographic (or some other network available in HD)?


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## DaleB (May 31, 2006)

DIRECTV customers will need to use a WorldDirect services satellite dish to watch this channel so it will not use any bandwidth from the main satellites.

Dale


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

CerpinTaxt said:


> well the article said 5 million, but i doubt all of those fans have directv. do you seriously think more people want the cricket channel than national geographic (or some other network available in HD)?


I didn't say that... but considering there are only 1.5 million HD subscribers.....

All I know is that at the "hight" of the Cricket season... at my previous jobs, a lot of my co-workers, stayed up all night at bars and other establishments watching the matches.


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## CerpinTaxt (Sep 29, 2006)

I guess it must be profitable to directv or they wouldn't do it. I just really want some more HD channels like PBS or National Geographic.


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## mitchelljd (Aug 16, 2006)

well, sounds like directv is going after the very specialized market.


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## rgraham541 (Aug 6, 2006)

Cricket Ticket chirp chirp...chrip chrip


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Don't knock Cricket.

But, serious, how about some interesting channels for the rest of us? And, shopping channels don't count.


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## cbearnm (Sep 6, 2006)

It makes sense for D*, if they can get even 1/2 million of those 5 million fans to switch to D*. I would watch at least some. More subs (for whatever reason) means less price increases, which benefits me.
Granted I would love to have NG-HD, but I can see the business sense as well. I have probably watched about 2-3 hours per month of NG and to be honest, doubt that I would watch much more in HD, other than tripping over shows while scanning the 70s.
Now if I were a fan of Cricket, it would motivate me to get D*. It just seems with the diversity of opinions on this forum, EVERY new channel announcement is going to met with "Well, great, but what about XYZ-HD, what a waste" from at least a few posters.
(I would never hold my breath for PBS-HD, the local PBS stations have way too much to lose if you aren't watching them directly. It could happen, but D* would have to compensate the locals a lot of money)


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## quizzer (Aug 29, 2006)

cricket is an anthem for most of south asia, england,aussies and south africa....

3 cheers to directv for bringing this channel and that too without any additional cost.

Iam one of the thousands(if not millions) who would like to thank directv for this channel


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## Strejcek (Sep 28, 2006)

Wow, yet another useless DTV channel. No offense to you Cricket fans out there, but I would really like to see DTV expand their national HD channels instead of continuing to add useless channels. I would say DTV could certainly lose a few shopping channels and I'm sure there area a few 400 channels that could go as well. Oh well, enough of my ranting. You folks have a great Thanksgiving Day!!!


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## ramcm7 (Aug 1, 2002)

I am quite diappointed that this is only available as part of the Hindi Direct packages. I called D* to see if this channel is available a la carte, but it is not. I am one of the few Americans who has actually taken up the sport and subscribe to Cricket Ticket. Hindi programming does not interest me. I think this should be bundled with Cricket Ticket. I would think some of the other south asian folks buying packages other than Hindi language might want this, as well.

Does anyone on this board have a Hindi Direct package? Is Cricket Plus broadcast in Hindi or English? Just curious.


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## Justcoz (Oct 22, 2004)

The only reason I have DTV is for their cricket. 

The reason why the Sat cos have cricket is because its a must have for the 10 M expats from a cricket playing nation in the US - and these are high-yield high-retention consumers.

If there was no money in it, there would be no broadcasts - and we would all be waiting for the cricket to buffer on Willow.tv.

... IMHO if you are giving bandwidth to the Grizzlies vs the Clippers, or the Oilers vs the Coyotes, or Coppin State vs Ball State (no offense Indianans) believe me you have space to cover international cricket... Wake up guys, its a global community now.

And do me a favor - stop whinging on about bandwidth for the never ending HD repeats of "Sunrise over the Tetons".


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## dtv757 (Jun 4, 2006)

i dont know if it was an error or what but, when i was fliping throught the channels yesterday i saw some of the games in the 100's and was able to view one channel. i think it was 117. and i never order this ticket or any thing.


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## quizzer (Aug 29, 2006)

I agree that cricket ticket should also be available la-carte besides bundling in hindi direct.

Its a 100% English sports channel containing 90% cricket


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## Mrmiami (Oct 3, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Don't under estimate the number of people that watch Cricket.
> 
> Just because you don't watch it...


Earl, there may be quite a few people that enjoy this sport but I don't believe the numbers warrant dedicating a whole channel to. Wasting bandwidth right now when most people are screaming for more HD content is not a wise business decision on DirecTV part. Let's see Cricket ranks right up there with....let me think...Frog jumping contests! When are they getting their own dedicated channel? Can't these groups of small number fans just buy a ticket and go see the darn contest rather than sit back and wait for DTV to bring it to them in thier own living rooms. Come on, DTV is starting to get more prevalent with quanity rather than quality. I rather see them start addressing more serious issues like 1. Providing more HD channels #2 Making those HD Channels True 1080i or even better yet "Be The FIRST" to provide 1080P HD!!!! and Last Clean up these pathetic, over saturated, retransmitted local channels. My Sony SatHD-300 never looked as poorly doing the job as the HRHD-20700 looks. I can not understand how years of advances can make you go backwards in PQ.


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## davidrumm (Dec 2, 2005)

The only thing is this channel is on the International Satellite at 95 degrees. It will not affect any bandwidth for HD as D* does not use that sat for HD only for International channels.


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## juan ellitinez (Jan 31, 2003)

Does anybody know when bingo tv will debut on directv?


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## mhmaleman (Nov 25, 2006)

Hello all:

Good for DirecTV to launch the CricketPlus channel in the US.

So there hads been a lot of talk about wasting bandwidth of the DTV satellites. Now think about this, 120-180 channels for 40-50 USD/month, or 14.99/channel and more for packages for the international and PPC channels/ The margins and markups on these channels and cricket PPV events are much higher than the local channels/packages. ewer viewers maybe, but larger margins. Just plain common economic sense.

I do agree that the Cricket Plus channels should be offered a-la-carte. I have no interest in the Hindi programming package. 

AS for cricket lovers and viewers, a coupld of questions:

I noticed that the Cricketplus.tv websitee listed the matches between India and South Africa, and the Ashes. Now are these live events or replays? I understand CricetDirect is shoing the Ashes and the India/South Africa live. Just trying to fugure out if I need on or both? wondering if I need one or both???

Thanks.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

davidrumm said:


> The only thing is this channel is on the International Satellite at 95 degrees. It will not affect any bandwidth for HD as D* does not use that sat for HD only for International channels.


Suggestion, why doesn't DTV move all the shopping and religious channels to the 95 SAT?


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## jonaswan2 (Oct 29, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> Suggestion, why doesn't DTV move all the shopping and religious channels to the 95 SAT?


Because not everybody who wants those channels will niether have a dish to pick up that stuff, nor want a dish that picks up that stuff.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

jonaswan2 said:


> Because not everybody who wants those channels will niether have a dish to pick up that stuff, nor want a dish that picks up that stuff.


Opps, sorry, forgot the  signal on that one.


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## quizzer (Aug 29, 2006)

cricketplus will show only highlights of ind sa and ashes.

the live matches are on PPV.


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## mruk69 (Jul 26, 2003)

Dish has had Cricket for years through their affiliation with KBS, they were rolling in the money as people were paying about $200 a pop for tournaments that lasted a couple of months. 
How much do people pay for NFL, M LB or NBA pack for a whole season? When you consider the amount of cricket tournaments and series going on around the world, yes it is in the both providers to to profit from it. My brother in law forks out probably about a grand or more a year. He subs with both carriers for the cricket.
Don't forget it is so huge that Dish even lets you watch games via broadband on your computer, plus you get to watch games that Dish are not broadcasting via sat on broadband eg. English Countly Leagues
DTV saw how much money Dish was making and decided to do the same.
All the countries that take part in these tournaments have signed exlusive deals with the carriers eg. all games involving Australia at home are on DTV, all India home games are exclusively on Dish.


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## ramcm7 (Aug 1, 2002)

mruk69 said:


> Dish has had Cricket for years through their affiliation with KBS, they were rolling in the money as people were paying about $200 a pop for tournaments that lasted a couple of months.
> How much do people pay for NFL, M LB or NBA pack for a whole season? When you consider the amount of cricket tournaments and series going on around the world, yes it is in the both providers to to profit from it. My brother in law forks out probably about a grand or more a year. He subs with both carriers for the cricket.
> Don't forget it is so huge that Dish even lets you watch games via broadband on your computer, plus you get to watch games that Dish are not broadcasting via sat on broadband eg. English Countly Leagues
> DTV saw how much money Dish was making and decided to do the same.
> All the countries that take part in these tournaments have signed exlusive deals with the carriers eg. all games involving Australia at home are on DTV, all India home games are exclusively on Dish.


Did India end up signing with Dish? I know their broadcast rights were tied up in the Indian courts for some time. I know Dish carries Pakistan- and England-hosted matches exclusively. DirecTV has Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and West Indies-hosted matches locked up.

I believe the Cricket Ticket package also coincided with Australian-based News Corp's acquisition of DirecTV. You are right that Dish used to charge around $200 per tour. When DirecTV came out with their package, the first package was around $200 for all the tours broadcast, putting some pressure on Dish. Both services have rights for ICC tournaments, like the recent Champions Trophy and the upcoming Cricket World Cup. Dish turned the pricing game around, undercutting the price on the Champions Trophy and DirecTV eventually matched. Hopefully we will see similar competition for the Cricket World Cup.


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## fullcourt81 (Sep 8, 2005)

this, and still no Tennis Channel  :nono: :eek2:


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## mruk69 (Jul 26, 2003)

fullcourt81 said:


> this, and still no Tennis Channel  :nono: :eek2:


I get the Tennis Channel on Dish and lets just say it ain't worth a crap.


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## jasonblair (Sep 5, 2006)

I'm in talks with DirecTV to launch a channel that features closeups of my left eyebrow 24/7. They think it would be a better use of bandwidth than the alternative of switching UniversalHD from 1280X1080 to 1920X1080.


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## quizzer (Aug 29, 2006)

ramcm7 said:


> Did India end up signing with Dish? I know their broadcast rights were tied up in the Indian courts for some time. I know Dish carries Pakistan- and England-hosted matches exclusively. DirecTV has Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and West Indies-hosted matches locked up.
> 
> I believe the Cricket Ticket package also coincided with Australian-based News Corp's acquisition of DirecTV. You are right that Dish used to charge around $200 per tour. When DirecTV came out with their package, the first package was around $200 for all the tours broadcast, putting some pressure on Dish. Both services have rights for ICC tournaments, like the recent Champions Trophy and the upcoming Cricket World Cup. Dish turned the pricing game around, undercutting the price on the Champions Trophy and DirecTV eventually matched. Hopefully we will see similar competition for the Cricket World Cup.


India has still not signed any exclusive deals with E* or DTV.

Iam also awaiting E* pricing for the worldcup so that DTV will be forced to reduce its price from the high $250.


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## crabtrp (Sep 23, 2006)

quizzer said:


> India has still not signed any exclusive deals with E* or DTV.
> 
> Iam also awaiting E* pricing for the worldcup so that DTV will be forced to reduce its price from the high $250.


I got the WC + ICC trophy for $250. After a (genuine) complaint to retention I got $120 off. ICC was $99 so I for the WC for $30. Not bad.


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