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The Champions Tennis League (CTL) got off to a spectacular start on Monday with crowds thronging the R.K.Khanna stadium in Delhi to witness the first match between Delhi Dreams and Punjab Marshalls. We caught up with Prasana Krishnan, Business head of Sony Six to know about the channel’s association with the league and his expectations from the tournament.
Excerpts of the interview:
Tennis league made its debut in India with the CTL. What convinced you to acquire telecast rights for the tournament?
A lot of factors were taken into consideration to broadcast the league. Firstly, we had to believe in the person who was planning to put up this tournament. We had no hesitation as Vijay Amritraj is known to have a good relationship with the players, his credibility is unquestionable. Sustainability of the league is very important and there are very committed people associated with the league.
The format of the CTL interested me the most. It has bought a big event into the country. We now have a tournament which runs for more than a week, which happens only at the Grand Slams. The fact that it happens in six cities and these cities haven’t had a decent tennis tournament for many years apart from an occasional Davis Cup match in Bangalore or Delhi. We did not a have a big tournament after the Chennai Open in the country.
All of these players will be here for the entire duration of the tournament. In ATP and WTA tournaments, if a player loses in the first or the second round they head home. It is not the case with the CTL. Even though Venus Williams lost her first match against Martina Hingis, people can still watch her compete for the Bangalore Raptors team for the remainder of the tournament.
Indian Premier League (IPL) garners a lot of viewership in the nation. What steps will Sony Six take to popularise tennis in India?
From a communications perspective, we are doing all we can to reach out to the people. Mark Woodford and Louise Pleming have been doing an excellent job in the commentary box and Mandira Sawhney, Siddharth Kannan are doing on-court interviews. Currently, about 25 channels including the Sony channels are airing advertisements about the league. We have Bollywood stars promoting the event and the channel has also created a digital campaign to increase the popularity of the sport.
Do you have plans of extending the event to 14 days and extending it to eight teams?
We are still in phase 1 and six cities will get to watch the league this year. Players availability is another big consideration for us. We will look at all possibilities in phase 2 and shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves at the moment.
Sony Six will also be broadcasting the Australian Open starting next year. Your thoughts on entering the Grand Slam space.
The Australian Open is positioned as the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific region. We got an opportunity after a leading channel’s agreement with the tournament ended this year. We are happy that viewers will now get to watch best players in the world take on each other in Melbourne from 2015-2019.
How will the CTL benefit Indian tennis in the long run?
Indian players will train with legends of the game and get to play alongside some of the greats during the course of the tournament. It will be a great learning experience for them and will definitely help them in the future. There are also two youngsters who will travel with the team and will benefit from the knowledge shared by the legends.
What has been the response of brands and advertisers to the tournament so far?
It has been a positive response so far. They are excited about the new tournament for tennis in the country. They are hopeful that the event will be a huge success over the years. Once the first phase results come out, we will evaluate and take steps to improve upon it for the upcoming years.
Your thoughts on working with Vijay Amritraj for the CTL.
It has been a brilliant experience working with a legend of Indian tennis. He is an all-rounder for us. He organises the tournament, does live commentary and has good rapport with the players. He understands all aspects of how the league works and what is necessary to make it a success. We couldn’t have asked for a better person to be the face of the league.
Do you think India will get ATP/WTA events after the success of the CTL?
There have been WTA events like the Bangalore Open in the past. At the moment, we are happy that Chennai Open is attracting some of the top tennis players at the beginning of the year. It will be difficult for the ATP/WTA to organise more tournaments in an already packed tennis calendar.
NBA is getting very good response in India. Are there any plans on India hosting the basketball league on similar lines?
IMG Reliance will have the answers to that. We would love to broadcast such a league given that our Indian audiences are enjoying the NBA. There has been a 72% increase in viewership from last year for the first few weeks of NBA action this season.
Will the CTL see participation of Rafael Nadal next year?
Vijay Amritraj should answer it. I would love it though!
