Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) (TSX-SAT), Canada’s largest South Asian broadcaster and Canada’s largest distributor of World Class Cricket, announces it has secured the exclusive Canadian broadcast rights for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 which starts from February 19th, 2011.
The Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket, organised every four years by the sport’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC). It is the world’s third largest sports event, exceeded only by the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics, and will be televised in over 220 countries to more than 2.2 billion viewers.
“We are again delighted to take the lead in bringing this extraordinary World Cup Cricket to Canada, especially since the top fourteen national teams of the world will participate,” said Dr. Shan Chandrasekar, President and CEO of ATN. He added that ATN will distribute the matches live on cable, satellite, IPTV and mobile.
The 2011 World Cup is being hosted jointly by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Fourteen national cricket teams are scheduled to compete between February 19th and April 2nd, 2011, with the first match between co-hosts India and Bangladesh. The opening ceremony will be held on February 17th 2011, two days before the start of the tournament. The World Cup final will take place on April 2nd, 2011 in Mumbai. There will be a total of 49 matches contested by 14 nations in two groups of seven teams. The top four teams from each group will then compete in four Quarter finals, from which the semi-finalists will be decided.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is slated to include the national teams of Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Kenya, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
First held in England in 1975, the Cricket World Cup has grown as a media event with each tournament. The ICC sold the broadcasting rights for the 2011 Cricket World Cup for around US$ 2 Billion to ESPN Star Sports . The 2007 Cricket World Cup sold more than 672,000 tickets and recorded the highest ticketing revenue for a Cricket World Cup.
