Friday, February 26, 2010

World Cup Hockey 2010 Live telecast in Ten Sports, PTV, Doordarshan and Others TV Channels

World Cup Hockey 2010 is going to start from Sunday 28th February 2010. In the opening day, India and Pakistan are going to play against each other and it will perhaps become the most watched match in television in the entire tournament. This time, the event is taking place in India and you know that the national sport of India is hockey. Of course these days, hockey does not have the same popularity in this country like the past. However, many people are interested about this sport and you can be sure that many will go to the stadiums when the matches involving India will be played.
Anyway, for most of us who do not live in India but are interest to watch the matches of world cup hockey on television, there is good news that many TV channels will broadcast the matches. I am very happy to see that this time a record number of TV channels are going to broadcast the matches live and as a result millions of people around the world in every continent will be able enjoy them.
First of all, I like to talk about Ten Sports because Ten Sports has been giving a lot of coverage to the tournament. Ten Sports is popular in South Asia and in Middle East. It is a based in UAE. Ten Sports regularly broadcast hockey events.
Ten Sports may be a popular TV channel in South Asia and Middle East but it is not a terrestrial TV channel. It is in fact a satellite channel and its viewership is limited compared to national TV channels like Doordarshan. Doordarshan is the national TV channel in India and it is going to broadcast world cup hockey 2010 matches. According to the official website of International Hockey Federation, Doordarshan reaches nearly 110 million homes and as a result almost 600 millions people will be able to watch the matches if they want.
In Pakistan, PTV is the national TV channel and it is available in any home with a television set. Pakistan was once the world champion and many people are emotional about this sport in Pakistan. Now, Pakistan cricket team is doing very bad and that is why many people will hope that hockey team can bring some glory for them. I am sure that the millions of people in Pakistan will be in front of their TV sets in the match against India on 28th February. And if the national team can advance to semi-final stage then surely it will ensure a huge viewership of the semi-final matches. Pakistan last became world cup champion in 1994 and since then in the last three world cup hockey events, all they could manage was that sixth place.
I also like to mention about Super Sports because Super Sports is available all across Africa. I was checking the Super Sports website and I found out that they will broadcast a number of matches of world cup hockey. Especially they will be showing the matches involving South Africa. On 28th February, South Africa is going to play against Spain.
As for other TV channels, I am giving the list from international hockey federation websites:
- Ten Sports (cable and satellite; India Subcontinent) – all matches live
- Astro Super sports (cable and satellite; Malaysia, Indonesia) – all matches live
- Starhub – (cable and satellite, Singapore) – all matches live or delayed
- PTV (terrestrial, Pakistan) – PAK matches and final
- NOS (terrestrial, Netherlands)– extended daily highlights and live coverage of selected matches
- Sport 1 (cable and satellite,  Netherlands) – all matches live
- Teledeportes (digital terrestrial, Spain) – ESP matches and final
- Sport Digital (cable and satellite, Germany) – schedule TBC
- ARD/ZDF (terrestrial, Germany) – extended news
- Deutsche Welle (worldwide) – extended news
- Zee (cable and satellite; UK) – all matches live 
- Cricket Plus (cable and satellite; USA and Canada) – all matches live and delayed
- ESPN Sur – (cable and satellite; Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) – all Argentina matches plus final
- SKY SPORTS – (cable and satellite, New Zealand) – NZ matches and final
- FOX  Sports (cable and satellite, Australia) – AUS matches and final
- Showtime – (cable and satellite; Middle East) – all matches live
- Supersports (cable and satellite, pan-Africa) – RSA matches and final

In the above list, perhaps you can see that in England, Zee will telecast the matches. In Germany, it is Sport Digital and ARD/ZDF. In USA, and Canada, it is Cricket Plus. In Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay the TV channel will be the ESPN Sur. In New Zealand it is Sky Sports and in Australia it is Fox Sports.
Here, I like to say few words about the TV coverage of World cup hockey 2010. I am very happy that it is to being covered by a record number of channels. However, I felt disappointed in the absence of some notable TV channels like Sky Sports in England and ESPN in USA. I really wish that International Hockey Federation can come up with these major TV channels in UK and USA. They are very popular and they reach in huge audience.
I saw a news in Geo Super website of Pakistan that many sports journalist protested after they could not cover training seasons of different team. This kind of incident should not be repeated because hockey is gradually becoming a dying sport. It has lost popularity in traditional strong holds like India and Pakistan. So, International Hockey Federation officials should remember that they must try to work very hard with the media to bring back some of the popularity. Otherwise, in near future the sports may die.
I hope that you will be able to watch the hockey matches live. If you are anyway interested about this sport then try to watch as many matches as possible because this is becoming a dying match and if you watch more then advertisers will be interested to spend more money on this sport. 

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