Sony bags big “Holland Cup” cricket series

The big India cricketing properties for 2004 are getting sewn up. If ESPN Star Sports has won television broadcast rights for the first big cricket tournament after the Indo-Pak series, next month’s Asia Cup, Sony Entertainment Television is not going to be left behind. Sony has won the global telecast rights for the still-to-be-titled tri-nation tournament featuring three of the biggest draws in cricket – Australia, India and Pakistan.

The “Holland Cup” will be played out at Amsterdam, The Netherlands, between 22nd and 29th August. The format of this tourney is such that there will be only four matches, including the final.

For Sony, the Holland Cup provides the ideal curtain raiser to its big ticket event of 2004, the Champions Trophy, which is being hosted by England from 10-25 September. The Holland Cup would likely provide marketing and distribution build-up opportunities in much the same way the Champions Trophy in 2002 was the “lead-in” to the World Cup in March 2003.