NEO Cricket lines up sponsors for India-New Zealand ODI series

NEO Cricket, the 24-hour cricket channel owned by NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd. (a joint venture Company of Nimbus Communications Ltd.), has lined up 10 sponsors for the Airtel India-New Zealand ODI series, which starts on November 28, 2010, and ends on December 10, 2010. The Co-Sponsors are: Airtel Telecom, Tata Photon, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd. Havells; and the associate sponsors are Lava Mobiles, Intel, Royal Stag, HDFC Life, Indigo Manza and Manipal University. The one-day international matches will be played at Guwahati (November 28), Jaipur (December 1), Baroda (December 4), Bengaluru (December 7) and Chennai (December 10).

Raju Udupa, EVP Advertising Revenue, NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd., said, "NEO Cricket has attracted an impressive lineup of sponsors for the India New Zealand one day series. This response for the India New Zealand ODI series follows closely on the heels of the India ' Australia One Day International Series, which witnessed a significant ratings shooting to an average of 5 TVRs (CS4+) as per TAM data. We hope that the India - New Zealand ODI series also evokes similar interest. "

NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd.'s flagship channel, NEO Cricket is available in over 25 countries globally. Nimbus Communications Ltd. intends to expand the reach of NEO Cricket to cover additional regions around the world, particularly in regions with a concentration of expatriate Indian population. NEO Broadcast America, Inc. (a group company of Nimbus Communications Ltd.) recently announced that it has entered into an agreement with Comcast Corporation, largest Cable operator in USA., to launch the 24-hour sports channel, NEO Cricket. The company also announced launch of ATN ' NEO Cricket post an agreement with Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) on Rogers Cable channel 844 in Canada.

NEO Cricket's show "Ballebaaz", a cricket-based show had the highest audiences among cricket related programmes on sports channel in India in the calendar year 2009 and "Extra Cover", a wraparound show had the highest audiences compared to wrap around shows on other sports channels in India in the calendar years 2008 and 2009 (Source: TAM PeopleMeter Systems). Further, NEO Cricket and NEO Sports have won several awards, including the 2008 PROMAX World Gold Award for "Live Event Promotion Campaign', 2008 award from PROMAX India for "Best Script', 2008 award from PROMAX India for "Best Sports Promo'.