DIRECTV, USA's leading satellite TV service provider secured broadcast rights for all ICC and IPL Cricket tournaments. Agreements Enable DIRECTV to Deliver Cricket Events Exclusively in the U.S Through 2011 Through Its CricketTicketâ?¢ Service.

DIRECTV, USA's leading satellite TV service provider secured broadcast rights for all ICC and IPL Cricket tournaments. These rights include events such as the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England, the 2009/10 IPL tournaments and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

With these latest additions, DIRECTV's Cricket Ticket has become the ticket to the most cricket on TV. DIRECTV also has rights for Champions League Twenty20, Australian cricket, South African cricket, New Zealand cricket and other major cricket tours such as the 2009 India tour of New Zealand.



DIRECTV's CricketTicket 2009 was launched amid great fanfare on January 28, 2009 at the ESPNZone at Times Square in New York. Cricket dominated Times Square that evening with cricket promos running on the giant LCD screens in Times Square for an hour. DIRECTV staffers wearing cricket jerseys could be seen across Times Square handing out flyers. One cricketer was seen in full cricketing attire - probably the first time a cricketer was spotted in midtown Manhattan since cricket lost its home in Central Park to baseball over a century ago.

Many prominent guests from the South Asian community attended the launch including the His Excellency Prabhu Dayal, Consul General of India; Nikkitasha Marwaha, Miss India USA; and cricket league representatives and community leaders from the region. The compere for the evening was Sunil Thakkar, of "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge" on Star One TV.

His Excellency Prabhu Dayal attempted the on drive after a brief speech, which he successfully executed on the second attempt. But the speech that preceded the shot was a big hit across the Times Square boundary. Reminiscing about his childhood in Allahabad, Mr. Dayal said that he used to stay up all night to listen to exciting cricket commentary by all-time greats Berry Sarbadhikari and "Vizzy" Gajapathi Raju from far away lands on a transistor radio. Mr. Dayal said that he was excited about Cricket Ticket on DIRECTV and looked forward to staying up all night and watching it on TV.

Nikkitasha Marwaha and Naach Sensation entertained the crowd with dances set to popular Bollywood music.

A similar reception was held on Friday, January 30 at Jillian's at the Metreon, in downtown San Francisco, CA. The West Coast event was attended by representatives from numerous cricket clubs, Richa Shukla, Miss India USA First Runner Up and leaders from the South Asian community.

Richa Shukla performed a wonderful Kathak-style dance and award-winning student dance group, Berkeley Ishara, performed an energetic Bollywood dance sequence.

Speaking at both venues, Yuriy Boykiv, Director of DIRECTV International said: "With Cricket Ticket 2009, cricket fans in the U.S. can turn to DIRECTV exclusively to satisfy their hunger for this exciting international sport and watch the thrill of the game in 100% digital image and sound."

CricketTicket is part of the WorldDirect programming platform and is available for $299.99 for the full season, or the IPL & ICC World T20 package can be purchased for $199.99. Individual matches can also be purchased a la carte WorldDirect customers must first subscribe to DIRECTV BASIC and one of the international programming packages.

Nikhil Shukla, Manager of WorldDirect, spoke about DirecTV's incredible South Asian channel lineup. "We have an extensive lineup including - Star TV, Star One, NDTV 24X7, MTV India, India Now, Aastha, Star News, Cricket Plus and Filmy. Not to forget regional channels such as Vijay TV and ETV Telugu, Bangla and Gujarati," Mr. Shukla said.

CricketTicket is the first-ever, year-long subscription TV package for international cricket. Customers can receive more information on the package by calling 1-800-378-4179 or visit www.cricketticket.com.

More Pictures (Pictures courtesy: ObjectDC)