Channel One MTV is to be rebranded as "MTV Sports" with effect from today. Although not a dedicated sports channel it will focus mainly on sports plus a mixture of entertainment, lifestyle & business programming plus News 1st updates during it's 18hr broadcast.
In addition they have secured the rights to launch the local version of "Who wants to be a millionaire". Competition among the two sports channels CSN (Carlton Sports Network) & MTV Sports is expected to heat up. Most of the important sports content involving Sri Lanka is telecast by the SLRC "Channel Eye" owing to their superior coverage. However with CSN entering the scene some policies have changed, some of which the Maharaja's are hoping to capitalise on and it is highly likely that we may see more channels taking on a sports outlook.
However the sad thing is that "MTV Sports" like "CSN" will not be a full time sports channel at least for the moment. In addition MTV Sports coverage should be improved on par with SLRC or CSN if they are to be a truly vie for rights for sports contents involving Sri Lanka.
With the Olympics games to be held in London this year it will interesting to see who acquires the broadcast rights for this important event. This undoubtedly good for Sri Lanka since sports was a genre strictly restricted to the pay television segment & some of these channels should start broadcasting sporting events such as Rugby, Formula 1, Football which are some of the events which do not involve Sri Lanka but have a considerable following in this nation.
It is highly likely that the SLRC "Channel Eye" channel would also be rebranded & take on a sports centered name in order to stay on top of the game when it comes to sports broadcasts in Sri Lanka.
Daily FT 26th Jan 2012 : Channel One out, MTV Sports in
