ESPN announces India-centric feed for Germania; aims 100mn eyeballs

New Delhi, Apr 3 (UNI) In figures which could give even cricket some complex, sports broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports expects to grab a whopping 100 million eyeballs during the telecast of upcoming Germany-2006 World Cup in the country and announced a slew of initiatives, including an India-centric feed, to get the magic number.

''Despite India being a cricket-crazy nation, we expect that at least 100 million viewers will tune in for the mega event and we will get a cummulative reach of one billion. We will be unvieling a host of marketing initiatives to take the game further to the masses,'' ESPN Software managing director R C Venkateish told reporters here today.

The channel had roped in some of the big names -- ex-Irish international Gerry Armstrong, former England and Liverpool playmaker Steve McMahon and renowned presentator Harsha Bhogle -- for its expert panel for the World Cup, Venkateish said adding that there would be a special Hindi feed also.

The channel will start the countdown to the mega event tomorrow by airing a special Monday-to-Friday series showcasing some of the fascinating stories of the previous World Cups.

However, in what could be a disappointment for a large section of fans, the channel refused to share the feed with the public broadcaster, Doordarshan.

UNI DH PDS RS1458