Fox has paid Sony an undisclosed amount as licence fee for the rights. In the UK, Europe, West Asia and South Asia, Sony will telecast the matches on its own channel. Said Rajesh Pant, executive vice-president, SET, "we will depend on advertising revenue in areas where we are running our own channel."

Sony has paid the Sri Lankan Cricket Board a whopping $7.75 million (about Rs 34 crore) to acquire the exclusive telecast rights for the matches played in Sri Lanka till the end of next year. The company's strategy: To take the event to several parts of the world and depend on multiple source of revenue.

While the telecast will be pay-per-view in the US, FoxTel will air the event in Australia and New Zealand on the direct-to-home (DTH) platform. The terrestrial rights in Sri Lanka are withthe state-run broadcaster.

Sony is using cricket to popularise its channel in countries where there is a significant Asian population. In the UK, Hindi entertainment has a 20,000-strong subscriber base on the cable system.

Said Pant, "cricket programming will be an important component to popularise our channel in the short-term. We will offer the best in entertainment, movies, events and cricket."

Sony is using cricket to promote the channel. During break-in intervals, the channel is advertising some of its leading shows. Said Pant, "clients are using our channel to popularise their products. We are using the live telecast of the matches to popularise our products."

Sony has also procured the rights for the exclusive telecast of "The Singapore Challenge" to be played between India, West Indies and Zimbabwe. The match is being played under the aegis of the Singapore Cricket Association.

The channel is planning to contract the rights of the Singapore tournament to media companies for telecast in theWest Indies and South Africa. Said Pant, "we will send the feed to the West Indies and South Africa as they are involved in the tournament."

Sony has made a maiden entry into the world of official cricket with the Aiwa Cup. The channel's association with the game began in 1998 when they organised and telecast the exclusive day and night encounter in the "Hero Winner Cup". Since then, Sony has been associated with cricket extravaganzas like the "Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Match" in July 1998, "83 vs 99 Hero Honda Cup" in April 1998 and the "Coca-Cola Cup" in August 1998 between India and Pakistan.

For the Aiwa Cup, Sony has lined up a commentary team which includes Ravi Shastri, David Hookes, J Thomson and Robin Jackman.