MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) will deliver round-the-clock coverage on the London 2012 Olympic Games from 27 July to 12 August 2012, offering live coverage of the most popular global sporting event to Indian sports fans.

Out of the three channels, ESPN will focus on Indian athletes. The broadcaster expects that the reach for the event will double this year.

Talking about the strategy of covering the event in India, ESPN Software India senior director business development and event management group Rathindra Basu said, "Overall, we have rights to broadcast 240 hours of programming every day for the duration of 15 days which makes it almost 3,600 hours of programming. We will customise our feed especially for the Indian sports fans. The plan is that we will be showcase live broadcast of Olympics on three networks in India - ESPN, Star Sports and ESPN HD."

He explains that ESPN will be more India specific and showcase sports featuring Indian athletes, and those sports which are more popular in India such as Hockey, Shooting, Boxing, Wresting, Tennis and football.

"Star Sports will be showcasing sports like Gymnastics, Equestrian, Volleyball etc. The content of Star Sports will be more pan-regional. ESPN HD will be a blend of above two channels, showcasing many of the Indian athletes as well as best of sporting action from around the Olympics," he said.

The aim, he added, is to offer a complete and comprehensive presentation of the Games, hosted by ESS? studio presentation team in Singapore, as well as a team of reporters on-ground in London to deliver in-depth news updates, interviews and stories.

He highlighted the importance of ESPN having content that will attract Indian audiences. "After all Olympics is about pride, it is about one?s country reaching the pinnacle of sporting excellence in a particular sport/ category. We will showcase events which will involve Indian athletes for the sports fans in India. There is huge expectation from India?s sporting contingent and we will sieve through 3600 hours of live programming that is available to showcase the best possible sporting content for fans in India."

The core target audience for the games remains males, C&S 15+ All India. "I would like to qualify here that Olympics is the biggest sporting event across the planet where countries fight for supremacy in sports categories. We expect that viewers across profiles will tune-in to see live action from London. Olympics should get almost double the reach as compared to last edition," he added.

MUMBAI: The tension between sports ministry and Hockey India was resolved Monday following the former?s clearance of preparatory camp for the 2012 London Olympics to be held at Sports Authority of India centre in Bangalore starting Tuesday.

?The camp will begin in Bangalore tomorrow. We have also got approval on LTDP from the Sports Ministry,? Batra told reporters after a Steering Committee meeting of the Ministry.

The ministry, which also approved hockey?s Long Term Development Programme (LTDP) till Olympics, said that it was HI which had changed the dates of the camp in order to scuttle the World Series Hockey, an IHF initiative.

Batra refused to answer questions on the fate of players who are playing in the unsanctioned league.

?I don?t want to say anything on that. Let the camp begin tomorrow and see who are the players who report to the camp,? he said.

Batra also revealed that HI has got in-principal approval for the India-Pakistan series. ?In principle we have got the permission, but we are yet to get permission from the Home and External Affairs ministry,? he said.

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan have been traditional rivals, whether it was in hockey, cricket, or in the battlefield. And yet, the people of these two countries are closest to each other in their cultural and culinary practices.

Taking advantage of this, NDTV Good Times is launching a competition among the chefs of the two countries in a new series called ?Foodistan? from 23 January. The show will air every Monday to Wednesday from 9.30 pm.

This Indo-Pak battle for culinary supremacy will feature 15 professional chefs in 26 episodes, and their food preparations will be judged by a three-member jury comprising HT Media editorial director Vir Sanghvi; celebrity British chef Merrilees Parker, and Sonya Jehanis who is a Bollywood actress of Pakistan and French descent.

All the chefs - eight from India and seven from Pakistan - are already known for their work in various hotels in India and Pakistan. The series will be presented by the Aly Khan with Ira Dubey.

Sanghvi said this was the first reality show of its kind on any English television channel, and the most expensive show on NDTV Good Times.

He admitted that getting visas for the chefs from Pakistan had been a problem and had taken longer than expected.

Contrary to common perception, Pakistani food was not necessarily like Indian food, he said.

NDTV Lifestyle CEO Smeeta Chakrabarti told indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of the show launch announcement that the channel had partnered with Geo Channel of Pakistan to get some shots from that country. The programme is in English and a smattering of Hindi and Urdu.

MUMBAI: After cricket and hockey, Sahara Group chairman Subroto Roy is showing new interest in a sport that is evolving in India: Formula One motor racing.

Sahara, which owns the Pune franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and sponsors the Indian cricket team, has bought 42.5 per cent stake in Vijay Mallya-owned Force India, the country?s first F1 team, for $100 million.

The team will be renamed Sahara Force India.

Mallya?s UB group will also own an equal stake in the motor racing team while the remaining 15 per cent will be with the Mol family.

In 2007, Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol had acquired for around 90 million Euros the Spyker Formula One team, which was suffering losses at that time. The team was later rechristened Force India.

In a joint press conference today, India.

In a joint press conference today, Mallya and Sahara said both of them are very happy about the deal and that Mallya will remain the Team Principal.

On 30 October, India will for the first time host Grand Prix at the 120,000-capacity Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, UP.

Mallya, who runs a profitable liquor outfit, needs to find cash to rescue his ailing Kingfisher Airlines business. He also owns the Bangalore franchise of the IPL.

The Sahara group had acquired the Pune franchise of the cash-rich IPL last year for $370 million. It is also the main sponsor of the national cricket team.

Force India is ranked sixth in the Formula One constructor?s standings with 48 points in the current season. The current drivers of the team are German Adrian Sutil and Britain?s Paul Di Resta.