The top story last week was ESPN International’s acquisition of Cricinfo – and both companies were rather cagey about future plans. I was surprised that this move from ESPN wasn’t seen as a significant one, particularly in India. Though ESPN has denied any significant impact to the ESPN-STAR Sports (ESS) joint venture and said that Cricinfo will complement ESS’ online (espnstar.com) and mobile (Mobile ESPN) initiatives – Cricinfo brings with it an experienced bunch of cricket journalists; I’d take Cricinfo editor Sambit Bal’s statement – “some day there might even be Cricinfo TV” – as a serious possibility, though I won’t hazard a timeframe. Bear in mind that there’s been a significant shift in focus for both channels over the last year – Star Sports is more entertainment focused, while ESPN targets the more serious sports fan. On to the top stories from last week, then:
— ESPN Buys Cricket Site Cricinfo
— Kreeda Games Gets Funding From IDG Ventures And SoftBank
— Updated: Motorola India Chairman Firdose Vandrevala Quits
— Tips Inks Mobile Content Deal With HandyGo
— “Mobile Industry Not Doing Enough To Foster Innovation”
— Disney Forms JV With Yash Raj Films For Animated Features
— Apple In Talks With Reliance Retail For Apple Store
— Tom Gleeson, CEO of Cricinfo On ESPN’s Acquisition Of Cricinfo
— Intel Plans To Bring Low Cost PCs To India; PC Installed Base At 22 Million
— Some Numbers From India Online 2007 Survey
— Moser Baer To Invest $125 Million In Entertainment Business
— Smile Interactive Starts Mobile Co Infokarma; Also Plans To Incubate Independent Cos
— Sivoo Inks Deals With Optus Media And Madhu Entertainment For Video Content
— MMOGs Gunbound And Rakion Launched On Indiagames’ Games On Demand
— Billdesk Eyeing The Mobile Payments Space
— Web18 Launches Enterprise Tech Portal – BizTech2.com; CIOL Revamped
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