For the first time ever, the Olympics "will be telecast on eight channels in India," according to Urvi Malvania of the BUSINESS STANDARD. Star Sports, the sports broadcast arm of Star India, "will be using all its eight sports channels" -- four standard definition and four high definition, to give 24/7 coverage of the Rio Games. The telecast "will be available in two languages, Hindi and English." The four standard definition channels (Star Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4) will have "distinct feeds, and the respective HD channels (Star Sports HD 1, 2, 3 and 4) will mirror the feeds in high definition." While Star Sports 1 and 4 and the respective HD feeds "will have English language telecast, the rest of the channels will have Hindi coverage." Star Sports has also hired a panel of int'l and Indian Olympians "as well as sports experts who will share, analyse and connect with the Indian viewers as live actions unfolds in Rio." The sports personalities include Ian Thorpe, Prakash Padukone, Anjali Bhagwat, Viren Rasquinha and Rehan Poncha. The network will also "have two anchors at the venue in Rio, interviewing players and athletes." The telecast will begin at 3:30pm with a pre-event show and go to live coverage at 4:30pm, continuing up to 5am the next morning. Star's video streaming platform Hotstar "will also provide coverage of the Olympics, with 14 live feeds consistently on the Olympics video player, available to users on demand through the event" (BUSINESS STANDARD, 6/16).
