CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

Here is good news for cricket lovers in Sri Lanka with just 40 days away from the 'curtain raiser' match of the 1999 World Cup tournament between Sri Lanka and England at Lord's on May 14.

The EAP Networks (Pvt) Limited, owners of popular television channel Swarnavahini - the official rights holder of the live telecast of World Cup cricket tournament from May 14 to June 20, brings the big news for the sports crazy fans. Swarnavahini will commission its new high capacity transmitter today which will enable more than 90% of country's population to catch the 'live' action of the World Cup cricket tournament from England.

The powerful new transmitter of Swarnavahini is situated on the heights of Kikiliyamanne mountain in Nuwara Eliya. ``It's a new chapter in Swarnavahini and a heartening news for cricket lovers anxiously waiting to see Sri Lanka defending the World Cup'', Jeevaka Edirisinghe, the Managing Director of EAP Networks said.

``The new transmitter will ensure a consistent signal quality around the island'', Swarnavahini Director/Engineering, S. Arambawela said. It will telecast Swarnavahini programs on UHF Channel 33. In order to reduce the shadow areas to a minimum, there is a transmitter in Colombo to cater to viewers in the Western Province and seven more relay stations to cover nearly 80% of area in Sri Lanka. The relay stations are situated in Gongala (Deniyaya), Gammaduwa (Matale), Hunnasgiriya, Hantane (in Kandy), Nayabedda (Bandarawela) and Minuwangala (Ratnapura).

Arambawela said with the commissioning of the new transmitter, for which they have invested a large sum of money they will have the most powerful channel among private TV stations in Sri Lanka with the largest coverage. Their coverage will be ``almost equal'' to national television Rupavahini. ``We cover areas by population and not by extent. With the new venture, we will cover almost the entire island, from Vavuniya to Devundara'', except for some part of North, Arambawela said.

The new 100m high Swarnavahini transmitting tower at Kikiliyamanne will ensure the network's goal of providing uninterrupted coverage of the 12-nation World Cup cricket tournament to every single home of the country. It will ensure that any fringe areas of the original transmission footprint, will not receive strong clear signal. In addition, the imposing height of the Kikiliyamanne mountain ensures that any pockets in coverage areas geographical interference will be overcome.

But Arambawela had one final message to cricket fans and in general all viewers of Swarnavahini: ``Changing the direction of your antenna towards Nuwara Eliya alone won't help you to get the best signal. Once you do that, you must tune it to channel 33. But in some areas, our transmission will be two or three channels due to relay stations. There, you have the option of going for the channel with the best reception''.

Remember, Swarnavahini will be on the ball from May 14 as Arjuna Ranatunga and his men will launch their World Cup title defence.