Quick note: If you’re searching for a live sports streaming service called Carlton Sports Network, scroll to the FAQ at the bottom. The documented Carlton Sports Network with a Wikipedia entry, parliamentary records, and verified history is a Sri Lankan television channel that launched in 2011 and closed in 2016 amid serious financial and political controversy. That’s what this article covers.

A brand-new TV channel. Cricket broadcasting rights won for a fraction of their real value. A licence granted in days. And a presidential family’s fingerprints all over it. Carlton Sports Network, known as CSN, was Sri Lanka’s most talked-about and most scrutinised sports broadcaster of the early 2010s. Here’s the complete story.

What Is Carlton Sports Network?

Carlton Sports Network, or CSN, was a Sri Lankan sports, lifestyle, and business television channel. It launched on 7 March 2011 and closed in 2016. From day one, it was tangled in questions about ownership, political connections, and whether it had received privileges no independent broadcaster should have gotten.

The Rajapaksa Family Connection

The “Carlton” name was never random. “Carlton” is considered to be the brand name of the Rajapaksa family, alongside the Carlton Residence of the Rajapaksas, Carlton Pre School owned by Shiranthi Rajapaksa, and Carlton Rugby owned by Namal Rajapaksa, as well as the Carlton Motor Sports Club linked to Rohitha Rajapaksa. Wikipedia

Carlton Sports Network (Pvt) Ltd was registered as a company on 10 February 2011. Its four directors were listed as S.K. Dissanayaka, aged 22, A.R. Fernando, aged 23, S. Karunajeewa, and Rohan Welivita. The registered address of the company 260/12 Torrington Avenue, Colombo 5 had been used by President Rajapaksa during the 2004 parliamentary election.

From those early days, speculation ran high that the channel was owned by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family. Those connected with the station denied it. The denial didn’t last long. In June 2012, Sri Lanka Cricket admitted that CSN was owned by President Rajapaksa’s sons Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Namal Rajapaksa.

How CSN Got on Air So Fast

The speed of CSN’s launch raised eyebrows across Sri Lanka’s media industry. CSN was issued a licence to broadcast on 3 March 2011 and started broadcasting on 7 March 2011, taking over the terrestrial frequencies and pay TV channels occupied by Prime TV Sri Lanka, a station operated by the state-owned Independent Television Network.

Four days from licence to broadcast. For an independent channel entering a competitive market, that timeline was extraordinary.

The launch was celebrated by a special event held at the Atrium, Cinnamon Grand Hotel, attended by Yoshitha Rajapaksa, Shiranthi Rajapaksa, and Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage. The presence of the president’s wife and son at the launch of a supposedly independent broadcaster said everything the ownership denials didn’t.

The Cricket Rights Scandal

What the Rights Were Worth

Cricket is Sri Lanka’s dominant sport. Whoever holds the broadcast rights holds serious financial power. The history of those rights makes what CSN received look extraordinary.

The state-owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation paid Rs 143 million roughly $1.1 million for the rights to the 2011 Cricket World Cup and earned Rs 556 million, around $4.3 million, in advertising revenue from it. The rights were worth nearly four times what the broadcaster paid for them.

Broadcasting regulations had meant international cricket matches could only be broadcast by state-owned media in Sri Lanka. As a consequence, state-owned Rupavahini had held a monopoly on broadcasting cricket in Sri Lanka since 1996, except for one year.

Then the rules changed. In 2011, a cabinet decision was taken to amend the broadcasting regulations, allowing international cricket matches to be broadcast by either a state-owned broadcaster or a dedicated sports channel. CSN had launched that same year. The timing was not lost on observers.

Why It Was Deeply Unusual

In May 2012, CSN was awarded broadcasting rights for cricket for three years, from 2012 to 2015, for Rs 125 million approximately $1 million. It had been estimated that the rights should have cost the broadcaster at least Rs 3,000 million. CSN was the only bidder for the rights.

That means CSN acquired three years of cricket rights for roughly one-fortieth of their estimated market value. And no other broadcaster submitted a competing bid.

It was highly unusual, as previously rights had been awarded on a series-by-series basis. MTV Channel (Pvt) Ltd, which owns rival sports station MTV Sports, threatened legal action alleging a number of irregularities and a conflict of interest, with SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga also being CSN’s CEO.

Key Facts at a Glance

The Financial Irregularities

CSN’s troubles went well beyond the cricket rights deal. When the Rajapaksa government fell and a new administration took office, the financial picture that emerged was damaging.

The network was accused of misusing state funds under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and of not paying any taxes to the government.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, who opened the debate on the interim budget, introduced a Super Gain Tax to charge a levy from companies that prospered disproportionately during the tenure of the previous government while making a minimum contribution to the economy. He cited CSN as an example, saying it had neither paid the spectrum tax nor the electricity charges.

The minister went further. “CSN has usurped the sports telecasting rights of the state-run television channels and misappropriated the fleet of vehicles assigned to the Presidential Security Division for its business operations. That is how it has made huge profits,” he said.

Finance Minister Karunanayake later confirmed that CSN had failed to pay Rs 1,000 million that was imposed on it, despite many reminders to pay the due amount.

How CSN Got Shut Down

The end came in early 2016. The broadcasting licence of Carlton Sports Network had been cancelled since the channel failed to adhere to transmission regulations, said Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media Minister Gayantha Karunatilake. Media

The official reasons given by the Mass Media Ministry Secretary were: the address of CSN had been changed without prior approval of the Secretary; the licence had not become affiliated to a registered political party in the event of the licensee selecting to surrender the licence; and the licence holder had failed to submit audited annual accounts to the Secretary within the first three months of the following financial year. Media

The criminal side followed quickly. Yoshitha Rajapaksa and four others, including Nishantha Ranatunga and Rohan Weliwita, were remanded on 30 January 2016 until 11 February, over alleged financial irregularities at CSN. Wikipedia

What Happened After CSN Closed

The closure of CSN marked the end of a five-year experiment in politically connected sports broadcasting. Sri Lanka’s media landscape moved on. Rival stations that had been squeezed out of cricket rights during CSN’s peak years returned to the market under a more competitive framework.

The broader Rajapaksa political story continued long after CSN. Mahinda Rajapaksa later returned to Sri Lankan politics as Prime Minister, and Namal Rajapaksa remained an active political figure. But CSN itself never returned.

For media analysts, the CSN story became a textbook example of how state power, broadcasting regulation, and political family branding can combine to reshape an entire media market.

FAQ

1. What does CSN stand for?
Carlton Sports Network — a Sri Lankan sports, lifestyle, and business television channel that operated from 2011 to 2016.

2. Who owned Carlton Sports Network?
Sri Lanka Cricket officially admitted in June 2012 that CSN was owned by Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Namal Rajapaksa, sons of then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

3. Why was CSN’s cricket deal controversial?
CSN acquired three years of Sri Lanka Cricket broadcasting rights for approximately Rs 125 million, a fraction of their estimated market value of Rs 3,000 million. CSN was also the only bidder.

4. Why was CSN’s licence cancelled?
Officially for changing its registered address without approval and failing to submit audited annual accounts. The channel also faced unpaid tax fines of Rs 1,000 million.

5. Is Carlton Sports Network the same as a streaming site by that name?
No. The documented Carlton Sports Network is the Sri Lankan TV channel described in this article. Other websites using the same name in 2026 have no verified corporate identity or official media licensing.

6. What happened to Yoshitha Rajapaksa after CSN closed?
He was remanded in January 2016 over alleged financial irregularities at CSN, along with four others connected to the network.

Final Thoughts

Carlton Sports Network lasted just five years on air, but it left a long paper trail of political controversy, questionable broadcasting deals, and unpaid obligations that Sri Lankan courts and parliament are still referenced years later. It remains one of the clearest documented examples in South Asian media history of what happens when a ruling family’s brand name ends up on a broadcast licence.