BCCI receives telecast bids

The four sports channels - ESPN-Star, Zee, Sony and Prasar Bharti - have submitted their bids to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for four-year telecast rights of international and domestic matches in India. According to the Times of India, Ten Sports, the Dubai-based channel, has withdrawn from the telecast race. The board has fixed the floor price at US$2.14 million for each day of cricket.

The bids will be submitted to the marketing committee of the board, who will examine them in a two-stage process. "The marketing committee will study the technical tender and only the bids of those who qualify will be opened," Ratnakar Shetty, the executive secretary of the BCCI, said to NDTV. "There are some qualifications in the tender form itself which have been mentioned. And all the parties are aware of what the qualifications are."

With the board having included a three-year experience clause in the tender, it remains to be seen whether Zee will be considered eligible for the contract. However, Ashish Kaul, the senior vice-president of Zee Telefilms, had other ideas about Zee's eligibility. "... that is why we went to the court in the first place," he said, "because we do not believe that in a fair and a just bidding process such hurdles should be placed."

The telecast rights were fought over in court last year when Zee, who had initially won them, filed a case against the board's decision to cancel the tender process in the Supreme Court. The appeal was, however, dismissed by the court after a protracted court battle.