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ESPN closed 40M deal to televise cricket in India.

The US sports television network ESPN has wrapped up a deal worth 40 million dollars to telecast domestic and international cricket in India over the next five years. The deal, which excludes the 1996 World Cup to be hosted in the Indian sub-continent, was finalised by ESPN and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently, according to a BCCI source.

But ESPN is worried about the extent of co-operation from Doordarshan, the state-run television, he said. The London-based TransWorld International (TWI) went to court last year when Doordarshan refused to give it satellite uplinking facilities to telecast the five-nation Hero Cup tournament in India. Cooperation with Doordarshan, which reaches more than 40 million homes across India, is crucial for the success of the deal.