Indian board and Nimbus to share telecast losses

The long-running tangle over telecast rights and fees in India seems to be a step closer to resolution with the Indian cricket board agreeing to bear half the loss in revenue incurred by its telecast rights-holder Nimbus as a fall-out of the recently notified Sports Broadcasting Bill.

Nimbus, which last year had signed a four-year contract with the BCCI to telecast all international matches in India, had claimed a 12% loss in its projected earnings and accordingly had asked the board to bear pitch in with 6% of the amount.

The board's Working Committee, which met in Delhi on Thursday, agreed in principle to Nimbus' request. The exact figures would be decided by the audit firms of the two parties while board member Arun Jaitley and treasurer N Srinivasan will work out the modalities. A final report on the issue was expected by March 31.

"We have had an amicable solution to the matter and there are no clouds over the contract now. The contract will continue," BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla said after the meeting.

Nimbus clinched the BCCI rights with a bid of Rs. 2.7 billion (US$621 million approx). The private broadcaster had already paid Rs. 55 million (US$ 1.3 million approx) for the matches played in the first season, 2006-07, but had withheld the bank guarantee of Rs. 96 million (US$ 2.2 million approx) for the following season.

The Government recently promulgated an Ordinance making it mandatory for private broadcasters to share live feed of all sports events of national importance with Prasar Bharti, the national broadcaster. The Ordinance was subsequently replaced by the Sports Broadcasting Bill.

Nimbus claimed that Doordarshan beaming the signals without encryption and also on its DTH (direct-to-home) had an impact on its international revenue. Both the BCCI and Nimbus hoped that the government would look at their recommendations - to encrypt its signals and not telecast the matches on DTH - favourably.

"The ongoing World Cup is not being telecast on the DTH. The Prasar Bharti agreed to do so after the ICC wrote to them," Nimbus chief Harish Thawani said.

"If they have given a mature response to the ICC, I don't see any reason why they would not do so to the home body. If the government agrees to our recommendations, then the figures (in loss-sharing between BCCI and Nimbus) also will adjusted accordingly."

BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla said a tentative list of venues for the home series against Australia, Pakistan and South Africa next season. India will play seven ODIs and a Twenty20 international against Australia in September-October followed by three Test and five one-dayers against Pakistan.

After touring Australia in December-January, the team will host South Africa in three Tests in February-March 2008. Shukla said the Committee also approved India playing three one-dayers in Ireland and another in Glasgow, Scotland, in June.

"The opposition is not finalised yet. We are in negotiations with South Africa, Sri Lanka and Australia," Shukla said.

The tentative list of venues for international matches in 2007-08:

ODI and Twenty-20 matches (Australia and Pakistan): Kanpur, Mumbai, Gwalior, Guwahati, Bangalore, Mohali, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Faridabad, Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Nagpur and Baroda.

Three Tests v Pakistan: Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata.

Three Tests v South Africa: Kanpur/Chennai, Ahmedabad and Nagpur.