'It's our rights'

A day after the Delhi High Court asked the BCCI for an explanation of the procedure in which it has awarded television rights in the past, the BCCI has told the Chennai High Court that it is entitled to deal with bidders independently since it owns the rights.

The BCCI's statement sends out clear signals ahead of the Chennai High Court's hearing on the 17th, regarding a case filed by Zee TV against the manner in which the bidding process - which it felt it had won - was scrapped.

Zee were front-runners for domestic television rights after outbidding their competitors in September, but the BCCI asked for further bids and then scrapped the bidding process altogether, after which Zee approached the Supreme Court with the argument that the BCCI was, by definition, a "state". However, earlier this month in a landmark judgment, the court resolved that the Indian board was not a part of the government - which made the broadcaster's case irrelevant - but acknowledged that Zee could pursue the matter of cancelled bids in a High Court.

The Indian board has come under fire for the opaque manner of its television dealings, but it has argued that as the sole owner of these rights, it will sell them to whom it deems fit. Zee put up $308million for the rights for four years, but found the tender being scrapped and new bids called for by Jagmohan Dalmiya.

In another development, Prasar Bharati has approached ESPN-Star with a proposal for a joint arrangement for telecasting matches. The two already have an arrangement for one-dayers, but Prasar Bharati sought to widen the scope of this by including coverage of Tests as well.