Negotiate series broadcasting rights: Indian government

Ten Sports and Prasar Bharati have agreed to negotiate a dispute regarding terrestrial rights for India's tour of Pakistan after the Indian government threatened to intervene in the conflict.

According to a report by Business Standard, sources said that Prasar Bharati had proposed to pay $8 million for rights to telecast the series all over India, but Ten Sports demanded $20 million. The government then suggested that Prasar Bharati would provide its platform to Ten Sports, who would keep the advertising revenues and pay only a carriage fee to Prasar Bharati. Fearing piracy of signals by cable operators, Ten Sports refused the proposal and suggested it would sell deferred telecast rights to Prasar Bharati.

However, KS Sarma, Prasar Bharati's chief executive, was indifferent to the idea. "We are not interested in a deferred broadcast of the matches."

With the threat of government intervention looming, and the first one-dayer between India and Pakistan less than 48 hours away, a solution had yet to be reached.