No change in TV coverage, says BCCI

The Indian board has said that its policy on television coverage of matches will not change. The current policy is that TV coverage will start ten minutes before the game and end after the post-match presentation.

Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, said "The BCCI has no plan to allow TV coverage from the point when the players get into the bus or inside the dressing-room area which is under total control of the ICC. It is emphasised by the BCCI that such coverage could only distract the mind, attention and concentration of the players and such distraction could neither be in the interest of the players nor in the interest of the game."

The board's statement is in response to reports that Nimbus, who won the TV rights for the next four years, was planning to take television cameras into the team bus and dressing-room.

"The BCCI currently wants us to start 10 minutes before the match and finish after the post-match presentation but they've agreed to our proposal and, from the next series, we can start two hours before'', Harish Thawani, the head of Nimbus, told The Indian Express on Tuesday. "And so the cameras will enter the team bus and begin coverage from the point when they get into the bus. We won't invade the privacy of the players but would want to give our viewers a feel of team atmosphere and how they prepare for a match."