Zee goes to the Supreme Court

Zee Telefilms has taken action in the Indian Supreme Court challenging the BCCI's decision to cancel the telecast-rights contract that Zee had won. This was with regard to the battle for TV rights to televise international matches in India for the next four years.

Zee requested the court to set aside the Indian Board's decision to cancel the contract, and the matter is expected to come up for a hearing on September 24. Zee also requested the court to ensure that the Board didn't grant the telecast rights to any other channel before a final decision was taken.

Though the Board had insisted that there was no contractual obligation, Zee felt otherwise, believing that the contract should be implemented since it had paid US$20million. Zee also added that it was fully equipped to cover the series between India and Australia, which begins on October 6.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI's president, told the high court that it could split the four-year contract into two parts, so that televising of cricket wasn't affected in any way. He put forward the suggestion of the next three series being treated separately, with a fresh contract given for each of them.

The Business Standard reported Dalmiya as saying: "We offered that the three series could be taken out from the purview of the TV-rights contract and be treated separately. The four-year TV-rights contract could commence from May 2005 to April 2009. Or else both parties could bid for the rights of these three series before the court and adjustments in the payment could be allowed."