Telecast order knocks down Zee Telefilms

DALAL STREET SPIKES

Zee Telefilms stock was hammered on Thursday following the Madras High Court decision on the telecast rights for the Indo-Pak cricket series. The stock closed down 3.28 per cent at Rs 147.45 on back of huge volumes of more than 23.2 lakh shares on BSE alone.

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed Prasar Bharati to telecast the upcoming Indo-Pak cricket series. The court delivered the interim order on a petition filed by Zee Telefilms challenging the BCCI's decision in September last year to cancel the tender process for telecasting rights for international cricket matches to be played in the country between October 1, 2004 and September 30, 2008.

Market analyst said that the ongoing controversy of the telecast rights has taken a toll on the Zee Tele counter.

BCCI had backed out of its $308 million, four-year deal with Zee in September 2004, after being taken to court by rival and unsuccessful bidder ESPN Star Sports. And since then the stock has been witnessing alternate bouts of buying and selling.