Zee bags telecast rights of India-Lanka series

Subhash Chandra's Zee Sports was today awarded the satellite telecast rights of the three-test series between India and Sri Lanka beginning tomorrow in Chennai.

According to broadcasting industry sources, ESPN Star Sports and Prasar Bharati were the other bidders. The terrestrial rights are with Prasar Bharati.

The award of rights followed this morning's order by the Delhi High Court allowing the Board of Control for Cricket in India to take an interim decision with regard to grant of production, telecast and marketing rights to any TV channel for the series.

A division bench of Justices Mukundakam Sharma and RC Chopra ordered that whosoever bags the interim contract would maintain all the receipts of the telecast.

Earlier, the court had advanced the date of opening of the financial bids in the cricket telecast rights case from December 12 to December 1.

BCCI had sought the advancement on the ground that the cost of production of live telecast of test matches was higher than one day international matches and the generation of commercial revenue was less, primarily due to less viewership.

"We are delighted to acquire the cable and satellite rights for the three test match series between India and Sri Lanka. In an open and transparent meeting with the BCCI, in which all bidders were present, we managed to secure the rights for the series. Acquiring the rights is an assertion of our commitment to provide exciting cricket to viewers in India," said Himanshu Mody, business head, Zee Sports.

The bid, though it may not turn out to be a very lucrative prospective for Zee, since DD has the terrestrial rights, will help it in its bid to get the broadcast rights of matches organised by BCCI. This will also help Zee to build a library of sporting events.

According to the broadcasting industry's estimates, the broadcast of the three test series between India and Sri Lanka could help Zee generate a revenue of up to Rs 10 crore, owing to the split of advertising between Zee and Prasar Bharati.

"For Zee this is a strategic acquisition rather than a revenue prospective. This can be seen as we are getting important international cricket content played in India. We will be looking at similar content acquisition in India," said a Zee Sports executive.

The telecast will include preview and review shows, special programming and advertising innovations, special interviews and match reports.