Nimbus Communications and Doordarshan (DD) will approach the Mumbai High
Court today for an extension of the deadline for furnishing bank
guarantees for the World Cup marketing contract till May 12.
"We had pointed out that a reference to the extension of deadline for
furnishing bank guarantees of Rs 30.56 crore should be made by the High
Court and it has been accepted. On Monday, the order will be revised to
include this fact also," a senior DD official said yesterday.
In a related development, AAAI, the apex body of advertisers, has sought
an appointment with Prasar Bharti's acting chief executive, O P
Kejriwal, today.
Mumbai-based Nimbus was formally awarded the World Cup marketing
contract late on Friday evening after the Mumbai High Court, on a
petition filed by DD, Nimbus and Stracon India, ruled that DD "has
rightly awarded the contract to the petitioner (Nimbus)".
DD had argued that Stracon had defaulted, despite being given extra
time, by failing to furnish unconditional and irrevocable bank
guarantees worth about Rs 31 crore as per an earlier court order.
Reacting to DD's contention on getting the Friday order revised to
include an extension of deadline for Nimbus till May 12, Stracon India
managing director Siddharth Ray said, "As per the earlier Mumbai High
Court ruling, Nimbus has already defaulted as the deadline got over on
Friday itself."
He said, "I believe that DD will further assist Nimbus and approach the
court seeking an extension of the bank guarantee deadline."
Ray added, "When we asked for a day's extension on May 5, DD had
declined and asked us to go back to the court. In the court too, DD's
counsel had fiercely opposed the extension."
However, DD is silent on whether Nimbus will be able to furnish Rs 26
crore by today. The amount has to be paid to England and Wales Cricket
Board by today as the remaining instalment towards telecast rights fee.
With Nimbus' net cost rising to about Rs 58.56 crore (Rs 26 crore plus
Rs 30.56 crore plus Rs 2 crore for customisation of feed), it will need
a gross ad revenue of about Rs 70 crore to break even.
Meanwhile, Nimbus managing director Harish Thawani yesterday said he had
already booked advertisements worth about Rs 48 crore. "We have closed
deals worth about Rs 48 crore already, of which a major portion is from
clients who had contracted with Stracon ear
