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Sky Sports scoops cricket telecast rights

After several days of negotiation and fear of failed talks, UK broadcaster BskyB’s Sky Sports struck a deal with Nimbus for telecasting matches.

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NEW DELHI: After several days of negotiation and fear of failed talks, UK broadcaster BskyB’s Sky Sports managed to strike a deal with Nimbus for telecasting cricket matches played in India between March 2006 and 2010, including two England series.
 
The Sky Sports’ deal is for the UK market, and is likely to reach out to a subscriber base of 8 million. While the first India-England series will begin on March 1, 2006, the second one is scheduled for 2009. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) allotted the composite media rights to Nimbus last week at $612 million for international cricket played in the country for four years.
 
Even as there’s no decision yet as to which TV channel would telecast the 23 Test matches and 55 ODIs during the four-year period in India, in an announcement on Friday, Nimbus said that it had entered an agreement with Sky Sports for the UK market. The deal amount has not been disclosed. But, according to a report published in UK’s Telegraph, Sky paid around £10 million for the package.
 
Earlier, Nimbus had said that it had reached agreements with broadcasters in the US, Canada, Carribean, UK and Middle-East. Most of the announcements are expected to be made by February 27. BBC has already bagged the radio rights in the UK territory.
 
Interestingly, Sky will get only England tours on an exclusive basis in the UK market. For the remaining cricket series not featuring England, it would get non-exclusive coverage. Composite media rights owner Nimbus would offer rights to a South Asian network for telecasting the non-England series in the UK. So far, BSkyB has had a monopoly in showing overseas cricket involving England.
 
Meanwhile, for India, TV channels and radio broadcasters continue to be in discussion with Nimbus. Although a decision was expected on February 22, “broadcasters’ negotiations with Nimbus are being stretched over the issue of right price”, an industry source said. While Nimbus managing director Harish Thawani, who has paid $612 million for the four-year rights, is expecting good money for reselling the rights, channel executives argue that the Nimbus bid is hugely overpriced. As the first Test in the new BCCI season begins on March 1, a decision is expected in a day or two. “Otherwise, the cricket telecast rights issue will be back to square one,” as Nimbus does not have a TV or a radio platform, according to a channel representative. In the past, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati was many times given the rights to show matches on an interim basis, as the cricket telecast issue was in the courts for around 18 months.
 
Meanwhile, for the new BCCI season starting March 2006, there’s nothing final on terrestrial broadcast either. A Prasar Bharati source said that “negotiation with Nimbus is on”. But so far, Nimbus is ready to give only ODIs to Prasar Bharati for terrestrial viewing, and not the Test matches. “This is against the mandatory-sharing norm of the government,” the source argued. Mandatory sharing norm states that any private rightsholder must share the telecast feed of all nationally significant events, including cricket, with the pubcaster.
 
Game point
 
Sky Sports’ deal is for the UK market, and is likely to reach out to 8 million subscribers
 
While the first India-England series will begin on March 1, 2006
 
The deal is for covering 23 Test matches and 55
 
ODIs that’ll be played during the four-year period
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