After the deal between BCCI and Zee regarding the telecast of India and South Africa ODI series in Ireland, broke up, it was thought the tournament was in danger. But, a new deal between the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Nimbus Communications has made sure that the series goes on.
Nimbus now holds the broadcast rights to telecast the series involving three matches between India and South Africa in Ireland named as the Future Cup, and one match between India and Pakistan in Scotland. For this, Nimbus would pay US$ 6.05 million per match.
After the Zee Group pulled out of the deal, the Board had requested both Nimbus and ESPN-Star to telecast the series. The board announced a discount of Rs. 257 crores to Nimbus for the four matches whether Doordarshan encrypts the signals or not.
BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi, while addressing the media gathering at the Board’s headquarters in Mumbai, said,
It is unfortunate that we have to terminate our relationship with Zee. They had intimidated the Board in writing about their withdrawal and subsequently we issued a terminal today.Most broadcasters feel that sharing telecast with Doordarshan puts a lot of burden on them. We understand that grievances and have tried to arrive at an amicable solution.
Modi admitted that DTH (Direct to Home) signal was a burning problem because of large scale piracy.
Harish Thawani, chairman and MD, Nimbus communications, said,
We have pushed the past behind us and are looking at the future. It’s very pleasing to know that we can go on with our second innings. In the past we did telecast a lot of cricket matches outside India, including games in Europe, and this time too we look forward to providing quality viewing.
After all the official hiccups, fans in India and South Africa will get to watch the cricket series.
Via: Cricketnext
