The Hindu : National : 'People all over the country can watch cricket telecast'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 06, 2004

National

National

'People all over the country can watch cricket telecast'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, OCT. 5. Prasar Bharati will telecast the four cricket Tests between India and Australia (in October-November), the two Tests between India and South Africa (in November-December) and the platinum jubilee one-day international match between India and Pakistan (on November 13) on DD (Doordarshan)-1 and DD Sports channels and broadcast the commentary of the matches through All India Radio, according to K.S. Sarma, Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati.

"It is the Board of Control for Cricket in India that will produce the match, television commentary and give us the feed. As for All India Radio, we will make our own commentary," Mr. Sarma told presspersons on the sidelines of a convention of an employees' union of AIR and DD here today.

He did not foresee any problem in people all over the country watching the matches and said "even where those cable operators who have [a] vested interest in not showing DD on [the] prime band, people will get it through cable [network]."

Prasar Bharati had been given the exclusive telecast rights for India. Sony Entertainment Network was selling the rights outside the country. The BCCI "requested" his organisation to sell overseas "radio rights." Stating that AIR was already on the job, he said the request had come from ABC Australia for sharing the radio signal. While Prasar Bharati would keep 15 per cent as commission, the rest would be remitted to the BCCI.

Free radio rights

Mr. Sarma said that the BCCI had given radio rights "totally free" to AIR. "This is because, in my understanding, the AIR, in the first instance, made this game popular," he said.

Revealing details of the agreement between Prasar Bharti and the BCCI, Mr. Sarma said his organisation would pay the BCCI Rs. 3.10 crores for every day of the Test matches and Rs. 7 crores for one one-dayer. The total payment would be Rs. 100 crores. "We will pay them out of the advertising revenue. If we earn Rs. 200 crores, we will keep the amount at over Rs.100 crores. If the earnings are more than Rs. 200 crores, the sharing will be on [a] fifty-fifty basis."

To a question on the targeted earnings, Mr. Sarma said that so far the organisation had sold air time worth Rs. 80 crores in two days. "By tomorrow evening, I should be in a position to close the selling. However, I do not wish to mention that figure [target]. But, we are quite comfortable," he said.

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