The Hindu : Front Page : Nimbus bags BCCI telecast rights

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 18, 2006

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Front Page

Nimbus bags BCCI telecast rights

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday awarded the cable, broadband and direct-to-home telecast rights to Nimbus Communications Ltd. for four years.

Rights to cover 23 Tests

The rights will cover 23 Tests and 55 One Day Internationals that India is expected to play between March 1, 2006 and March 31, 2010, subject to clearance from the International Cricket Council (ICC), and 72 days of domestic cricket.

Nimbus had submitted a bid for $612 million (over Rs. 2,700 crore), which amounted to approximately $62 million over the nearest bidder.

The ESPN Software bid stood at $550 million while that of Zee Telefilms' was $513 million.

Matches organised by BCCI

The Nimbus bid comprises $504 million for India territory rights and $108 million for international territory rights. These rights are for matches organised by the BCCI, and as such Nimbus will not be entitled to telecast the World Cup or the Champions Trophy matches, which are organised by the ICC.

BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi said SET Satellite Singapore Pte ($478 million) and British Sky Broadcasting were disqualified for including caveats in their bids.

Last week, Nimbus had won the television production rights for cricket in India.

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