ESPN-STAR, NEO Sports, SET MAX bid for IPL rights
November 20, 2007 • Indian Premier League
ESPN-STAR, Nimbus (Neo Sports) and Sony (Set Max) have presented their preliminary marketing plans and presentations to the BCCI ahead of the tenders for the broad casting rights of its Indian Premier League (IPL) tournaments.
The successful bidder is expected to be announced by first week of December according to sources in the BCCI.
After the success of Dhoni’s men in the inaugural Twenty20 world cup the crowd is expected to pour in for the T20 versions. This is expected to turn the broadcast rights tenders to a closely fought battle.
Nimbus holds rights for both domestic and international matches to be played in India till 2010, while ESPN has rights for ICC matches from 2007-15, including two World Cups and three Champions Trophy and two Twenty20 World Cups.
It is to be noted that the very issue of the rights have resulted in the creation of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) when BCCI showed an empty hand to Subash Chandra’s Zee Network in their bid to acquire the rights for matches to be held in India. This intern resulted in BCCI creating its own copy of the ICL league and named it as Indian Premier League.