Slots on the quarter-final matches have also been picked up by other marketing outfits of which, it is believed, Nimbus is also a part.

Earlier, there were no bidders for the tender invited by DD for the marketing rights of Wimbledon matches owing to very high financial guarantee of Rs 2.94 crore. However, later on DD directly sold the spots in the sponsored category which the marketing companies picked up to resell them to their clients.

Significantly, DD has the exclusive rights for all the matches to be played at the Centre Court from the semi-final onwards. STAR Sports, the other channel covering the tournament, would be doing a delayed telecast.

DD, however, has theterrestrial rights whereas STAR Sports has the satellite rights for the country.

It was two years ago that DD, under the CEOship of SS Gill, decided to tie up with the marketing consortium headed by Stracon to pip all other private channels. However, the recent controversy regarding the World Cup cricket marketing rights has raised eyebrows in important coteries.

Prasar Bharati CEO Rajeeva Ratan Shah has called for greater focus on the sports events for DD's sports channels. He had stated that DD would take the initiative to talk directly to event-owners for tying up for telecasting rights. However, since Shah was left with little time to do something in that direction, Prasar Bharati invited bids for marketing its Wimbledon telecast.