Vatsa Corporations, which runs the Vatsa Music channel but has had no sporting interests so far, has bid an astronomical Rs 250 crore as "telecast rights fee" over five years for "exclusive and live telecast" of the international cricket matches to be played in India and hosted by BCCI. In a letter to the secretary of the BCCI, Vatsa has said that it "must have at least 30 days of international cricket matches in one cricket calendar year," the letter added.

Not far behind is the offer that has come from a Hindi general entertainment channel. Sony Entertainment Television, sources said, has made a fresh bid, up from Rs 100 crore to Rs 225 crore. The company has informed the Board that it has initiated talks with Air Time, whichproduces cricket pictures for the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

Doordarshan has yet to put in its bid. Prasar Bharati, which had a board meeting on Sunday, has approached the ministry for a grant to make its own bid.

The BCCI, which asked broadcasters to bid for the telecast rights for five years beginning this cricket season, is expected to take a final decision by August 20. The Board's three-year contract with Trans World International (TWI) expired at the end of the 1998-99 season.

Star Sports-ESPN is believed to have bid for Rs 200 crore while Zee network has put its stake close to that figure. Sources said Zee, however, has made an open offer to the Board that it would match and better the highest bid. Incidentally, Zee is planning to launch a sports channel.

Nimbus Communications, hoping to rope in DD, has bid a whopping Rs 500 crore. But sources said the company has made a consolidated bid which includes other aspects like merchandising and naming rights. Stracon India, which waspart of the sports marketing consortium for DD along with Nimbus, has decided not to bid. TWI and WorldTel have also not joined the race. Said Siddharth Ray, chief executive officer, Stracon India, "The board has clearly indicated that the rights would go to the broadcaster. They don't want an intermediary who would trade with the rights. Which is why we have opted out."

Broadcasters, in fact, insisted that the Board should exclude non-broadcasters from acquiring the telecast rights as the intermediary had to resale the rights to the broadcaster. Earlier, the board was considering bids from all the parties. The Board's gameplan is to hike up the telecast fee by playing one channel against the other. Sources said the race could boil down to the four major broadcasters--Zee, DD, Star-ESPN and Sony.The war over televised cricket is not over yet. Media companies will make fresh bids as they want to make sure that they hang on to cricket's hottest property.