A day after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) terminated its contract with sports marketing company Nimbus Communication for not paying dues, the company?s rivals are keen to bid for contracts to telecast cricket matches in India. Nimbus owns two channels, Neo Sports and Neo Cricket, to broadcast cricket matches played in India.
Nimbus, however, said in a media statement that the company ?is working towards achieving full resolution of any differences? with the BCCI and ?is hopeful of a reasoned conclusion in the coming weeks.?
Three broadcasters FE spoke to who are keen to bid for telecast rights, but chose to ?wait and watch?, are ESPN Star Sports (ESS), which owns the rights for all the matches by International Cricket Council, Zee Group-owned Taj Television, which runs Ten Cricket and holds telecast rights for matches by South Africa and Pakistan boards, and Multi Screen Media-owned SET Max, which owns the right for Indian Premier League.
Nimbus has decided to fight the termination legally. BCCI, the country?s richest sports panel, has roughly 10 months to hunt for a new broadcaster before India?s next home series begins.
?This is a great opportunity for all broadcasters,? Jehil Thakkar, executive director, media and entertainment at audit and consulting firm KPMG India, said. ?But they will wait until BCCI offers more clarity on the bidding process.?
Some say BCCI, itself, will take more time to float new tenders as the case is sub judice now. ?Nimbus is still in the reckoning as they have moved the court,? Timmy Kandhari, leader ? media and entertainment practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said. ?Once the case is cleared, Neo can be a part of the fresh bidding.?
?BCCI also needs to look at the pricing of rights as television broadcast is more crucial for them than ticket prices for matches,? he added. BCCI officials were unavailable for comment at the time of going to the press.
For sports broadcasters, cricket matches in India are lucrative as they offer better advertising revenue and higher viewership. According to the Ficci-KPMG report on the Indian media and entertainment industry, sports channels command 16.15% of the television ad revenue, lead by general entertainment channels.
?This is an opportunity for any sports channel,? Atul Pande, CEO of Ten Sports, said. ?But the issue is very sensitive and we?ll look at all angles before taking any decision.?
ESS, which raked in better revenues this year from the ICC World Cup matches, may bid for the rights but will wait for an official communication from the BCCI. ?We will see how the case pans out,? an ESS spokesperson said. SET Max and Neo Sports declined to comment on the issue.