The Hindu : Doordarshan deal for World Cup telecast

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 18, 2003

National

National

Doordarshan deal for World Cup telecast

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JAN. 17. After being practically edged out of the reckoning for terrestrial telecast rights of World Cup Cricket by a prohibitive price of $ 90 million, Doordarshan has worked out a deal with Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) that assures live telecast of the 16 matches in which India features and the semi-finals and finals should India reach them on the national network.

Announcing the deal here today, the Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer, K. S. Sarma, said the public broadcaster was assured a minimum earning of Rs. 23 crores from the agreement which also includes highlights of the 16 matches on Doodarshan-1 besides their repeat telecast along with 27 other matches the day after the game on Metro channel.

Particularly pleased with the deal — which was approved by the Prasar Bharati Board today — Mr. Sarma said it also had a provision by which if GCC earns over Rs. 5 crores per match, then Doordarshan would get 20 per cent of the excess revenue. So, as per Prasar Bharati's calculations, at best Doordarshan could earn Rs. 30 crores from the entire deal.

Should India reach the semi-finals and the final, the minimum amount that Doordarshan will earn for GCC's use of its platform is Rs. 1.25 crores and Rs. 1.5 crores respectively. And, the fees for the repeat telecast plus highlights has been fixed at Rs. 2.5 lakhs per half-hour which is one-and-a-half times the normal rate.

As for the purpose of the repeat telecast, Mr. Sarma said it was worked out with an eye on boosting viewership of the Metro channel as the live telecast timings were not best suited to Indian timings. ``In fact, we have borrowed the idea from private channels which regularly `repeat telecast' matches. Why would they do so if it did not make business sense,'' was his counter question.

About the ESPN-Star Sports proposal to produce for Doordarshan a ``run-up'' programme for every match, Mr. Sarma said Prasar Bharati had offered its terms and conditions to the private channel.

Knowing fully well that both channels had been left out in the cold as far as this event was concerned, the conditions that Prasar Bharati has offered mandates that their logo would not be shown anywhere on the programme. Also, the telecast fees that has been offered to them is at least three times more than normal.

Striking a tough posture, the CEO said a final decision in this regard would be taken this Monday though they are yet to respond to the terms offered by Prasar Bharati. Further, he indicated that even if the private channels accepted Prasar Bharati's terms and conditions, Doordarshan could well end up producing the programme in-house.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National