MUMBAI: The Asia Cup cricket tournament will be held in Bangladesh for the second time in a row after India decided not host the event citing packed schedule.

Bangladesh had hosted the last edition of the four nation tournament involving India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2012.

According to media reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has informed the other ACC members that they were trying to finalise the New Zealand tour, scheduled to be held from February-March next year.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, has agreed to postpone a tri-series involving Sri Lanka and Pakistan around the same time to accommodate the Asia Cup that is slated to take place from 24 February - 8 March, 2014.

GroupM Maxus Client Leader Jigar Rambhia feels that the event would have got more sponsorship revenue on the ground had it been held in India.

"But I don?t think that it would have made much difference in the overall scheme of things. It is a relatively smaller event compared to other properties that will happen next year like the Twenty20 World Cup," says Rambhia.

Nimbus Sport, the sports marketing arm of Nimbus Communications, is the commercial rights holder of Asia Cup till 2014. Neo Sports, a subsidiary of Nimbus, holds the Asia Cup broadcast rights in the Indian sub-continent.

MUMBAI: Nimbus Sport, Asian Cricket Council?s marketing agency, has sold the 2014 Asia Cup broadcast rights to Neo Prime for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Nimbus Sport is the sports marketing arm of Nimbus Communications, which is also the parent company of Neo Sports Broadcast, the company that owns and runs Neo Prime and Neo Sports.

Neo Prime has also secured the first right to renew for the next three Asia Cup tournaments leading up to 2020. The rights acquired covers India as well as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka markets.

Asian Cricket Council CEO Ashraful Haq said, "The Asia Cup is our marquee event and we have constantly strived to boost its standing through long term deals with trusted business associates. We are pleased to announce the extension of Neo Prime as our broadcast partner for the Asia Cup in India."

Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasana Krishnan said, "We are delighted to add the extension of the Asia Cup rights to the growing list of long term deals that Neo has with quality international sporting events and federations. The Asia Cup has always been a treasured property for us."

The 2010 and 2012 edition of the four-nation tournament was also broadcast on Neo Prime (then Neo Cricket). The cricket channel was last year rebranded as Neo Prime by Nimbus following the loss of tent pole BCCI rights.

Mumbai: AXN is all set to launch the 21st season of its popular reality show ?The Amazing Race?.

It is premiering on AXN on 7 January at 8 pm.

The series features eleven teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, in a race around the world.

The season spans a little over 40,000 kilometers of travel to three continents and nine countries which include China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Turkey and Netherlands.

The new season comes with a twist with a ?Double Your Money? prize for the team which comes first in the first leg, making them eligible to win a total of $2 million dollars if they also win the season.

MUMBAI: France FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, has announced the sale of US drama Wedding Band to two multi-territory broadcasters in Asia Pacific that will give the show audiences in more than 45 territories.

The deals were brokered by FME SVP International Distribution and Home Entertainment, Asia Ganesh Rajaram.

Sony has picked up the hour long comedic drama for its viewers across East Asia including China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Viacom18 has also opted for the show for viewers in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

Rajaram commented, ?Wedding Band is fun and youthful, it?s got a great script and a wonderful cast. We?re really looking forward to its premiere across Asia.?

Wedding Band is slated to premiere on the US on cable network TBS in November 2012 and has already found international buyers in Canada (CTV), the UK (Channel 5), Latin America (TBS Latin America), Australia (Network Ten), the Middle East and North Africa (MBC Group), Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Viasat Broadcasting) and Finland (YLE).

The series follows a group of guys who try to escape the stress and strains of their everyday lives by performing in a wedding band. Anchored by lifelong best friends ? Tommy, a perennial bachelor, and Eddie, a married father of two ? the guys are weekend rock stars. Only they?re not crashing their way into the best parties ? they?re paid to perform at them. The groupies are bridesmaids, the drinks are free and the dream is still alive. The band will stop at nothing to make every wedding, birthday or bar mitzvah a concert to remember.

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said the umpires named in the sting operation conducted by news broadcaster India TV have been suspended pending further enquiry.

The news channel had recently conducted a sting wherein six international umpires from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were caught on camera agreeing to fix Twenty20 matches in exchange for bribes.

"The International Cricket Council (ICC) and its relevant Full Member Boards have agreed not to appoint any of the umpires named in a sting operation recently conducted by India TV to any domestic or international cricket matches pending the outcome of the ongoing investigations into the allegations made," the ICC said in a statement.

"The officials named are not contracted by the ICC and those Boards which employ and nominate the umpires directly will conduct the investigations as a matter of urgency," the ICC clarified.

The sting operation called "Operation World Cup" had revealed how umpires Nadeem Ghauri and Anees Siddiqui of Pakistan, Nadir Shah of Bangladesh, and Gamini Dissanayake, Maurice Winston and Sagara Gallage of Sri Lanka were willing to fix decisions and share information like pitch report, weather report, toss report and playing elevens in exchange for money.

The accused have however denied the allegations saying that they were trapped by the channel. The news broadcaster had said that the seventh umpire Sharfudoullah Shahid Saikat of Bangladesh refused to give any favour in lieu of money.