MUMBAI: Softening its stance towards Sri Lanka Premier League, the Indian cricket board has said it is open to allowing its players to participate in the tournament.

BCCI president N Srinivasan has said that the cricket board would examine the request by SLC once the proposal comes to the table.

"Last time around, there were specific reasons why the BCCI could not support the tournament. And we informed the Sri Lankan board at that time. This time, if there are any proposals made, we will examine it. And we have to be satisfied that the doubts and problems we had last time will not continue," Srinivasan said.

The SLPL, which will be played from 10-31 August at Colombo and Pallekele, had failed to take off last year due BCCI?s refusal to allow Indian players in the tournament thereby hurting the tournament?s commercial viability in the Indian market.

Last time around, the BCCI had contended that the contract with SEV, the commercial rights holder of SLPL, does not safeguard the financial interests of the Indian players.

The BCCI also suspected that former IPL chairman Lalit Modi had interests in SLPL, a charge that was vehemently denied by both SEV and SLC.

The first edition of SLPL Twenty20 will feature seven provincial teams who will play a total of 24 matches with a compulsory ruling of no more than six overseas players in each squad.

The seven teams for SLPL are Basnahira Bears, Kandurata Kites, Nagenahira Nagas, Ruhuna Rhinos, Uthura Oryxes, Uva Unicorns, and Wayamba Wolves.

However, teams can field only four overseas players in the playing 11, while the remaining seven players will be Sri Lankans, with one player mandatorily being an under-21 cricketer.

All the matches of SLPL will be televised live, with Carlton Sports Network broadcasting the matches in the home market of Sri Lanka. CSN is reportedly owned by family members of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka.

MUMBAI: The Indian cricket board has approved Star India?s purchase of the media rights for international cricket played in India for a period of six years till 2018.

Star India had last month sprung a major surprise by bagging the BCCI media rights for Rs 38.51 billion, beating Multi Screen Media which had bid Rs 37 billion. Interestingly, ESPN Star Sports, the equal joint venture between Star and ESPN, did not bid.

"The BCCI working committee ratified the grant of media rights to Star India Pvt. Ltd. for the next six years - 2012 to 2018," BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a media statement.

The WC has also recommended inclusion of a Pakistani team in Champions League Twenty20 tournament, a move aimed at attracting eyeballs. ESPN Star Sports holds the rights for a period of ten years till 2017, paying a whopping $975 million.

The Champions League T20 Governing Council will look into the recommendations of the working committee.

The move comes three years after the 26/11 terror attacks, which led to a break-up of bi-lateral cricketing ties between the two countries.

A Pakistani team, Sialkot Stallions, was expected to participate in the inaugural edition of CL T20. However, the terror attacks led to the exclusion of Pakistan from the tournament.

"The Working Committee has decided to invite a team from Pakistan to play in Champions League Twenty20 to be held in October," BCCI president N Srinivasan told reporters after the Board?s working committee meeting.

Srinivasan said the recommendation will be forwarded to CLT20 Governing Council for the approval of Cricket Australia, and Cricket South Africa, who are also founding members of the tournament.

"We will recommend to the GC that the BCCI has no objection and is prepared to invite a Pakistan team in the Champions League," he added.

Modeled on the lines of Football?s Champions League, CL T20 draws teams from India, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and New Zealand. Teams that win their respective national T20 competition qualify for the tournament.

The inaugural edition of the competition featured 12 sides from seven nations and was held in India. In 2010, CLT20 moved to South Africa where 10 sides from six nations locked horns at four venues.

Last year, the tournament returned to India with a pre-tournament qualifier with six teams facing off in a qualifier in Hyderabad. The three top teams from qualifiers joined seven already confirmed teams making it a 10-team tournament.

MUMBAI: Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC), the governing body of cricket in the country, has signed a fresh deal with Singapore-based Somerset Entertainment Ventures for its ambitious franchise based T20 league that had failed to take off last year.

As per the new deal, the tournament will be held between 10-31 August ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September, according to ESPNCricinfo.

SEV had entered into a five-year deal with SLC to acquire the commercial rights of SLPL, but the deal became void as the interim committee of SLC that had signed the deal was replaced.

The new deal also addresses concerns raised by a Committee on Public Enterprises report regarding some of the clauses in the contract. The agreement has been cleared by the office of the Sri Lankan attorney general.

The inaugural edition of the SLPL was supposed to be held from 19 July to 4 August but it did not take-off due to Indian cricket board?s reluctance to grant NoC to its players to participate in the league.

The BCCI had at that time contended that the contract with SEV does not safeguard the financial interests of the Indian players. The BCCI also suspected that former IPL chairman Lalit Modi had interests in SLPL, a charge that was vehemently denied by both SEV and SLC.

As for the format of the event, the SLPL will have seven teams who will play each other in a round-robin format followed by semi-finals and finals. The games are expected to be played at Colombo and Kandy.

MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corp and The Walt Disney Company are deciding on how to end their 16-year-old sports broadcasting joint venture in India.

The stumbling block in a final settlement is that both Star and ESPN want to buy out their partner?s stake. Both realise that the JV has outlived its time and can?t serve the individual commercial interests of either Star or ESPN in a market where News Corp and Disney have made massive investments and are at different growth cycles.

Star Group has offered to buy out ESPN?s stake in the equal joint venture so that it gets independent control to expand its sports broadcasting business in India at a time when acquisition costs have climbed to astronomical heights. Star?s ability to take risks and aggressively mop up cricket rights would be higher as it can leverage the sports property with its highly popular entertainment channels in India.

"Star is very keen on buying out ESPN?s 50 per cent stake in India. The JV is under severe strain and the individual business interests of the two companies can no longer be served by it," a source familiar with the development said.

Star TV, for example, scooped up media rights to international cricket played in India from the BCCI for a whopping Rs 38.51 billion from 2012 through to 2018. The JV was not agreeable to bid so high as it has other cricketing properties where it has bet big like the ICC ($1.1 billion for eight years from 2007-15) and the Champions League Twenty20 ($975 million for 10 years) to ensure that it stays as the top sports broadcasting network in India.

"Star was ready to pay so high as it served its business interests. It wanted to deny Sony (which bid Rs 37 billion) the rights as, along with the IPL, it would have become a formidable network. The entertainment channels have already started delivering for Sony. Star could bid that amount because of its overall India strategy," the source said.

The problem is that neither Star nor Disney want to sell out. ESPN has also expressed interest to buy out Star?s stake in India, the source said.

"It could have been easier if it would have been any other multinational media company like Turner International. Disney has also made huge investments in the Indian market. It has bought out UTV Software Communications and has delisted it. It has got an aggressive person in Ronnie Screwvala to head its India operations. While having a presence in kids, niche entertainment channels and movies, it is missing in the Hindi GEC (general entertainment channel) space which is massive in India. It also wants to have full control of sports broadcasting," the source added.

For any partner to sell the India business would mean that it would be locked out of sports for a few years due to a non-compete clause.

"Neither Disney nor Star want to be out of this lucrative business for a few years as there would be a non-compete clause. Besides, there are few cricket rights available and they are all locked long term," the source said.

Cricket is the only sporting property that people watch at a mass level with passion across the country. It has got both advertising and pay revenue pull. In 2011, sports broadcasters raked in advertising revenue of Rs 20 billion, led by the IPL that took home Rs 9 billion.

Digitisation also throws open a wide pay revenue potential, unlocking leakages from the last mile of the cable networks that is controlled by local cable operators who under-report their subscriber base. The government has fixed 30 June as the deadline for cable TV digitisation in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. India needs to make the complete switchover from analogue to digital by 31 December 2014.

The complexity of the issue is obvious as the web of the JV spreads across Asia. The talks for a split started a year back and even discussed about the possibility of News Corp letting go rest of Asia to ESPN. "FIC (Fox International Channels) runs a business worth over $1 billion in rest of Asia and does not want to let go of sports. That is not possible," the source said.

Splitting the properties that the JV holds is also not feasible. "The only way they can terminate the joint venture is by somebody selling out. This will also make the task of valuing the assets easier," the source said.

Star holds an upper hand at this stage as it has got the BCCI rights. It has sub-licensed the rights to ESPN Software India, the joint venture company which runs ESPN Star Sports? India operations. "The weight of the Rs 38.51 billion property is hanging overhead. The JV will be given the task of monetising it so long as the partnership lasts," the source said.

The BCCI property also leaves Star with another option to explore. In the worst case scenario if it decides to sell out to ESPN, it can build a sports broadcasting business with the BCCI rights as the starting pillar, much like Sony did with the Indian Premier League (IPL) or Nimbus did with BCCI (though Neo couldn?t hold on and had to forego the BCCI rights).

"Star would ideally like to buy out ESPN?s stake in the JV to get full control of India before the first series (from the BCCI rights) kicks off between India and New Zealand in August," a media observer said.

Disney may decide to first focus on consolidating its UTV investments and building the Hindi GEC vertical as well before it goes all out on sports. At least that is what Star would like Disney to do.

The cricketing rights are spread among the four broadcasting companies. The ESPN-Star JV has rights to ICC, Champions League Twenty20, England and Australia cricket boards. Ten Sports, owned by Zee Group, has rights to the five boards - Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa and Zimbabwe. It recently renewed Cricket South Africa (CSA) rights for $180 million and Zimbabwe for $20 million (both for eight years). Sony has New Zealand and IPL while Neo has Bangladesh.

India may not be the only market where News Corp will be wrestling against ESPN. Media reports indicate that News Corp will be launching a national sports network on cable television to take on ESPN in the US. News Corp has snapped up various sports rights, prominent among them being the US TV rights to Fifa World Cup in 2018 and 2022, beating ESPN in the race. It has also secured rights to the Pac-12 Conference and Big-12 Conference games and is in the running to secure an exclusive deal with Los Angeles Dodgers.

"ESPN Star Sports will telecast the New Zealand series. Star will sub-license the BCCI rights to the JV as long as the divorce does not take place," the source said.

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council?s nomination committee has put in motion the process to find a replacement for the current incumbent CEO Haroon Lorgat, whose term in office 30 June.

ICC president Sharad Pawar along with Alan Issac (the ICC vice-president), Julian Hunte (the West Indies Cricket Board president), Keith Oliver (Cricket Scotland chairman), N Srinivasan (BCCI president) and Giles Clarke (England Cricket Board chairman) will meet in Mumbai on 6 May to conduct interviews with the four short-listed candidates.

While the identity of four candidates has not been revealed, ECB CEO David Collier and ICC general manager of cricket Dave Richardson have been picked by head-hunting company Egon Zehnder.

MUMBAI: Harish Thawani?s Nimbus Communications suffered another setback as the apex court upheld the Bombay High Court?s order asking it to furnish Rs 3.05 billion bank guarantee in its dispute with the Indian cricket board.

The Bombay HC had in January asked Nimbus Communications to either deposit an amount of Rs 3.05 billion in the court or give a bank guarantee pending hearing of the dispute with BCCI in order to offset losses arising out of termination of contract.

The court order came in response to BCCI‘s petition that it wanted to secure advertising revenue earned by Nimbus from the England and West Indies series as broadcast fee. Nimbus, which held the BCCI broadcast rights, had sub-licensed the rights to its sister concern Neo Sports Broadcast which operates Neo Cricket and Neo Sports.

The order was further upheld by a two-member bench of the HC directing Nimbus to furnish the bank guarantee within two weeks pending hearing of its dispute with BCCI.

Nimbus then filed a special leave petition with the Supreme Court which refused to entertain its plea. The three member bench comprising Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice Surinder Singh, and Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, while upholding the HC order, directed the court to dispose of the case within four weeks starting from the date of its order.

?Having heard learned counsel for the petitioner, we are not inclined to entertain the special leave petition, which is directed against an ad-interim order passed in a proceeding under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and the Notice of Motion, is still pending disposal,? the SC order read.

?Accordingly, while dismissing the special leave petition, we request the learned Single Judge of the High Court, before whom the matter is pending, to dispose of the Notice of Motion at the earliest and preferably within four weeks from the date of communication of this order."

The matter will now come up for hearing before the single bench judge who will come out with final decision in the case. ?Needless to say, the matter is to be decided by the learned Single Judge, without being influenced by the observations made while passing the ad-interim order,? the order added.

The BCCI had in December last year terminated broadcast rights contract with Nimbus Communications over default in payment and had planned to encash bank guarantee that Nimbus had furnished to secure the rights.

However, a clause in the contract which stated that the bank guarantee can be encashed only if the contract is in effect prevented the BCCI from encashing the guarantee amount.