MUMBAI: IMG Media, a division of IMG Worldwide, has secured long-term media rights deals with BSkyB, the UK?s leading sports broadcaster for both Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.

The separate deals with the cricket boards will see England?s tour matches in Australia and South Africa shown on Sky Sports until 2016 and 2020 respectively.

IMG Asia Pacific SVP and Head of IMG Media said, "We are delighted to have concluded these deals. Sky Sports is the leading broadcaster of cricket in the UK and Ireland and they were intent on strengthening their year round coverage of the game, especially with England?s forthcoming Ashes Tour in Australia next year and tours to South Africa, the current top Test team in the world, in 2015 and 2019."

Sky Sports MD Barney Francis said, "The Ashes is one of world sport?s greatest events and we can now guarantee the next three series, home and away. Test cricket has always been core to Sky Sports and as England look to take the Test crown back from South Africa our viewers can see their next two series over there. This series of rights renewals gives us the strongest line up of live sport for our viewers to watch at home or on the move."

In addition to the Ashes series in Australia, the four-year deal for Sky Sports includes Australia?s home series with South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, India and New Zealand, plus Australia?s domestic Twenty20 Big Bash League.

Apart from England?s two tours of South Africa, Sky Sports deal includes the Test series against New Zealand, Pakistan, India, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, plus domestic Twenty20 matches.

MUMBAI: Geoff Allardice has been appointed to the position of ICC General Manager- Cricket to succeed David Richardson, who has been promoted to ICC chief executive.

For the past decade, Geoff has worked with Cricket Australia, most recently as the ?General Manager, Cricket Operations?. Geoff played first class cricket for Victoria.

David Richardson said: "Geoff has a wealth of knowledge and experience gained during his time with Cricket Australia. I am looking forward to working with him and deploying his undoubted talent at the ICC. He is a great addition to our Team."

MUMBAI: The five day ICC Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur will see a change of guard in the top hierarchy of the game?s world governing body with Sharad Pawar making way for New Zealand?s Alan Isaac to take charge as president.

Pawar, who completes his two-year term at the end of the week, was the second Indian after Jagmohan Dalmiya to take a shot at the post. During his tenure, he oversaw the successful organising of the 2011 ICC World Cup in the sub-continent.

The conference, which begins 24 June, will also see incumbent Haroon Lorgat stepping down as the chief executive of the ICC. Lorgat was appointed chief executive of the ICC in April 2008 succeeding Malcolm Speed, an Australian.

The ICC Annual Conference will begin with the Chief Executives? Committee (CEC) meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur and ends on 28 June with the inauguration of the eighth ICC President, Alan Isaac, at the Annual Conference.

The ICC Council, at its meeting on 28 June, will be asked to approve amendments to the ICC Articles which will create the post of Chairman from June 2014 with the President?s role being ambassadorial from that date onwards, the ICC said in a statement.

David Richardson has been selected as the chief executive of ICC, his appointment requires confirmation from the CEC. Prior to being appointed as the chief executive, Richardson served ICC as GM of Cricket.

The ICC Associate and Affiliate Members meeting on 25 June will elect their three representatives to serve two-year terms on the ICC Board, the statement added.

On the agenda of the CEC meeting are recommendations from the ICC Cricket Committee which include the reaffirmation of the universal application of the Decision Review System (DRS), minor enhancements to the 50-over format and, importantly, discussions on the protection and promotion of international cricket within a changed landscape that is showing a growing number of domestic professional T20 leagues.

The ICC Board, which will meet on 26 and 27 June, will receive various reports and recommendations emanating from Board sub-committees and the CEC.

Among these will be the annual report from the chairman of ACSU, membership issues including applications for ICC Affiliate Membership from Russia and Hungary.

The Board will also continue its discussions, which have been ongoing since the last meeting among the directors and Members, on the Woolf report and further consider the strategies being developed to protect and promote all three formats of the game at the international level.

MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) has reportd a consolidated net profit of Rs 1.63 billion for the fourth quarter ended 31 March, down 16 per cent from Rs 1.93 billion in the corresponding quarter of previous year.

Consolidated revenues in the fourth quarter were Rs 8.69 billion, up 9 per cent from Rs 7.95 billion from year ago.

A media analyst said revenues were higher than estimated because of the positive surprise on all fronts - ad revenues, domestic subscription revenues, and higher than expected syndication & other sales revenues.

The consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) for the quarter was down 28 per cent to Rs 1.60 billion, from Rs 2.22 billion a year ago as its expenses rose 24 per cent. Zeel?s expenses during the quarter rose to Rs 7.09 billion from Rs 5.73 billion a year ago.

During the quarter, Zeel?s advertising revenues stood at Rs 4.15 billion, showing a decline of 12 per cent. The company clarified that in the fourth quarter of previous year, it had more cricket properties in sports which had resulted in higher advertising revenues. Loss from sports business was Rs 588 mn in the fourth quarter and Rs 1.48 bn for the full year.

?Advertising revenues from non-sports businesses have increased, though marginally. This is reflective of the overall weakness in advertising spends,? Zeel said.

The total subscription revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 4.02 billion, registering an increase of 30 per cent over the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Domestic subscription revenues stood at Rs 2.97
billion, while international subscription revenues were Rs 1.05 billion.

Zeel said that domestic subscription revenues are not comparable with the previous year because the fourth quarter includes an amount of Rs 506 million representing 50 per cent share of net revenues of MediaPro, when consolidated under joint venture accounting. MediaPro is a joint venture between Zee Turner and Start Den.

This amount of Rs 506 million considered in this quarter pertains to nine month period from July 2011 to March 2012. Subscription revenues for the quarter from international operations are up by 1 per cent Q-o-Q from Rs 1.04 billion in Q3 FY12 to Rs 1.05 billion in Q4 FY12.

Zeel chairman Subhash Chandra said the slowdown in GDP growth has had a greater impact on advertising spends during the year, and advertising revenue growth has seen a much sharper slowdown.

Chandra said, ?FY2013 is expected to be a landmark year for the television media industry. The industry is gearing up for a big change with deadline for implementing Digital Addressable System (DAS) in the four metros approaching on 30 June, 2012. Digitisation will bring about improvements in addressability and capacity, thereby, improving the quality of service to consumers and creating a better financial model for all players in the value chain.?

Zeel board has recommended a dividend of Rs 1.50 per share.

Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka said, ?We are looking forward to the implementation of digitisation which will significantly improve transparency in the pay-TV ecosystem resulting in more choice to the consumers, better quality of viewing and better economies for all players. In fiscal 2012, 10.5 million subscribers have adopted satellite based television services via DTH, taking the gross DTH subscriber base to 44.6 million strong.?

?During the quarter, we have seen significant improvement in our operating performance across all genres. The flagship channel, Zee TV, has improved its market share noticeably. We are confident that we would further enhance our market share through our planned content lineup and continue to grow our business profitability in a sustained manner.?

?In line with our strategy of growth through focused disciplined investments, we launched India?s first and only OTT (over-the-top) distribution platform, Ditto TV, with an aim to offer Live TV Channels and On Demand Video Content to consumers on multiple platforms including mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops and connected TVs. We have also launched some of our content offerings in high definition format. Ten Golf is Zee?s latest premium offering targeted at urban up-market audiences?, he added.

Speaking about the outlook for the business, Goenka added, ?While the competitive intensity remains high in the Indian television industry, we continue to make efforts towards further enhancing our market share. Media Pro, our joint venture for subscription revenues, has started on a good note and we are very confident of a robust performance going forward. The impending digitization will further be able to create value for the business. Also, our content focused approach, combined with better monetization of subscription revenues, will contribute to Company delivering steady return in the year ahead.?

For the full year 2011-12, Zeel?s net profit stood at Rs 5.91 billion, down 6 per cent from Rs 6.25 billion in the previous fiscal. The revenue stayed flat (up 1 per cent) to Rs 30.41 billion, as against Rs 30.08 billion in the year-ago period. Total expenses, jumped 5 per cent to Rs 23.01 billion, from Rs 21.87 billion.

Shares of Zeel ended the day unchanged at Rs 123.20 on BSE.