NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday gave another jolt to Zee Telefilms and dismissed its petition challenging a Madras High Court order upholding the cricket board's decision not to award it India telecast rights.

"You can move a civil court for seeking damages," Press Trust of India quoted a Supreme Court Bench as observing. The bench refused to interfere with the 2 May order of the Madras High Court upholding Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) decision to cancel the tender process for awarding telecast rights for international cricket matches till 2008.

A bench comprising Chief Justice RC Lahoti and Justices N Santosh Hegde and GP Mathur dismissed the petition after hearing lengthy arguments from Zee's counsel and senior advocate Harish Salve, PTI reported.

Contacted by Indiantelevision.com, a spokesperson for Zee Telefilms offered no comment on the SC move, only saying that the future course of action would have to be "discussed" internally within the company.

On 2 May, a two-judge division bench of the Madras High Court set aside a single judge's order that had observed that the BCCI's cancellation of the tender process was "improper."