Zee, ESPN-Star to bid for ICC TV rights

MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms Ltd. and ESPN-Star Sports will bid for the global telecast rights of the International Cricket Council's matches from 2007-2015, officials from the two firms confirmed on Friday.   

Dubai-based Taj Television's Ten Sports and India's Nimbus Communications may also submit a bid for the cricket rights in Dubai on Friday, industry officials said.   

ESPN Star is a venture of News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. News Corp. also has a distribution deal with Nimbus for the latter's sports channels in India until 2010.   

Analysts estimate bids for the rights for the World Cups in 2011 and 2015, four Champions Trophy tournaments and Twenty-20 games could come in between $600 million to $800 million, with some suggesting figures as high as $1 billion.   

The bid will be at least double the amount last time, and given that the Indian cricket board's rights were sold for more than $600 million, this would be more, one analyst said.   

Sony Corp's Sony Entertainment Television (SET), the surprise winner of the ICC rights for the four years to 2007 for a reported $250 million, will not bid this time around.   

The telecast rights to the Indian board's matches were awarded earlier this year to privately-owned Nimbus for $612 million for four years.