BCCI panel to settle telecast row

MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to constitute a committee to find a solution to the telecast row that threatens its $612 million (Rs2,700 crore) deal with Nimbus.

The decision was taken on Tuesday by the board’s top brass, which got together to discuss the issue after Nimbus threatened to quit.

BCCI president Sharad Pawar said the committee, which will have representatives from the board and Nimbus, will submit its report in a few days. He, however, downplayed Nimbus’s threat to pull out. “It is just a letter of resentment, not a threat,” he said.

The record BCCI-Nimbus deal was signed in February 2006. The four-year deal is scheduled to run up to March 31, 2010.  But Nimbus could, if it wishes, withdraw before March 31, 2007, as per a clause in the agreement.

A recent ordinance by the central government, forcing private broadcasters to share live cricket feed with Prasar Bharati, is at the centre of the crisis. The ODI series at home (against the West Indies and Sri Lanka) was embroiled in controversy after Nimbus refused to share the feed.

Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani said in New Delhi that his company is upset with Doordarshan’s refusal to encrypt the signals shared with it.

But the ordinance is not the only thing to have riled Nimbus. The company has an appeal for refund (for the washed-out match in Guwahati) pending with the BCCI. The company is also believed to be unhappy with the board’s decision to convert a scheduled tri-series (involving Sri Lanka and the West Indies) into two bilateral series.