Zee pulls out of five-yr broadcast deal with BCCI

NEW DELHI: BCCI on Wednesday was frantically trying to salvage the upcoming ODI series against South Africa after Zee Television pulled out of the five-year broadcast deal covering India's matches at neutral venues.

"We have decided to scrap the deal," Ashish Kaul, Senior Vice President of Zee Group, said.

India were to play three one-dayers against South Africa from June 26 to July 1 in Belfast besides another against host Ireland. The matches were part of 25 games to be telecast by Zee under a $200,000 contract announced last year.

Kaul said "the attitude of the BCCI" was to be blamed for the fall-out.

"This is because of the double standards adopted by the BCCI. While Nimbus (who hold the telecast rights for matches played in India till 2008-09) were given a hefty rebate on the renegotiated price, they have not even bothered to discuss the issue with us," he said.

"Also, apart from the Ireland and Scotland matches, they have not intimated us the whole calendar."

Earlier, the BCCI had agreed to share the losses on its four-year deal with Nimbus arising out of the recently introduced Sports Broadcast Bill and the agreement, worth $619,000, was slashed down by 12 per cent.

It might be noted that Zee's launch recently of the Indian Cricket League did not go down well with the BCCI bosses.

BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi, in charge of the Board's marketing, refused to take queries when contacted over phone.

Board Secretary Niranjan Shah was unavailable for comment.