The talk is that IPL has settled the telecast rights matter with Sony, rather Multi Screen Media (MSM).
The much-talked about Indian Premier League (IPL) seems to have sorted one part of its protracted problem for the upcoming second season. The talk is that it has settled the telecast rights matter with Sony, rather Multi Screen Media (MSM).
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Sony, which fought a bitter legal battle for two days in the Bombay High Court, are believed to have reached a settlement out of court. The details of the settlement are not out though.
No one in the BCCI nor Sony was willing to come on record about the impending settlement but sources close to officials in both sides revealed that the negotiations are taking place in New Delhi. The parties are likely to inform the court regarding the outcome of their talks on Friday evening. The court had reserved judgment in the case on March 17.
Sony, which bought the India rights of the league for five years from World Sports Group last year, with a provision for an extension of another five years, for an undisclosed amount, had dragged the IPL to court after it cancelled the agreement on Saturday night citing non-compliance of the contractual obligations. The IPL then gave away the rights to the World Sports Group (Mauritius) — that is different from World Sports Group (India) — for Rs470 crore.
Challenging the decision, Sony went to the Bombay High Court and obtained an injunction. The court, which heard the case for two days, reserved the order but not before telling the BCCI not to negotiate with any other party before its verdict. The IPL, lately, has been Sony's biggest property.
What prompted a settlement between the two feuding parties is not immediately known but one of the reasons could be the limited time available for new party to promote and market the event. Sony, in fact, had already launched promos for the Season II. The league is scheduled to start on April 10. According to the buzz in the media, NDTV and ESPN Star Sports were in contention for the rights.
IPL denies charge
The IPL got mired in a fresh controversy with the Rajasthan Government accusing Lalit Modi of deliberately dropping Jaipur as a venue, a charge denied by the IPL bosses. Giving a political twist to the issue, the Rajasthan Government lambasted Modi for omitting Jaipur as a venue in the revised schedule of the Twenty20 event and said the people of the state will never forgive him for this. “Modi has pulled IPL out of Jaipur. We wanted only two out of six dates rescheduled,” state home minister Shanti Dhariwal said.
IPL’s CEO Sundar Raman denied the charge. “To set the record straight, Jaipur was one of the first venues to express interest and the initial schedule had five matches scheduled in Jaipur. However the confirmation from State Government had a rider — which required central forces’ support. The Ministry of Home Affairs had made it clear that no central forces will be available. The schedule has since undergone multiple iterations. We are operating with constraints and it would be unfair to call this a deliberate effort on the part of IPL for changes in the schedule that have been necessitated,” Raman clarified.
With inputs from agencies
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