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Tag: Ehsan Mani

  • Deadlock means Sonn’s stays ICC president for another year

    Deadlock means Sonn’s stays ICC president for another year

    MUMBAI: South African Percy Sonn’s reign as International Cricket Council president will continue for a third year after the game’s global governing body failed remained deadlocked over the choice of his successor.

    The ICC nominations committee, which met to consider the candidatures of the Indian board president Sharad Pawar against that of the England cricket board chief David Morgan, finally elected not to make any recommendation regarding Sonn’s successor.

    The standard term for an ICC chief is two years but three of Sonn’s predecessors – Jagmohan Dalmiya, Malcolm Gray and Ehsan Mani – have served a third year as president.

    The nominations committee consisted of Dr AC Muthiah (chairman) (representing India and Sri Lanka), Bob Merriman (Australia and New Zealand), Mueen Afzal (Bangladesh and Pakistan), Stephen Camacho (West Indies and England), John Blair (South Africa and Zimbabwe) and Imran Khwaja (Associates and Affiliates).

    By current reckonings, Pawar got the vote of India-Sri Lanka, Bangladesh-Pakistan and the associate & affiliate countries.

  • ICC starts meetings with broadcasters, agencies

    ICC starts meetings with broadcasters, agencies

    MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) today began meetings with broadcasters and agencies in Dubai, marking the latest stage of its sale of media and sponsorship rights for ICC Events from late 2007 to 2015.

    Included in the eight-year period under discussion are 18 ICC tournaments with two ICC Cricket World Cups, in Asia (2011) and Australasia (2015), and a minimum of three ICC Champions Trophy tournaments. Also included are the first two ICC Twenty20 World Championships, in South Africa (2007) and England (2009), the latter taking place in the ICC’s centenary year.

    And there are Cricket World Cup qualifiers, four ICC U/19 Cricket World Cups, and for the first time, the Women’s Cricket World Cup, with two tournaments scheduled for 2009 (Australia) and 2013 (India) in the eight-year time frame.

    Potential commercial partners that meet the ICC’s criteria for bidding have been invited separately to Dubai.

    The ICC’s team of negotiators include former President Ehsan Mani, who played a key role in securing the current agreement with the News Corp owned Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) through News International Limited.

    Further details and updates of the sales process will be announced in due course.]

  • ICC rights bidders to be called to Dubai by month-end

    ICC rights bidders to be called to Dubai by month-end

    MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) says that this month will mark the next stage of its sale of media and sponsorship rights for events from late 2007 to 2015.

    Information available with indiantelevision.com indicates that potential commercial partners that meet the ICC’s criteria for bidding will be invited to Dubai at the end of this month. The aim is to to further progress the process that began in April when the ICC’s Executive Board decided the host for its tournaments in that eight-year period.

    The period will have 18 ICC tournaments. The five big ones are the two World Cups, in Asia (2011) and Australia/ New Zealand (2015) respectively, and a minimum of three Champions Trophy tournaments. The deal will also include the first two, Twenty World Championships, in South Africa (2007) and England (2009). The latter takes place in the ICC’s centenary year.

    Potential partners who meet the ICC’s qualification criteria that have already made expressions of interest will shortly be receiving correspondence detailing when they will be able to meet ICC officials for talks.

    The ICC says that any interested parties yet to express interest in the rights can still do so by contacting, the ICC.

    The ICC’s team of negotiators will include former President Ehsan Mani, who played a key role in securing the current agreement with Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), which is owned by News International Limited.

    That agreement, which began in 2000 and ends with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies next March and April, includes two ICC Cricket World Cups and four ICC Champions Trophy tournaments. The GCC had paid out $550 million to secure the rights after a fierce bidding war with Subhash Chandra’s Zee Telefilms. At the time of bidding the GCC was a 50:50 JV between News Corp and World Sport Nimbus (itself a 50:50 JV between Harish Thawani’s Nimbus and the UK-headquartered World Sport Group). News Corp subsequently bought out WSN’s stake in the JV.

    ICC CEO Malcolm Speed said, “The sale of the ICC’s commercial and broadcast rights makes this a hugely significant and exciting time for cricket. That sale gives us the opportunity to place cricket on a sound financial footing for the next eight years and, by doing that, it will provide all our members with the chance to both sustain and grow the game.

    “We have been gratified and encouraged by the expressions of interest we have already received. We are now looking forward to meeting our potential partners and have only one aim in mind – securing the best deal for cricket.”

    The ICC has also included two women’s World Cups in the timeframe. One takes place in Australia in 2009 and the other takes place in India in 2013.

  • DirecTV inks deal with GCC for ICC Champions Trophy 2006 and World Cup 2007

    DirecTV inks deal with GCC for ICC Champions Trophy 2006 and World Cup 2007

    MUMBAI: Cricket fever will soon grip the US! The direct-broadcast satellite provider DirecTV has reached an agreement with Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) to broadcast two International Cricket Council (ICC) events — the ICC Champions Trophy, to be held in India in October 2006 and the ICC Cricket World Cup, to be played in the West Indies in March 2007.

    Television rights to the two ICC events have been acquired by DirecTV on a non-exclusive basis. DirecTV’s acquisition of international cricket rights has been part of an effort to expand its programming services for the diverse ethnic population within the United States.

    “These are the most prestigious cricket events in the world, and we are proud to offer them to DirecTV customers for the first time ever,” said DirecTV Inc VP International Aaron McNally.

    “With these ICC events and with exclusive rights to six of the ten test-playing ICC members as part of our CricketTicket package, we are cementing our position as the leading distributor of televised cricket content in the United States.”

    News Corp owns approximately 36 per cent in DirecTV. The pricing and packaging for the two events will be announced at a later date, according to an official release.
    “Our agreement with DirecTV is great news for cricket in the United States of America and for the ICC,” said ICC president Ehsan Mani.

    “DirecTV’s coverage means people who might not ordinarily be exposed to cricket will get the chance to watch it. And we hope the opportunity to see the world’s best players in the world’s best tournament, the ICC Cricket World Cup, will lead to a significant increase in the number of people interested in the game in the United States, a country which has tremendous potential for growth in cricketing terms.”

    “We are extremely grateful to DirecTV for their support and look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with them,” added Mani.

    GCC managing director Ian Frykberg said, “Global Cricket Corporation looks forward to working with DirecTV at the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 later this year and at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 next year.”

    Cricket is extraordinarily popular among populations from South Asia, West Indies and many other parts of the world. Since late 2004, DirecTV has been offering customers access to cricket matches via the DirecTV CricketTicket package, the first-ever, year-long subscription TV package for international cricket.

    All other international programming is being offered through DirecTV’s WorldDirect platform, which features 39 channels that deliver a wide variety of new programming in multiple foreign languages, including Russian, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Bengali, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Italian and Ukrainian, to underserved ethnic markets throughout the United States.

    DirecTV customers will need to use a WorldDirect services satellite dish that is capable of receiving both international and English-language programming. In some markets, customers who subscribe to a local channels package will require a second smaller dish.