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Tag: MPA

  • Digitisation to propel pay-TV revenue to $17 billion by 2017 , MPA report

    Digitisation to propel pay-TV revenue to $17 billion by 2017 , MPA report

    MUMBAI: Propelled by the government’s digitisation drive, pay TV revenues in India are projected to reach $17 billion by 2020 as opposed to the $7.8 billion in 2012, according to a new report by Singapore-based pay-TV research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

    According to India Pay-TV & Broadband Markets, pay TV revenues are expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4 per cent from 2012-17 and 10.2 per cent between 2012 and 2020.

    MPA forecasts indicate that total digital pay-TV homes will grow from 47 million in 2012 to 110 million by 2017 and 130 million by 2020.

    The digital penetration of total pay-TV homes in the country is expected to double to almost 70 per cent by 2020 from 35 per cent in 2012. The digital pay-TV penetration of TV homes in India will grow from 28 per cent in 2012 to 54 per cent by 2017, and reach 60 per cent by 2020.

    On the other hand, the total pay-TV homes are expected to grow from 128 million 2012 to 167 million by 2017, and 183 million by 2020. Pay-TV penetration of TV homes will grow from 80 per cent to 85 per cent between 2012 and 2020, adjusted for multiple connections in a household.

    This implies that the pay-TV industry will remain in a prolonged investment mode, with significant capital intensity. With two more phase of digitisation to go, both DTH and cable operators already have high levels of debt. The majority of additional funding will have to come through equity, via IPOs and M&A, the MPA report states.

    “A successful start for the roll-out of digital addressable systems (DAS) has revived interest in pay-TV among strategic and financial investors,” says MPA executive director Vivek Couto.

    “The real benefits will become clearer in 2H 2013 and beyond, as multi-system operators (MSOs) drive addressability and work with last mile local cable operators (LCOs) to ramp up tiering, billing and collections. Regulators are committed to curbing delays in the next phases of DAS, while the DTH industry is keen to revive growth by capitalising on digital transition.”

    Cable impact: Over the medium term, the majority of cable investments will be directed towards digital infrastructure, helping to build operator scale and improved addressability. In the long run, investments will be more focused towards acquiring primary subscriber points and the expansion of high-ARPU products such as broadband and HDTV.

    According to MPA, the total proportion of cable households with DAS climb from 15 per cent in 2012 to 50 per cent by 2020.

    DTH growth: In the DTH space, concerns focus on the growth of active subs (i.e. paying customers, net of churn and subscriber suspension), which has moderated in recent times. MPA says that the growth in active subs will rebound however, as more markets undergo analog switch-off. MPA forecasts indicate that active DTH subs will grow from 32 million in 2012 to 64 million by 2017, and 77 million by 2020.

    Broadcasters: Subscription fees for pay-TV channels crossed US$1 billion in 2012, driven by the growing strength of aggregators. This growth has yet to factor in digitalisation, which will result in a bigger share of subscription revenue for broadcasters. Operating margins will remain under pressure in the short-to-medium term, due to heavy investments in content for existing channels and gestation losses on new channel launches.

    MPA expects total pay-TV channel revenues, including advertising and subscription to grow from $3.6 billion in 2012 to $6.6 billion by 2017 and to $8.6 billion by 2020. The pay-TV ad market is expected to grow at a 10 per cent CAGR over 2012-20, while broadcaster subscription revenues are expected to grow at 15 per cent over the same period.

  • Indian DTH industry to benefit from digitisation, says MPA

    Indian DTH industry to benefit from digitisation, says MPA

    MUMBAI: India‘s move to digitise its fragmented and unorganised cable TV sector is going to give a fillip to the seven odd Indian DTH operators, according to Singapore based pay TV research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

    This is totally contrary to the behavior observed on the ground in the first two phases of digitisation wherein cable TV has held its ground and consumers have not really rushed out to buy DTH boxes even though analogue signals have been switched off.

    The MPA report says that revenues for DTH operators are expected to treble to over $5 billion by 2020 as mandatory cable TV digitisation would help the DTH players expand their subscriber base.

    It adds that DTH industry revenues will reach $3.9 billion by 2017 and $5.3 billion by 2020 on the back of a growth in subscriber numbers. Estimates are that the India™s DTH players raked in $1.5 billion last year.

    MPA says that active DTH subscribers will grow from 32.4 million in 2012 to 63.8 million by 2017 and 76.6 million by 2020. The figure for 2011 was at 28.7 million. The increase in active subscribers in 2012 over 2011 was a mere 3.7 million which is alarming, it says.

    The report points out that the content deals between operators and content aggregators such as IndiaCast, MediaPro and TheOneAlliance are likely to be on a cost per subscriber basis rather than a fixed rate as was the practice earlier.

    As it is DTH operators have been making efforts to improve their per subscriber economics over the past year by increasing the number of packages and entry level pricing. They have also tried to reduce churn levels by reducing trade margins and the window of free viewing by new subscribers, revealed MPA.

    The report warns that marketing and staff expenses will remain high with DTH operators as the rollout of digitisation makes further inroads into the remaining parts of India.

    MPA has also given the pecking order of the leading DTH players. Dish TV continues to lead with a market share of 27 per cent in terms of gross additions, while Videocon d2h leads in terms of incremental additions in 2012.

    Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV have 19 and 18 per cent market share, respectively. These four players together accounted for 88 per cent of total gross additions last year, says MPA.

  • Turbulence and Asian media meltdown

    Turbulence and Asian media meltdown

    The economic crisis may reshape Asian media, says Media Partners Asia (MPA) Executive Director Vivek Couto. Companies will focus on cost savings, improved business models and, potentially, new acquisitions as asset prices fall.

    The fragility of an American economy means it is getting harder to predict when Asia‘s media economies will return to better health following this year‘s downturn. As a result, these remain volatile times. Globally, the cost of capital has become high while economic growth continues to fall. At the same time, investors remain risk averse and credit continues to tighten. This is leading to further erosion in public market valuations for Asia media and limited funding options for both private and publicly-held media concerns.

    Capitalising on the crisis through M&A could be a course for some, as the recent $1.1 billion transaction between Sina and Focus Media in China perfectly illustrates. Expect more crisis-driven deals to occur over the next 12-18 months though visibility on almost everything remains an issue.

    The latest MPA research suggests advertising in Asia will grow by 1.5 per cent in 2009 versus its earlier expectations of 2.5 per cent, while growth in 2008 finished up at 5 per cent versus an earlier forecast of 5.6 per cent. Lower visibility and higher volatility also mean that recent ad growth estimates don‘t carry an upside potential anymore.

    MPA‘s latest advertising forecasts have been downgraded due to volatility in Korea, Japan and India. A region-wide rebound of 5.8 per cent is expected in 2010. Excluding Australia and Japan, Asian ad growth will slow from 12.1 per cent in 2008 to 6.4 per cent next year, before a rebound to 9.4 per cent in 2010.

    While MPA expects China and India to grow at trend levels of 10-13 per cent over the next three years, ad growth this year could be lower than forecast in both these markets.

    In India, for instance, the economy is expected to grow by 6 per cent next year in real terms but could decelerate as low as 5 per cent, according to consensus. Meanwhile, the Indian ad market is expected to grow by 10.8 per cent next year but forward budgets for the next quarter indicate that dominant TV and print sectors face a tough time with growth, potentially coming in far lower than forecast. Elections in Q2 may boost spending but trend growth could come below MPA‘s 10-11 per cent forecast.

    All of this means that the importance of monetising content through consumer transactions will grow as opposed to an over-reliance on brand spend, especially in places like India.The market share of digital in places like China will continue along an upward trajectory.

    At the same time, new ad drivers will become even more important for traditional players: local as opposed to national ad markets in Indonesia, for instance, and regional markets in India as the recent advances by Star and Zee have shown.

    Overall, MPA analysis indicates digital and out-of-home media will have a combined market share of close to 30 per cent by 2010 in China and Korea; more than 20 per cent in Japan, Australia and Taiwan; and more than 10 per cent in India. TV and print will continue to hold more than 40 per cent share in India, while TV will retain 60-70 per cent market share in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. Print will remain dominant in Malaysia, with more than 55 per cent share.

    Potential buying opportunity

    Media M&A talk has arisen because of the collapse of equity markets, risks around maturing debt and weak balance sheets. Publicly-traded market capitalisation for media companies fell by an average of 30-80 per cent last year in China, Japan, Korea, Australia, India, and Indonesia.

    To be sure, equity market capitulation does not necessarily mean that media assets will actually sell at bargain-basement prices. After all, most have an intrinsic value far higher than what the fearful public and risk-averse institutional investors are currently prepared to pay.

    Potential sellers today and in the future may include: Korean cable broadcaster On*Media (045710.KS); Indonesian terrestrial TV network Surya Citra Media (SCMA.JK); Indian broadcaster IBN-18 (IBN.BO); Chinese CAS supplier CDTV (STV.N) and media wannabe Xinhua Finance Media (XFML.OQ); Japanese satellite broadcaster WOWOW (4839.T); Chinese media giant TVB (0511.HK); and Australia‘s APN (APN.AX).

    Debt issues, focus on Australia and Thailand

    Asian companies with heavy debt leverage include: Australian publisher Fairfax (FXJ.AX), PBL Media and Thailand‘s True Corp (TRUE.BK). At least one of these is likely to sell parts of its troubled franchise in the months to come. True in particular faces a big credit crunch, having notched up around $180 million in liabilities, while its overall debt ratios will likely breach the covenants in its bank loan facility.

    There was at least some good news for PBL Media at the end of last year with majority shareholder CVC Asia announcing that it would inject a further $230 million equity in PBL. Like many of its counterparts, PBL Media is struggling with one of Australia‘s worst ad downturns in a long time with the ad market expected to decline by more than 6 per cent this year.

    Australia‘s Ten Network (TEN.AX) is also suffering – it saw TV revenues decline by 12 per cent in its latest quarter while overall group EBITDA fell 25 per cent. Canadian media major CanWest has steadfastly refused to consider selling its 57 per cent stake in Ten. Current economic hardships may force a rethink. CanWest has consolidated debt of close to $3 billion versus a market cap of only $60 million, and is increasingly exposed to Canada‘s worsening economy.

    Pay-TV platforms

    Opportunities in the private market include various pay-TV platforms needing funds for further expansion and digital deployment. Indonesia‘s Indovision, one of the fastest growing operators in Southeast Asia with over 500,000 pay-TV subscribers, potentially needs more funds to grow beyond its end-2009 target of 1.2 million customers. Meanwhile, numerous operators in India need new capital, as the cost of subscriber acquisition escalates and average revenue per user (ARPU) growth remains modest. Candidates include WWIL, Tata Sky, Dish TV (DTV.BO), DEN and Hathway, though only the latter has a positive EBITDA level at present.

    Various next-generation broadcast satellite licences in Japan are also coming up for grabs in 2009 with J:COM, NBC and Time Warner‘s Turner slated to feature in potential acquiring consortiums. Future M&A in Korea is also worth highlighting, with new regulations allowing cable MSOs to increase market share coverage with more MSO acquisitions. In the near term however, Korean MSOs, weighed down by a combination of debt and IPTV competition, may look to pursue bargain acquisitions and alliances in the content space instead.

    Global media and India

    Gauging how M&A in Asia media may play out also depends on what happens in global media. The severity of the US downturn, as well as various debt issues, have hit global media companies, including most notably Viacom and NBC. Both own assets in key markets such as India, and supply quality programming and brands to various networks across Asia. NBC is scaling back the pace and extent of its investment across Asia ex-India while Viacom has scaled back operations again in Asia ex-India, this time even scaling back in profitable territories such as Japan.

    How these companies manage the crisis is important: whether they choose to sell certain assets in Asia, or sell big assets, or merge with a competitor such as Time Warner and News Corp., could have a decisive impact on future trends.

     

    India‘s IBN18, which has a highly-rated but costly GE channel JV (Colors) with Viacom, recently raised $25 million through a qualified institutional placement (AIP) to five institutional investors: T Rowe Price, Reliance Capital, Franklin Templeton, JM Financial and HSBC. IBN has also issued 15 million warrants to news media company TV18 (TVET.BO), convertible at Rs 102 per share, implying an infusion of about Rs 1.53 billion, which puts a lot of pressure on the TV18 balance sheet and limits its flexibility going forward. Future funding for IBN and Colors next year will need bigger players and more cash, which could lead to a better strategic result for the company.

  • Media Partners Asia: Cable the ultimate key to India’s broadband digital future

    Media Partners Asia: Cable the ultimate key to India’s broadband digital future

    This is an executive summary of a Viewpoint Paper presented to the Prime Minister’s Office on 16 March 2007. The Paper was produced by research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA), and also supported by Liberty Global, Inc; Macquarie Media Group and Star Group.

     

    The current cable industry, which already contributes 0.6 per cent directly to GDP, has the potential to increase this direct contribution exponentially, if it maximizes its broadband digital potential and attract investment. To do this, cable needs to be seen by the Government of India as the significant platform in the national economic context and as the key driving national broadband digital growth. Therefore, it needs higher priority in policy planning and a framework that allows it to maximize value.

     

    Cable today in India is the dominant last mile pipe, connected to 20 million more homes than fixed line telephony. Cable TV already connects an estimated 71 million homes and almost 60 per cent of homes that own a TV set subscribe to cable TV, with India overtaking the US in 2006 to become the second largest Cable power in the world. Projected to further establish its status as the leading last mile network, cable will, serve more than 100 million TV homes by 2010. Its size and scale, if harnessed, presents a great opportunity to drive broadband digital deployment.

     

    What is needed is an influx of capital an order of magnitude greater than currently exists. However, investors say that sentiment on broadband digital development in India is being somewhat dampened by the regulatory framework, which has grown too intrusive and harmful to long-term growth. As a result, investors are still cautious about funding long term broadband digital network upgrades when regulation imposes strict controls on the pricing of new capital intensive services. Concerns have intensified with the regulation for the deployment of digital conditional access systems or CAS in India. While all investors are agreed that CAS will provide a significant impetus to the deployment of broadband digital networks, they think it will work only in a less tightly regulated context.

     

    Shane O’Neill, Chief Strategic Officer & Board Member, Liberty Global Inc., says: “The market is very attractive in terms of sheer size and growth potential but could be held back by ‘over regulation’ in key areas such as channel rate regulation, mandated revenue shares between industry participants and FDI caps. A lighter approach might be necessary to encourage the significant investment required to develop the broadband and digital industries both of which are very important for India’s future development.”

     

    Alex Harvey, MD of Macquarie Media Group, adds, “We think India’s cable businesses, due to their ability to offer a range of converged services, will be material areas of growth and opportunity. A key element to realising these growth opportunities will be a transparent and proactive regulatory environment – this must be a priority area of government focus.”

     

    Paul Aiello, the new CEO of STAR Group says: “The stakes are high for policymakers and the regulator to get it right, ensuring progressive policies that facilitate investment and growth.”

     

    Investors are eyeing many deals in the cable broadband/digital space… one of the complications for some of the larger investor groups is how the current regulatory framework will play out – the current restrictions on revenue share, channel distribution and pricing are not optimal for investment, especially as there is no concrete signal was to when these restrictions will be lifted.

     

    (The views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same.)

  • MPA conducts anti piracy training seminar in Andhra Pradesh

    MPA conducts anti piracy training seminar in Andhra Pradesh

    MUMBAI: On 24 February 2007 the Motion Picture Association (MPA), in association with the Andhra Pradesh Film Producers’ Chambers held a movie piracy training seminar at the Andhra Pradesh Police Academy, Himayat Sagar, Hyderabad.

    The seminar had more than 400 attendees, including public prosecutors, magistrates, police officers, as well as industry representatives 

    The seminar, with Chief Guest Justice T.Ch. Surya Rao, Honorable Judge, Andhra Pradesh High Court, as its chief guest, saw enforcement authorities and rights holders sharing information on movie piracy and efforts to take action against pirates. The seminar also focussed on the need to raise public awareness of the damage caused to local industry by piracy.

    MPA senior VP and Regional Director, Asia-Pacific Mike Ellis says, “We are delighted to have joined with the Andhra Pradesh Film Producers’ Chambers and local enforcement authorities to take action against piracy in Andhra Pradesh.

    “It is clear that arrests, prosecutions and significant custodial sentences are necessary in order to create a real deterrent to this criminal activity that so badly damages local economies.”

    MPA head of operations Col. Anil Nayer says, “The Andhra Pradesh Police and the Film Producers’ Chambers are our partners in the battle against film piracy. The seminar aims to provide more insight to the enforcement authorities on film piracy and create a stronger team.”

    MPA says that piracy in India affects the Indian film industry more than American producers and distributors. It is estimated that only 20 per cent of pirated goods infringe the copyrights of foreign film titles. The remaining 80 per cent of pirated product infringes the copyrights of domestic films. According to Government estimates, the entertainment industry loses up to 1,700 crores annually on account of piracy.

    Since the beginning of 2004, the MPA has conducted close to 1,000 raids and seizure operations in India in cooperation with law enforcement authorities. Additionally, civil raids have been conducted through court-appointed Local Commissioners in civil suits initiated by MPA member companies.

    A comprehensive study aimed at producing a more accurate picture of the impact that piracy has on the film industry including, for the first time, losses due to internet piracy, recently calculated that the MPA studios lost $6.1 billion to worldwide piracy in 2005. About $2.4 billion was lost to bootlegging, $1.4 billion to illegal copying and US$2.3 billion to Internet piracy. Of the $6.1 billion in lost revenue to the studios, approximate $1.2 billion came from piracy across the Asia-Pacific region, while piracy in the US accounted for $1.3 billion.

    In 2005, the MPA’s operations in the Asia-Pacific region investigated more than 34,000 cases of piracy and assisted law enforcement officials in conducting more than 10,500 raids. These activities resulted in the seizure of more than 34 million illegal optical discs, 55 factory optical disc production lines and 3,362 optical disc burners, as well as the initiation of more than 8,000 legal actions.

  • Star operating profit down 36% in Dec 06 quarter

    Star operating profit down 36% in Dec 06 quarter

    MUMBAI: In the first contraction in profit that Star has had since it began generating profits in early 2003, News Corp’s Asian arm has reported second quarter operating income down 36 per cent from the same period a year ago.

    Though the quarter (up to 31 December 2006) saw growth in subscription revenues, it was more than offset by a decline in advertising revenue at Star Plus.
    On the distribution side, the biggest initiative by Star India during the quarter was the $ 175 million deal with Nimbus to distribute its channels.

    According to Hong Kong-based Media Partners Asia (MPA), operating profit or EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) was down 36 per cent year on year to under $ 30 million. Operating profit in the September 06 quarter was up 8 per cent YoY. MPA estimates for the first half of the year show operating profit down 28 per cent YoY to $41 million, MPA estimates.

    A point of note of course is that the corresponding period in 2005 not only had the second season of KBC on Star Plus but also saw the first season of Nach Baliye on Star One providing a strong push to advertising sales revenues. Still, there is no getting away from the fact that softness in ratings at Star plus is also contributing to revenue declines.

    Speaking about Star’s performance during a conference call with analysts after the announcement of News Corp’s results, president & COO Peter Chernin said: “When the third season (of KBC) did finally launch and the numbers were extremely strong, up more than 25 per cent over last year’s premier, which should give us great momentum for the second half of the year and lead to not only higher advertising results but higher ancillary revenues led by phone revenue from additional calls that come in with the show.”

    Chernin also made a mention of the executive roiling that has been going on at Star when he said, “You’ve also read that we made some changes to senior management, changes which we think will strengthen our operations and improve our programming going forward.

    “… I think we have aggressive expectations for Star. Beginning on India, we’d like to see continued growth in our channels. We expect the growth of Tata Sky (in which News Corp holds 20 per cent) to continue. I think the most significant impact digital (DTH, CAS) will have on the company is growth of revenues inside Star as we see additional subscribers and an ability to, you know, get higher declarations of subs from the cable/pay-TV operators. We’ll also see new channel launches there (Tata Sky), and also important new ancillary businesses in the Internet, production and movies, et cetera. So we’re optimistic about Star going forward in India. “

    News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch was equally gung ho about the expectations on the DTH front: “Tata Sky DTH in India at 500,000+ subscribers, will hit 1 million during 1H 07, adding 8,000 subs per day at peak levels, averaging about 5-6,000 per day. I’d just say that Tata Sky is [going] a lot faster than we had budgeted for.”

    Commenting on the expectations from the rest of Asia, Chernin said, “Additionally, we’re also ambitious in other Asian countries, particularly Indonesia, where we’ve recently launched. We recently acquired a television network which we’re optimistic. A very big country. We’re hoping that could be the next India… and also just continuing growth in other territories, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and expanding into others.”

    On the China side, Murdoch was almost diffident when he said: “We don’t do very well in China. We have an interest — we just sold half of it in Phoenix (China Mobile deal, $165 million sale). We’ve got more than our money back [in our] total investment and we’re still there. We brought in a new partner China Mobile [inaudible] relations and we think it will do nicely. And we have our own little channel, XK [Xing Kong], which is produced in Shanghai and distributed through the southeast. That’s pretty much a break-even operation.

    “We are very [inaudible] all I would say there is that nobody and I challenge anyone to argue this, none of the leading American companies or British media companies have made any impact there yet. It’s possible that, I mean there MySpace finds room there… It may be a MySpace China, which we can license, but we’re just feeling our way there. It’s a vast market, but it’s certainly a very, very sensitive one and as we’ve seen what’s happened to Google there, what’s happened to eBay there, even to Yahoo. It is a very difficult market for outsiders.”

  • Star revenues to grow 15 % this fiscal: MPA

    Star revenues to grow 15 % this fiscal: MPA

    MUMBAI: The Star Group is expected to post a 15 per cent year on year revenue growth at $624 million for FY June 2007 with operating profit margins at 24.3 per cent or $151 million, according estimates by Hong Kong-based research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

    Star’s September quarter was relatively soft (historically soft for the broadcaster in Asia) with revenue up a modest 6 per cent Y/Y to $140 million (MPA estimate) and operating income up 8 per cent to $13 million.

    While subscription revenue grew by 6 per cent Y/Y, programming costs declined over the quarter. “This leverage, however, was offset by lower ad revenue at flagship STAR Plus in India, where the decrease in advertising reflected last year’s high base comparison when revenue grew 22 per cent Y/Y due to the successful broadcast of Kaun Banega Crorepati 2,” the MPA report said. Despite maintaining leadership position, Star’s ratings have softened with Zee TV posing a strong threat.

    Tata Sky, News Corp.’s 20:80 direct-to-home (DTH) joint venture with the Tatas, has acquired around 180,000 subscribers till October-end, after having launched its services in August. The company says it is on track to add a net one million subscribers per annum.

    “The early results have been encouraging,” the report quoted News Corp chief operating officer and president Peter Chernin as having said. “Any additions are sort of immediate additional subsribers for channels and the good news is that they are at least 100 per cent reporting, which is a nice positive phenomenon in India.”

    News Corp, parent company of Star, had a sluggish September quarter with operating income at $851 million, down 6 per cent Y/Y, with a strong performance at its cable network and newspaper businesses offset by softness at its TV, movie and digital satellite units. It saw also higher than expected costs at the company’s online properties. The company reported earnings of $0.27 per share, benefiting from a $261 million gain after the sale of Sky Brasil and $136 million from the sale of its 19.9 per cent stake in Chinese commercial broadcaster Phoenix Satellite TV, in which News Corp still holds a 17.6 per cent interest.

    The company, however, expects a strong full year in FY 07 with robust growth forecast for Star Group and aggressiv expansion of MySpace into multiple Asian markets, the MPA report said.

  • BCCI, ICC resolve MPA differences

    BCCI, ICC resolve MPA differences

    MUMBAI: After all the public grandstanding came the expected resolution. World cricket’s governing body and the Indian board have resolved their differences over the Members Participation Agreement (MPA).

    The quid pro quo was that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) agreed to withdraw its bid for the broadcast rights for ICC Events from 2007 – 2015 after “legal opinion” indicated there would be conflict of interest.

    Now a new draft of the MPA will be sent to all ICC member countries.

    A statement issued the International Cricket Council (ICC) after its two-day meeting over the weekend said: “The (ICC) board achieved a successful resolution of the outstanding issues involving the MPA with the BCCI.”

    The BCCI’s objection prior to the discussions was that the MPA in its earlier form affected its commercial interests. Following the compromise deal, BCCI officials say that their sponsors have been protected.

    Now though there will not be a conflict between an ICC sponsor and a BCCI one like Nike. In addition countries like India and Australia can keep hosting triangular events and also events involving four teams. The MPA in its earlier form had not allowed this.

    It may be recalled that a month back ICC president Percy Sonn talked tough warning the Indian cricket board that it “could not continue as one of the joint hosts of the 2011 World Cup” if it refused to play ball.

    The never at a loss for words BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi had fired back then that without India, the ICC’s revenues would be drastically affected.

    After a churlish and often childish back and forth between ICC chief Malcolm Speed and the irrepressible Modi over the last few weeks, bridges have been mended and now the crickets global administrator can go ahead with its rights process tender.

  • Modi threatens ICC of Indian withdrawal from future tourneys

    Modi threatens ICC of Indian withdrawal from future tourneys

    MUMBAI: If nothing else, the ongoing spat between the Indian cricket board and the ICC has been the most entertaining quotathon heard in a while. And they keep coming.

    In the latest salvo to be fired, the never short for words combative BCCI vice president Lalit Modi has further upped the ante saying that India is prepared to withdraw from future one-day tournaments, including the World Cup, if the ICC doesn’t let up on the matter of the MPA (members’ participation agreement).

    Modi told the BBC: “It (MPA) is a unilateral agreement which gives the ICC the right to modify and amend it any time they wish.

    “I’ve never seen an agreement in which one of the signatories has that right.”

    “We don’t have to play all tournaments. If things don’t work out, we could choose not to play in the Champions Trophy and the World Cup,” Modi told the BBC.

    For good measure, Modi also brought up the issue (yet again) of India being cricket’s economic lifeline. “If the BCCI does not sign the MPA, then the ICC’s income would be reduced to 5 per cent of what it currently is,” he claimed. 

  • BCCI tells ICC to keep off its players

    BCCI tells ICC to keep off its players

    MUMBAI: “Stay away from our players.” That was the message that the Indian cricket board today shot off to the International Cricket Council (ICC), with which it is currently at loggerheads over the Members’ Participation Agreement (MPA).

    “It has been made clear to the ICC that they cannot deal directly with the Indian players. They have to come through the Board,” BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India News Service.

    Shah, who was speaking from Ahmedabad, claimed it was not the BCCI alone, but the cricket boards of Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh as well who were against the ICC’s dealing directly with players.

    “Not only me (BCCI), but Sri Lanka Cricket, Pakistan Cricket Board and Bangladesh Cricket Board, have said at the recent ICC meeting that on any issue related to the players, the ICC has to approach the boards first,” Shah told PTI.

    Shah’s riposte was in reaction to comments made yesterday by ICC general manager – Cricket, David Richardson, who said, “While the ICC is required to deal directly with the Indian board on player issues, I’ve always enjoyed a good relationship with the Indian captain Rahul Dravid and several of their leading players and, should the BCCI permit, I’d welcome an opportunity to answer any queries they may have.”

    India, which hosts the ICC’s Champions Trophy from Saturday, won the right to hold the 2011 World Cup jointly with neighbors Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

    The ICC has given the BCCI till next Monday (9 October) to notify it of any and all difficulties it has with the MPA. About the deadline, Shah had earlier said that the board would “meet that date”.

    However, today he took on a more belligerent tone when he said, “Are they going to hang us otherwise?” Shah told PTI the BCCI had already sent a reply to the ICC detailing its stand on the MPA.