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Tag: Ratnakar Shetty

  • ESPN Star Sports moves court on India cricket rights

    ESPN Star Sports moves court on India cricket rights

    MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: In an expected move, ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) has approached the courts in a last-ditch attempt to reverse the decision by the Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI) to award the India cricket telecast rights for the next four years to Zee Telefilms.

    This during a week when one of its American parents – ESPN – is celebrating its silver jubilee year. And at a time when ESPN’s contracts with both the NFL and and Major League Baseball  the heart of its programming in the US for years  are close to expiring.

    An official communiqué issued late this evening states that ESS has “challenged BCCI’s decision to award conditional allotment of rights for all cricket to be played in India to the Zee Network in the Mumbai High Court.”

    Justifying the move, Rik Dovey, managing director, ESS, Asia was quoted in the release as saying, “Unfortunately, we are left with no other option but to resort to the law in an attempt to bring fair-dealing and justice to the process. ESPN STAR Sports was the highest eligible bidder under the rules of bidding specified by the BCCI and now the BCCI has changed the entire process of bidding in violation of rules set by BCCI themselves to favor our competitor by giving them an unfair advantage.”

    Zee Telefilms meanwhile, had filed a caveat in the High Court yesterday itself in anticipation of ESS moving the courts, company spokesperson Ashish Kaul says.

    While the matter is expected to come up for hearing in the Mumbai High Court on Tuesday, 7 September, the BCCI has said it had not received any legal notice thus far. Professor Ratnakar Shetty, joint secretary of the board, told Wisden Cricinfo, “I was in the BCCI office till 6 pm and at that stage we had not been served any notice.” The BCCI office, in stadium house, on the premises of the Brabourne Stadium, officially functions till 5 pm. Even an hour later than that they had not received any word regarding a legal notice.

    Explaining the basis of taking legal recourse, ESPN Software India managing director RC Venkateish was quoted in the ESS release as saying, “As described in the terms of the BCCI tender document Zee should not have been allowed to bid in the first place. Zee does not qualify because it does not have any experience of broadcasting or producing live international cricket event as specified in the tender. Clearly the required technical evaluation of the bids has not been carried out.”

    “On Sunday the BCCI changed the rules to unfairly disadvantage our bid without giving us any further rights to bid,” Venkateish added.

  • BCCI is only looking at Pakistan tour, not elections: Dalmiya

    BCCI is only looking at Pakistan tour, not elections: Dalmiya

    NEW DELHI: Amid mounting doubts whether India’s cricket tour of Pakistan will take place or not, Indian cricket board chief Jagmohan Dalmiya is keeping his fingers tightly crossed.

    Dalmiya told IANS in a telephonic interview from Kolkata that he would not be able to say anything with certainty until an Indian delegation now in Pakistan returned after studying the security situation there.

    “The itinerary and other things would be decided only after the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) team is back from Pakistan,” Dalmiya said.

    He was reacting to reports that the Indian home ministry is having second thoughts about the tour – some officials are suggesting that it be postponed until after the Indian general elections.

    The home ministry, it is being said, may even suggest to the BCCI to go for a curtailed tour of Pakistan involving, perhaps, only Test matches.

    Earlier, speaking to IANS in Kolkata, Dalmiya dismissed as “rumour” reports that the Indian team’s tour of Pakistan was being called off because of security concerns.

    “I’ve no news that the tour to Pakistan could be cancelled for whatever reason. There is a lot of rumour going around,” Dalmiya said.

    “So far as we know, there is no reason to think there would be any change in the tentative schedule of the tour.”

    Referring to the reports of India possibly calling or putting off the Pakistan tour, Dalmiya said: “All these are hypothetical situations. There will be day-to-day developments, so I can’t say anything now.”

    India are scheduled to play three Tests and five one-day internationals besides a three-day warm-up match on their first full-fledged tour of Pakistan in over 14 years expected to start in the second week of March and extend to April.

    The inspection team in Pakistan is led by BCCI joint secretary Ratnakar Shetty and includes communications director Amrit Mathur and the inspector general (VIP security) in the home ministry, Yashovardhan Azad, a government nominee.

    They would take stock of the security and other arrangements made at the six proposed venues by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), including Karachi and Peshawar, two cities that have a history of violence attributed to extremist groups.

    Due to violence, teams touring Pakistan in recent years have either cancelled the series, or abruptly ended them or had them rescheduled in a neutral country, leaving PCB in the red.

    The PCB hopes to make about $20 million from the India series, and it is desperate to make that money.

    “I am not even contacting them (BCCI team) in Pakistan. Everything will be discussed after they return in two or four days,” said Dalmiya.

    He refused to go into details about security issues.

    “I am only the president of the cricket board,” Dalmiya said. “Our job is simple: look after cricket.”

    And in a crucial remark, he added: “The situation would change every two hours.”

    Pakistani authorities have promised to provide foolproof security to the Indian team.

    A former president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Dalmiya said the BCCI was also taking “cognisance” of a possible clash of the match dates with Indian elections.

    Indian politicians have already started demanding that there should be no polling on the days India and Pakistan play – assuming the tour does take place.

    Dalmiya also declined to say when the Indian team would be announced.

    “You are asking about steps No. 4, 5 and 6… This is a step that would be taken subsequently,” he said.

    Media reports have been speculating about the fate of the Pakistan tour, with many newspapers reporting that the Indian government was divided over the issue of sending the Indian team because of security fears.

    Top Indian cricketers, including skipper Sourav Ganguly, have said they were “concerned” about the tour but would not hesitate from travelling to Pakistan if security was foolproof.