ESPN STAR threatens ICC over Twenty20

Premium Indian sports channel ESPN STAR is threatening legal action against the International Cricket Council (ICC) if it authorises the Champions Twenty20 League.

The TV giant is already confirmed as the ICC’s official broadcast partner to cover all ICC events, an eight-year deal worth around over half a billion pounds. But in an email circulated to all 10 member boards on Monday, the ICC’s chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, warned of ESPN-Star’s opinion that the Champions Twenty20 League is a threat to its interests.

The report from MediaGuardian further stated, “Although Cricket South Africa and Cricket Australia are founder members and shareholders, the Champions League’s equity arrangement is believed to be weighted so much in favour of the Board for Control of Cricket in India as to effectively be a subsidiary of the Indian Premier League. The IPL has a separate broadcast partner in Sony, leaving ESPN-Star holding a contract to screen tournaments in which there is diminishing interest.

The failure of the 2007 World Cup, the expensive logistics of broadcasting the 2011 tournament from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and the boom in the Twenty20 format have eroded the value of ESPN-Star’s ICC contract.”