Sky Sports & BCCI at loggerheads over upcoming series

British broadcaster, Sky Sports and BCCI are reportedly in dispute after the Indian cricket board demanded additional fees totaling more than �500,000 for Sky Sports’ commentary team to have facilities at the grounds during England’s tour of India in November.

According to ESPN Cric Info, the cost includes, among other things, studio space and a commentary box for Sky’s own panel of commentators, a TV control room, audio and video feed, a scoring monitor, as well as satellite uplinking from the venues for 30 days of cricket. Sky’s interpretation is that securing of TV rights should automatically assume such provisions as part of the deal.

Sky’s commentators including former England captains Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Ian Botham, maybe forced to halt their travel plans in India due to this disagreement. Sky could use commentary from the host broadcaster or set up a studio outside the grounds.

Sky Sports has faced similar issues previously so it had no choice but to use Neo Cricket’s commentary team at the time, which included Matthew Hoggard and Dermot Reeve.

There were also problems for Sky before England’s 2006 tour of India, when they agreed terms with Nimbus, who had just bought the rights to India’s home matches, only a few days before the series began.