Three channels bid for BCCI’s IPL cricket

Three channels – ESPN STAR Sports, Sony Entertainment Television Asia and Nimbus have made their initial presentations towards the bidding process for the upcoming BCCI Twenty20 cricket series called Indian Premier League (IPL).

The presentations will be followed by the floating of tenders on Saturday 24th November, which will be finally opened on Friday 7th December when the rights will be granted.

BCCI ensured that each channel made separate presentations, and officials of none of the channels are prepared even to say what the parameters of judging the strengths were that the cricket body was looking at.

“We have been told to maintain confidentiality strictly by BCCI, and even if we disclose the parameters of the presentation, it would make us liable for breach of confidentiality, as these parameters would go into framing of the tender conditions,” said a top official of one of the channels.

IPL’s rival team ICL (Indian Cricket League), which is formed by ZEE Network launches its tournament on Friday 30th November. The tournament will be shown live on ZEE Sports in India and ZEE TV in the UK.