ZEE Sports garners big revenues from DLF Cup

ZEE Sports has reaped a total of $29 million in revenues from the Malaysian Tri-Series (DLF Cup) despite rain restricting some matches.

���We garnered $15 million as advertising revenue, $4 million from distribution and $10 million from international syndication. Our revenue collection from the Series surpassed our expectations. We are very happy that we did so much of business,�۝ said Gaurav Seth, VP, Marketing, ZEE Sports.

The broadcaster had carried the series on an exclusive basis without sharing the feed with Doordarshan. ���It was our first experience to distribute, produce and entirely market a cricket tournament and we put in a good effort,�۝ Seth further said.

However, there have been reports of advertisements cutting into Live overs of matches and loss of eight overs of Live telecast during the second innings of the final match between Australia and West Indies. Asked about these anomalies, Seth explained, ���The loss of eight overs of Live telecast was due to a technical error due to which we lost power from both the generators and satellite transmission couldn�۪t be carried out. It wasn�۪t human error and was beyond our control.�۝

���Then there was tremendous pressure from the advertisers to carry their ads as we lost almost two and a half matches due to rain. Given the value cricket properties command these days, it is hard to avoid the advertisement pressure,�۝ Seth maintained.

ZEE Sports has won the global media rights for all the matches that India will play on neutral ground for $219 million. The media rights include 25 matches over a period of five years with an average of five matches per year between 1st April 2006 and 31st March 2011.

The next overseas cricket tournament that ZEE Sports will telecast is the India-Pakistan Series in April next year, the venue for which is yet to be decided upon.