The Hindu Business Line : SET eyes on BCCI matches

Besides, public broadcaster, Doordarshan, private channels such as ESPN-Star Sports, Ten Sports and Sony are all aggressively pitching for the five-year contract. And that's not all. Industry sources said that others such as Sahara or Zee could also pitch for these rights.

"We recently bagged the rights to the Holland Cup and are aggressively trying to get the rights to the BCCI matches," said Mr Kunal Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer, Sony Entertainment Television (SET). The broadcaster is also willing to share the terrestrial rights with the national broadcaster. The bids for the BCCI matches are expected to be very high, in excess of Rs 600-700 crore. Last time around, the DD had paid about Rs 225 crore for the five-year contract.

The acquisition of the BCCI rights is important to all the private sports broadcasters. ESPN-Star Sports is looking at strengthening its India-centric cricket, Ten Sports, after tasting success with the Indo-Pakistan series, is seeking to increase its presence in the subcontinent and SET Max wants to consolidate its sports business by adding more events to its existing World Cup and ICC Championship Tournament rights.

SET, in fact, feels that its bouquet of channels is incomplete without sports, shopping, business news and regional channels.

"If we can add the BCCI matches to our existing rights, we will be able to plug the gap in sports," said Mr Dasgupta. The broadcaster could then consider hiving off Max as a separate sports channel.

Mr Dasgupta further added that Sony would be part of various direct-to-home (DTH) platforms including that of Zee and Star. "We will be present on all those platforms where we are able to strike a good financial deal," he said.

The broadcaster is also bullish on wireless and SMS technology. It has already generated revenues of Rs 12 crore-15 crore from these operations and views it as a good business opportunity.

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