• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Meera Mohanty

New Delhi, Aug. 20 The Essel Group promoted Indian Cricket League (ICL) will not be exclusive to Zee Networks’ channels. The League, which is being offered as an alternative to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, plans to eventually invite other broadcasters to bid for its properties.

According to the Group’s Senior Vice-President, Mr Ashish Kaul, the ICL which confirmed the names of its members on Monday, is focused right now on getting its act together. “There can be no business model without talent being at the forefront – no amount of marketing can substitute for talent,” said Mr Kaul, an ex-Ranji player himself.

The ICL first tournament expected in October-November this year is most likely to be telecast on Zee Sports. “In the future seasons, we will open the tournaments’ telecast rights for other broadcasters to bid for. Zee Sports only happens to be an in-house broadcaster and the Indian Cricket League is not a Zee initiative,” said Mr Kaul.

Although the ICL would prefer not talking business right now – “We are not missionaries, we are visionaries”, they say – its business that drives the game. “The principle is money follows eyeballs,” says Mr Harish Krishnamachar, Managing Director, Iconix, the talent management agency that handles Sachin Tendulkar’s portfolio.

As per data from AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, the game attracts advertising revenue of Rs 500-550 crore a year. This is only a ballpark figure that depends on various factors such as the teams, the host country and whether it’s a World Cup year. Advertising revenues for the 2003 World Cup were estimated at Rs 260-270 crore. In 2004,

Zee itself had bid $260 million or about Rs 1,113 crore for the rights to BCCI tournaments in India, now held by Nimbus Communications. With a corpus of a much smaller Rs 100 crore, the ICL announced in April this year, which reportedly has offered contracts of close to a million dollars to players, says it focussed on generating talent.

“If it is a professionally run league that will benefit players, it will eventually benefit all of us,” says Mr Krishnamachar. “But from an endorsement point of view, brands will still want to get players who wear the Indian colours,” he adds.

The ICL is aiming to get there eventually. “The domestic league is only a small step, eventually we would like to have a national team,” said Mr Kaul.

More Stories on : Sports | Strategy | Radio/TV | Zee Telefilms Ltd

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Import talk stirs up a dull wheat market

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line