MUMBAI: With India and Bangladesh cricket rights out of its kitty, Neo Sports Broadcast, the owner and operator of Neo Sports and Neo Cricket, is betting big on three months of non-stop sporting action spread across football, tennis and hockey.

Neo Sports, the all sports channel from the network, has lined up Uefa Euro 2012, the second biggest football event after Fifa World Cup, and French Open regarded as one of the largest events in tennis as part of its aggressive summer line-up.

The Uefa Euro 2012 will be held from 8 June to 1 July while the French Open will kick-off on 27 May running through to 10 June.

The broadcaster has further beefed up its line-up with the addition of Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament, which will see the Indian team locking horns with arch rivals Pakistan.

The tournament, which began 24 May with play-offs on 3 June, will also feature Argentina, England, New Zealand, South Korea and the host country Malaysia. The India-Pakistan match will held be held on 31 May.

"The Sultan Azlan Shah acquisition along with French Open and Uefa Euro 2012 further fortifies the summer line up on the Neo Network," Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasanna Krishnan said.

But in a single sport country like India will non-cricket sports help Neo to pull through?

Maxus and Motivator South Asia MD Ajit Varghese says sports like football and tennis are fast gaining traction and can attract sponsors on a standalone basis since there is a loyal fan base comprising of young and mid-age who will watch these events irrespective of timings.

The sportscaster has launched ?Ultimate Summer of Sports? marketing campaign which began with The Players Championship golf tournament that was held from 10-13 May. Neo has allocated Rs 15 million towards marketing the properties, which includes television promos on news and other sports channels besides print ads.

The fact that there is no cricket action involving Indian cricket team at least till August has only bolstered the sportscasters cause with the Indian Premier League also concluding on 27 May.

Even the timings of both French Open and Uefa Euro are suitable for the Indian market. French Open matches will begin in afternoon going on till late night, while Uefa Euro matches will begin in primetime going on till mid night.

Aside from marketing, the channel has high revenue expectations from both French Open as well as Uefa Euro.

According to industry sources, the broadcaster is targeting Rs 45 million ad revenue from French Open. It has roped in Reliance 3G, Coca Cola, Renault, Kerala Tourism and Vinni Pharmaceuticals as broadcast sponsors.

The official sponsors will consume 60-70 per cent of the inventory while spot buyers like Hero MotoCorp and Hyundai will utilise the rest. The channel is targeting ad rates of Rs 12,000-15,000 per 10 second spot.

The broadcaster has also tied-up with YouTube for live streaming of the tournament.

However, it is Uefa Euro 2012 on which Neo has pinned its hopes to deliver big monies as it has invested $11 million to acquire the rights.

The incumbent rights holder ESPN Star Sports had bid $4 million for the rights but lost in face of aggressive bidding by Neo which had Ten Sports as the runner-up with a bid of $6 million.

Neo is yet to sign up sponsors for Uefa Euro 2012 however a top company official asserted that the negotiations with advertisers are happening. "The response from the market has been extremely positive," the executive said, while declining to comment on the financials.

The final of Euro 2008 between Spain and Germany which aired on ESPN got a rating of 2.09, according to Tam data (c&s15+ males) for six metros.

Nimbus Sport, the company that acquires rights for Neo Sports and Neo Cricket, has lost the India and Bangladesh cricket rights within a span of six months. While the BCCI terminated its deal with Nimbus over delay in payment of broadcast license fee, the sports marketing agency?s deal with Bangladesh Cricket Board expired 30 April.

The broadcaster had recently reworked its deal with MSM Discovery for the distribution of television channels Neo Sports and Neo Cricket under the aegis of TheOneAlliance bouquet.

MUMBAI: Harish Thawani?s Nimbus Communications suffered another setback as the apex court upheld the Bombay High Court?s order asking it to furnish Rs 3.05 billion bank guarantee in its dispute with the Indian cricket board.

The Bombay HC had in January asked Nimbus Communications to either deposit an amount of Rs 3.05 billion in the court or give a bank guarantee pending hearing of the dispute with BCCI in order to offset losses arising out of termination of contract.

The court order came in response to BCCI‘s petition that it wanted to secure advertising revenue earned by Nimbus from the England and West Indies series as broadcast fee. Nimbus, which held the BCCI broadcast rights, had sub-licensed the rights to its sister concern Neo Sports Broadcast which operates Neo Cricket and Neo Sports.

The order was further upheld by a two-member bench of the HC directing Nimbus to furnish the bank guarantee within two weeks pending hearing of its dispute with BCCI.

Nimbus then filed a special leave petition with the Supreme Court which refused to entertain its plea. The three member bench comprising Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice Surinder Singh, and Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, while upholding the HC order, directed the court to dispose of the case within four weeks starting from the date of its order.

?Having heard learned counsel for the petitioner, we are not inclined to entertain the special leave petition, which is directed against an ad-interim order passed in a proceeding under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and the Notice of Motion, is still pending disposal,? the SC order read.

?Accordingly, while dismissing the special leave petition, we request the learned Single Judge of the High Court, before whom the matter is pending, to dispose of the Notice of Motion at the earliest and preferably within four weeks from the date of communication of this order."

The matter will now come up for hearing before the single bench judge who will come out with final decision in the case. ?Needless to say, the matter is to be decided by the learned Single Judge, without being influenced by the observations made while passing the ad-interim order,? the order added.

The BCCI had in December last year terminated broadcast rights contract with Nimbus Communications over default in payment and had planned to encash bank guarantee that Nimbus had furnished to secure the rights.

However, a clause in the contract which stated that the bank guarantee can be encashed only if the contract is in effect prevented the BCCI from encashing the guarantee amount.

MUMBAI: The last word on the BCCI-Nimbus dispute is still not out as the sports marketing company has moved the apex court against a Bombay High Court directing it to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 3.05 billion.

The Bombay HC has on 27 February directed Nimbus, which owns and operates Neo Sports and Neo Cricket channels through sister concern Neo Sports Broadcast, to furnish security by way of a bank guarantee of Rs 3.05 billion within two weeks pending hearing of its dispute with BCCI.

The two member bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and HL Gokhale made the order to "list this matter before a Bench of which Justice H.L. Gokhale is not a member".

The case has now been listed for 4 April.

The HC, according to Nimbus, was not right in directing it to furnish security in the form of a bank guarantee for the entire claim amount. It also stated that the BCCI?s claim for damages at the rate of Rs 310 million per game played by the Indian team was unreasonable.

Ever since their contract was terminated for breach of agreement, Nimbus has been crying hoarse that the BCCI has also failed in its obligation to provide iconic national players for important bilateral series which led to low level of interest in the matches and the cancellation of India-Pakistan series inspite of being part of the Future Tours Programme, both of which significantly dented its monetisation of the broadcast rights.

The BCCI had in December terminated Nimbus? broadcast rights contract contending that the later has been a regular defaulter of payments following the broadcaster?s inability to pay the rights fee for the England and West Indies home series.

In October 2010, Nimbus had renewed its agreement with BCCI valued at approximately Rs 20 billion for a minimum of 64 international matches and 312 days of domestic cricket until 2014 after furnishing a bank guarantee for the agreement amount to the BCCI.