MUMBAI: Nimbus Sport, Asian Cricket Council?s marketing agency, has sold the 2014 Asia Cup broadcast rights to Neo Prime for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Nimbus Sport is the sports marketing arm of Nimbus Communications, which is also the parent company of Neo Sports Broadcast, the company that owns and runs Neo Prime and Neo Sports.

Neo Prime has also secured the first right to renew for the next three Asia Cup tournaments leading up to 2020. The rights acquired covers India as well as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka markets.

Asian Cricket Council CEO Ashraful Haq said, "The Asia Cup is our marquee event and we have constantly strived to boost its standing through long term deals with trusted business associates. We are pleased to announce the extension of Neo Prime as our broadcast partner for the Asia Cup in India."

Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasana Krishnan said, "We are delighted to add the extension of the Asia Cup rights to the growing list of long term deals that Neo has with quality international sporting events and federations. The Asia Cup has always been a treasured property for us."

The 2010 and 2012 edition of the four-nation tournament was also broadcast on Neo Prime (then Neo Cricket). The cricket channel was last year rebranded as Neo Prime by Nimbus following the loss of tent pole BCCI rights.

MUMBAI: The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has re-scheduled Sri Lanka?s tour of West Indies to accommodate the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) by scrapping the two match Test series and replacing the ODI and T20 matches with a tri-series which will also feature India.

The move will be cheered by official media rights holder Ten Sports, which had recently renewed its rights with WICB for seven years beginning January 2013 through to 2020.

As part of the International Cricket Council?s (ICC) Future Tours Programme (FTP), Sri Lanka was originally scheduled to tour the Caribbean for two Tests, three ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals in 2013.

The limited overs portion of the Sri Lankan tour of the West Indies was originally scheduled for April/May, which would have clashed with IPL, which will take place from 3 April to 26 May.

The Sri Lankan tour of the West Indies was rescheduled to allow players from both teams to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the WICB said in a statement.

The two Tests have been deferred and will be played at a later date in the FTP cycle, it added.

The three teams will play the Caribbean in June and July next year in a seven match One Day International Tri Nation Series.

Each team will play the other two teams twice with the matches scheduled for Sabina Park in Jamaica and Queen?s Park Oval in Trinidad.

The Series will bowl off in Kingston on 28 June with the Windies tackling India. The final will be played on 11 July by the two teams with the most points after the six preliminary matches.

In addition to India and Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Pakistan will also tour the Caribbean in 2013, making it the first time four international teams will visit the region in a calendar year.

MUMBAI: Broadcasting major Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) expects to cut down its sports losses this fiscal to Rs 700 million as subscription revenues are showing strong growth trends.

?The distribution revenues should see an upside. International syndication, including Pakistan and the Middle East, should look up. The cricketing lineup is also reasonable. There could also the possibility of a series between India and Pakistan in the fiscal,? a source said.

The live telecast of cricket properties in FY?13 include series like Sri Lanka-England and West Indies-Australia (April 2012); Sri Lanka-Pakistan (May-June); West Indies-New Zealand and Sri Lanka-India (July-August); Zimbabwe-Bangladesh (August-September); Zimbabwe-Pakistan and Sri Lanka-New Zealand (November-December); South Africa-New Zealand (December 2012-January 2013); and South Africa-Pakistan , Sri Lanka-Bangladesh and West Indies-Zimbabwe (February-March 2013).

The prime revenue from cricket will be from the India-Sri Lanka series. The company is targeting ad revenue of Rs800 million from the series. There is only one India-playing series this fiscal.

A weakening rupee , though, remains a concern. The weakening of the rupee had upset Zeel?s early guidance of capping sports losses at Rs 1 billion in the previous fiscal. Hit by forex losses to the tune of Rs 270-Rs 280 million, the company ended FY?12 with a loss of Rs 1.48 billion from its sports broadcasting business on a revenue of Rs 3.93 billion.

?Ten Sports (the sports broadcasting arm of Zeel) has seen a 13 per cent increase in content cost due to the softening of the Indian currency. When the content deals were signed, the rupee was around Rs 44 to a dollar,? a source said.

For the fiscal ended March 2011, Zeel?s sports losses stood at Rs 2.08 billion on a revenue of Rs 4.4 billion.