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: The Bangladesh Cricket Board has appointed a three-member committee to finalise the tendering process for global media rights following its deal with Nimbus Communications ended 30 April this year.

BCB Vice President Ahmed Sajjadul Alam is the convener of the committee which includes BCB Directors Mirza Salman Ispahani and Aziz Al Kaiser.

"A three-member committee has been formed to oversee the tender process for BCB?s worldwide media rights," BCB said in a statement.

The BCB, according to local press reports, has had a rocky relationship with Nimbus due to payment disputes. In fact, BCB chairman Mustafa Kamal had blasted his predecessors for signing a deal, which had many loopholes.

However, a Nimbus official told Indiantelevision.com that it chose not to use the first right to refusal as the BCB failed to keep up its commitment.

The BCB, according to the official, had promised three India tours, two South Africa tours, two England tours and one Australia tour as part of the contract but failed to deliver on them.

"Instead, they gave us four Zimbabwe and three Sri Lanka tours," the official added.

Efforts to reach out to BCB acting Nizamuddin Chowdhury proved futile till the time of filing this report.

Pertinently, Nimbus had last year lost the lucrative India cricket rights after the BCCI terminated its contract for default of payment. The company is currently engaged in arbitration process with the BCCI.

In November 2006, BCB had entered into a six-year contract with Nimbus for television and marketing rights of BCB events until 2012. Under the agreement Nimbus had committed to give a minimum guarantee of $56.88 million.

Before Nimbus, the television rights for Bangladesh were held by ESPN Star Sports, which has recently bagged the broadcast rights of the Bangladesh Premier League for three years for India.

As per the ICC FTP till 2020, Bangladesh is expected to host several top teams including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and New Zealand among others. India will tour Bangladesh twice, first in June 2014 for three ODIs and in May-June 2015 for two Test?s and three ODIs.

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd?s sports losses will be around Rs 1.4 billion this fiscal due to new channel launches and a weakening rupee, upsetting its guidance of capping losses at Rs 1 billion.

Zeel?s target of break even in the next fiscal could also be derailed. Though it is too early to fix an amount to it, a source said losses could fall in the region of Rs 600-650 million.

Zeel?s sports losses for the earlier fiscal stood at Rs 2.08 billion on a revenue of Rs 4.4 billion.

"Zeel will post sports losses of Rs 400-500 million in the fourth quarter and Rs 1.3-1.4 billion this fiscal. This is due to the launch expenses of Ten HD and Ten Golf and payouts for broadcasting rights in dollars," the source said.

The key acquisitions included Cricket South Africa rights (2013-20) for $180 million, Zimbabwe Cricket rights for $20 million (2013-18) and Uefa Champions League rights (2012-15) for $10.5 million.

In an interview with Indiantelevision.com late last year, Zeel managing director and chief executive officer Punit Goenka had said that "given our growth trajectory and contracts, the sports business should break even in two years. In the worst case scenario, we should be able to turn it around by the middle of FY?14."

For the first nine months of FY?12, the sports losses stood at Rs 892 million.

"The sports losses will be higher than Rs 1 billion but I can?t say how much. The losses will substantially reduce in FY?13," said Zeel president corporate strategy and business development Atul Das.

Taj Television, the company owned by Zeel, runs Ten Cricket, Ten Action+ (with football as its focus), Ten Sports, Ten Golf and Ten HD.

"We make profit or break even from all other sports properties except cricket. The challenge is monetisation of cricket at a profit level. Affiliate revenues should grow. Digitisation is better for us in that sense," said Zee?s sports business CEO Atul Pande.

Zeel will increase the programming hours of its flagship channel, Zee TV, in the next fiscal, leading to a rise in content costs. This will put pressure on non-Sports margins. "The marketing expense on Ditto (Zeel?s OTT platform) will also be upped. The pressure on margins will last till the first half of next fiscal. It will pick up from the second half of FY?13," the source said.

Zeel launched this year the country?s first Over-The-Top TV distribution platform, Ditto TV, with an aim to offer TV channels and On-Demand video content to consumers on their mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, entertainment boxes and connected TVs.

"We are planning a few channel launches in the next fiscal," said Atul Das, while declining to comment on the specifics or the financial terms.

MUMBAI: Taj Television has bagged the worldwide television rights for Zimbabwe cricket till 2019.

The value of the deal is $20 million, according to sources. The four-year rights had earlier fetched $6 million.

The agreements with Taj Television cover the Zimbabwe cricket seasons in excess of an eight-year period from 2012 through to 2019. 

Taj Television will be telecasting 220 days of cricket including 15 days of India cricket consisting of two series.

With the acquisition of these cricket rights, Taj Television now has the rights of five cricket boards - South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has returned to Test after a self imposed exile of six years, with an inspiring win against Bangladesh. Over the next two years, Zimbabwe will be playing Test Cricket with New Zealand, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka providing Zimbabwe a benchmark to measure their progress in the sport.

Zimbabwe Cricket MD Ozias Bvute said, "We are happy to extend our existing contract with Taj Television Limited as this plays a pivotal role in ensuring that Zimbabwean cricket is seen by those who love the game as well as introduced to new audiences. With its superior telecast standards, world class television production capabilities and strength to telecast the Zimbabwe Cricket worldwide, Taj Television Limited will add a lot of value to game of cricket."

Taj Television India CEO Atul Pande said, "We‘re extremely pleased to extend our partnership with Zimbabwe Cricket. This is a testament to our commitment to the game of cricket and fans as we cement our relationship with Zimbabwe Cricket.

"Through our television channels-Ten Cricket and Ten Sports, our website www.tencricket.com and our various wireless platform initiatives, we are confident of taking the rights of Zimbabwe Cricket to new heights by working along with various partners and are committed to set new benchmarks in broadcasting and distribution."

MUMBAI: In a sign that the cricket broadcast rights market is booming and the fact that the older formats of the game are very much viable notwithstanding the rise of the Twenty20 format, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced its biggest ever commercial broadcasting deals.

It has made a record R1.5-billion ($202 million) in broadcasting deals following the sale of its exclusive media rights, of the Proteas? home matches, to Zee-controlled Taj Television and Willow TV International.

The agreements cover the South African cricket seasons, including two India tours, over an eight-year period from 2012-13 through to 2019-20.

Taj Television will cough out $180 million for the exclusive media rights covering Asia and the Middle East compared to $75 million that it had paid last time for the four-year rights, according to market estimates.

The exclusive media rights agreement with Willow covers the US, Canada and Mexico.

CSA CEO Gerald Majola noted that this was the biggest deal that CSA had ever concluded. He added that it is probably one of the biggest in the history of South African sport. "It amounts to a combined sum of around R1.5-billion and gives both Taj Television and Willow TV exclusive rights in their respective geographical regions to all home matches played by the Proteas over a period of eight years. It is once again confirmation of the high regard in which the Proteas? brand and CSA is held internationally. The contracts cover the period from the start of next season (2012) and will run through to 2020."

Majola said at a time of great global uncertainty as far the world economy is concerned, it is very exciting for CSA to note that one of its major income streams is guaranteed over a long period of time.

Sources also said that Taj Television has renewed Zimbabwe rights for eights years.

With the acquisition of these cricket rights, Taj Television has broadcast rights of five cricket boards: South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Taj Television had acquired the Cricket South Africa rights five years ago, first with a one-year deal, and then extended to another four years.