Zee stumps rivals with $900m bid for ICC rights

MUMBAI

The Zee group
has stunned the sports marketing and broadcast world with an astounding $900-million bid for all rights to the ICC cricket world cups and tournaments for the next eight years.

Zee's bid is followed by ESPN-Star Sports, which has bid over $600 million just for the rights to telecast matches in the Indian sub-continent. Ten Sports, which teamed up with German sports Infront, has submitted a bid worth $600 million while Singapore-based Nimbus Sports has bid $160-180 million for only the international rights. ICC had invited bids from global companies for all rights relating to the two world cups, three champions trophy tournaments and some 20/20 tournaments. The rights cover TV, DTH, radio and new media.

Zee, which has launched a sports channel but did not have any major cricket properties, was desperate to secure these rights. ESPN-Star, which failed in its last attempt to get the world cup rights and the India cricket rights last year, was equally determined. But the Subhash Chandra-promoted group seems to have edged out the Walt Disney-Rupert Murdoch promoted combine in this latest battle. Many experts think that Zee is likely to walk away with the rights given its aggressiveness.

At $900 million, Zee's bid is several times more than what Sony Entertainment Television paid when the last ICC rights were awarded more than four years ago. It also shows that Indian groups can be counted upon to consider cricket to be a hot property despite the lacklustre performance of the Indian team in the past few years and the fact that the next two world cups are unlikely to feature several of the current big stars.

Sony, the natural incumbent, is out of the race with Sony's international board not allowing its Indian subsidiary — Set India — to bid due to for the high-risk factor coupled with the steep investment cost that cricket has been garnering lately.

Zee, as of now, seems to be the most aggressive bidder, and all factors seem to suggest that this time round it might emerge successful, industry experts pointed out.