| MUMBAI:
The issue over Big TV pulling out of the IPL gets more and more curious.
Multiscreen Media
(formerly Sony Entertainment Television India) president network sales, licensing
and telephony Rohit Gupta has clarified that Big TV was offered the first right
of refusal. "On-ground
partners do not get on-air exclusivity. What they get is the first right of refusal.
We offered Big TV that and they refused. We followed the terms of our contract
with the IPL governing body,” Gupta tells Indiantelevision.com while defending
Sony's on-air sponsorship deal with Airtel Digital TV. In
the first season, Sony had offered category exclusivity only as a sop as the IPL
was an untested property. Reliance
Communications head brand and marketing Sanjay Behl, however, contests Gupta's
argument. “Sony (which has the broadcast rights) did a deal with a rival.
We were not consulted and neither was the BCCI. Therefore, we took the decision
to pull out,” he says. Last
year, Big TV won the contract to be the IPL's on-ground DTH partner for four years.
The contract was worth $31.1 million.
"When
we signed the deal, we were given to understand that it would have category exclusivity
both on-air and on-ground. We would also have first right of refusal for on-air
sponsorship," Behl says. IPL,
meanwhile, is waiting for clarification from Sony on the whole issue. "We
are sorting out the issue and would not like to offer our comments at this stage,"
says IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi. | 
