| The last Asian Cup was held four years ago. “It
is possible and we are looking at how we can get time slots to have
the tournament every two years,” Dalmiya told reporters in Colombo
after talks last week with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda
Rajapakse. The ACC aims to stage the Asia Cup every two years and
accordingly to have longer-term sponsorship deals for future tournaments.
Queried over the weekend as to whether he would be bidding, SET
India CEO Kunal Dasgupta said Sony had not been approached but if
approached would bid.
According to the information available with indiantelevision.com,
Ten Sports as well as ESPN Star Sports would also be bidding for
the telecast rights.
A sore point of course would be on the exclusivity part of the
deal. With all the problems that "exclusive" rights holder
Ten Sports had vis-a-vis national broadcaster Doordarshan awaiting
the Supreme court's verdict, it would be expected that all three
bidders would use that as a negotiating ploy with which to bring
down the rights costs.
Sources close to the developments say DD has already written to
the ACC expressing their interest in the rights. In the light of
this the Asia Cup might well prove a test case as to how future
tournaments involving India play out on the telecast bidding front.
Interestingly, ESPN Star Sports, on its publicity material issued
at the start of the year, had mentioned the Asia Cup as one of the
tournaments on its roster where India would be participating.
|
