DD & NIMBUS DO LAST MINUTE RESCUE OF WORLD CUP TELECAST

It almost seemed as though it would not be able to pull it off. Following the award of the air time marketing rights for the World Cup telecast on DD to Nimbus by the High Court, Nimbus failed to meet its deadline for furnishing a bank guarantee for Rs 305.6 million for the telecast rights. It also reportedly failed to meet the deadline to come up with funds to pay for the telecast rights to the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

In stepped the Prasar Bharati chief executive O.P. Kejriwal, who used I&B ministry funds to make payments to the ECB and secure the rights. Immediately, I&B ministry officials raised a howl of protest that Kejriwal had overstepped his brief and that he had done wrong in assuming that Nimbus would honour its commitments. They have even asked for an inquiry to be conducted into the entire turn of events that led to the World Cup fiasco. Stracon promoter Siddharta Ray has also alleged that Kejriwal has colluded with Nimbus in redoing the entire deal that DD had signed with him.

Nimbus chief Harish Thawani, however, succeeded in getting a bank guarantee a couple of days day before the event. He said the telecast of the 11 matches involving India, the semi-finals, the finals and highlights of the other matches on the DD terrestrial network is likely to generate about Rs 800 million in television commercial revenues.

Viewers in interior India, were, however, unperturbed by the incidents and breathed a sigh of relief as it became certain that they would get their fill of cricket after all.

Meanwhile, DD has insured the telecast of the World Cup with the public sector Oriental Insurance Co for a sum of Rs 380 million. The Prasar Bharati will be paying a premium of Rs 3.2 million for the cover. The telecast of the event has been insured for satellite link failure, including equipment failure during transmission for more than two hours, unsatisfactory video and audio and interruptions resulting in financial losses, and losses arising out of inclement weather affecting the match, including rain and storm.