BCCI-Nimbus deal in jeopardy

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has a $612m deal with Nimbus, is also in jeopardy. Nimbus will not telecast the Afro-Asia Cup to be held next month.

"We will not be participating in any manner with the Afro-Asia Cup. Nimbus believes that it stands to lose revenue by telecasting an event that even the BCCI seems disinterested in hosting." Harish Thawani, CMD, Nimbus said.

The event has already lost star players like Tendulkar, Dravid, Kallis, Smith, Malinga and Shoaib Akhtar. While there are reports that ESPN Star Sports (ESS), who launch their new cricket channel on June 1, might step in, this could not be confirmed.

The Afro-Asia Cup was first held in 2005 featuring three one-dayers in South Africa. The event, a brainchild of former BCCI and ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya, was initially planned to be held annually for three years. But the ouster of Dalmiya from the BCCI, the financial power that drives modern cricket, seemed to have sounded a death knell for the tournament and was not part of the international calendar in 2006.

Nimbus pull out comes close on the heels of Zee Entertainment Enterprises breaking away from a five-year broadcast deal with the BCCI earlier in the day. Earlier in the day, Nimbus had said that relevant terms of the contract would not apply anymore since the matches were originally scheduled for last year.