Nimbus will cover the Lanka vs. India series on a short term contract

Questions are being raised regarding the awarding of TV rights for the upcoming India tour to the crisis-ridden WSG Nimbus, with which Sri Lanka Cricket had a long-running dispute over payment matters.
The Sri Lanka Cricket, under the supervision of the Sports Ministry, awarded Nimbus the TV rights for US$ 6 million although the originally expected sum was US$ 12-13 million.

The award came at a time when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has accused the company’s Indian arm, Nimbus Communications, of not honouring payments.

Years ago, Sri Lanka too had a dispute over payments with WSG Nimbus and the then Board of control for Cricket in Sri Lanka was compelled to pay compensation to the company, largely due to the mishandling of the case. The cricket board subsequently decided not to entertain the company for future bids.
But yesterday Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge denied that WSG Nimbus which won the television rights only for the India tour was a ‘black listed’ organization with the SLC.

“Nimbus is not a blacklisted company. At the point of paying their demurrage the last time, Nimbus had added a clause to the effect that they would not be blacklisted by the SLC,” the minister said.

“We wouldn’t have given it to Nimbus under normal circumstances, but, the time factor was crucial. We originally were aiming at a sum of around 12 million US dollars, but it was the time factor that brought the sum down to the one that we agreed upon. “There were several other bidders besides Nimbus. But, the Nimbus offer was the highest, even considering the time factor. For instance, WSG Sports first quoted 6 million, but when it came to the time of the opening of bids it lowered its offer to US$ 4 million.”

However the vibes that are reaching across the Palk Straights are not very encouraging. At present Nimbus is on a sticky wicket with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) for the default of payment.
On January 3, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah wrote to Nimbus Communications (NC) stating that the BCCI had entered into a Media Rights Agreement with NC for the period from March 2006 to March 2010. Accordingly, NC was granted the Media Rights for the said period.

Clause 3.2 of the agreement says Nimbus has to provide 50% of the value of the India-England series Rs. (Indian) 119,18,37,938 for 2 Tests and 5 ODI within 7 days of culmination of the series i.e. on or before December 29, 2008.
However, Nimbus has not paid this amount to date. Then the BCCI, pointing to the Clause 6.2 of the Media Rights Agreement dated Feb 28, 2006 and clause 10 of the addendum agreement dated June 2, 2007, issued notice that if the payment was not made within 14 days of receipt of the notice, the BCCI would invoke the existing Bank Guarantee as provided in Clause 6.2 of the agreement.

Meanwhile India’s Economic Times newspaper in a report published on January 22 said: “Harish Thawani-promoted Nimbus Sports International, which won the commercial and worldwide television, broadcast rights for the upcoming India-Sri Lanka series on Wednesday, has begun hard-selling the series in a challenging market.

“Nimbus is learnt to have paid Rs 45 crore {Indian Rs. 450m} for the rights, and the telecast of the five one-dayers and a T20 game will be on Neo Cricket.

“Said Neo Sports Broadcast CEO Harish Thawani: ‘We hope our key advertisers from the two abandoned India-England one-dayers will continue with us.’

“The broadcaster has floated spot rates of Rs 2.25-2.5 lakh per 10 seconds for the one-dayers and Rs 3.5-4 lakh for the T20 match. That's on par with what Neo Cricket had charged — Rs 2.5-2.75 lakh for the India-England one-dayers last year.

“But media buyers believe Nimbus may have overpaid for the rights not only because it will have a tough time recovering advertising costs when advertisers have committed money elsewhere but also because the broadcaster has very limited time to sell the event. “Nimbus is learnt to have offered to pay in instalments within a stipulated time, similar to the previous deals with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).”