BCCI sends SOS to I&B ministry

K Shriniwas Rao / TNN / Apr 5, 2018, 09:12 IST

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In a letter written on Wednesday to Smriti Irani, the Union minister of Information and Broadcasting, the BCCI has conveyed the significance of the matter and requested her urgent intervention.

Key Highlights

BCCI’s letter is a follow-up of a compliant application that was filed by Star India Pvt Ltd
Star India had bought the consolidated rights for the property in September last year for an eye-popping Rs 16,347.5 crore
BCCI’s letter to Irani, accessed by TOI, has been signed by BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary

MUMBAI: With only three days left for the Indian Premier League (IPL) to get underway, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) is sweating over permission for temporary live uplinking of the tournament, which they have not yet received from the central government. In a letter written on Wednesday to Smriti Irani, the Union minister of Information and Broadcasting, the BCCI has conveyed the significance of the matter and requested her urgent intervention.
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BCCI’s letter is a follow-up of a compliant application that was filed by Star India Pvt Ltd – the broadcast rights holder of the IPL – at an earlier date. The compliant application was for permission to temporarily live uplink the league’s 11th edition that gets underway this weekend.
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Star India had bought the consolidated rights for the property in September last year for an eye-popping Rs 16,347.5 Cr.
BCCI’s letter to Irani, accessed by TOI, has been signed by BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary. “I write on behalf of the BCCI, the owner and licensor of media rights for the IPL 2018 (“the Event”). The Event is scheduled to commence on 07 April 2018 and we understand that the broadcaster, Star India Private Ltd, has made a compliant application to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for permission of temporary live uplinking of the Event starting 06 April 2018 (inaugural ceremony),” the letter says.

The BCCI secretary adds in the letter: “We are given to understand that this permission has, however, not been granted yet. Given that we are so close to the Event, we request your kind intervention in ensuring that the permission is granted urgently, to ensure that our Indian audiences are able to view and enjoy the Event, and to prevent significant commercial losses to the parties involved.”
The IPL bidding had attracted bids from various parties in India and abroad. Facebook, for one, had made an astonishing Rs 3900 cr bid for the digital rights.

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