National broadcaster Doordarshan has made a written offer to WSG-Nimbus Pvt. Ltd for telecast rights of international cricket in Sri Lanka, Nimbus Communications Chairman Harish Thawani said on Friday.

WSG-Nimbus is a 50:50 joint venture between the UK based WSG plc and India‘s Nimbus.

Thawani said that while talks were on with other broadcasters too, both primary and secondary, the final decision would cover not just financial considerations but also the kind of exposure that would be achieved.

In this context, a package arrangement involving Doordarshan and a private broadcaster was a possibility, he said.

Thawani added that Nimbus had already finalised a title sponsorship deal for the 14 international tours to be played in the emerald isles over the next three years.

His comments were in response to questions raised about the saleability of the tours. Satish Menon head of Buddha Films, the sports ventures spin-off of Zee Telefilms, had earlier told indiatelevision.com: "Three-year exclusive broadcast rights for international cricket played in Sri Lanka had fallen through because Nimbus‘ asking price of $25 million was much too high." Thawani retorted that Nimbus had rejected a written offer for telecast rights from Zee Telefilms because of doubts over payment security.

Zee was not in the picture at all at present he said, adding that discussions were still on with other channels whose bids were "more secure".

The Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF), which has representation from all major channels, is setting up a committee to review the television rating systems in India.

Presently, there are no uniform guidelines wherein agencies can rate programmes on various channels.

"The IBF is putting together a technical committee to prescribe the technical specifications for a rating system which would be valid for India," the Financial Express quoted Bhuvan Lall, executive director, IBF, as saying.

The IBF has 29 members, including representatives of Doordarshan, Star, Zee, Sony, Discovery, TV Today, Sahara, ESPN, BBC, UTV, Enadu, Sabe and Sun TV, among others.

The review committee, which is expected to present a final report in the next three to four months will have representatives from all major broadcasters/TV channels, Lall said.

After the committee finalises its report, independent rating agencies that broadcasters subscribe to will have to conform to the guidelines in the report, according to Lall. The IBF expects the initiative to be the first step in offering a fair rating system for TV programmes.

Rating of TV programmes is a major issue in the industry, and the IBF is determined to address all issues that impact the industry as a whole, Lall said.

The government is sticking to its guns as far as the issue of a sectoral cap of 20 per cent for setting up a Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV platform is concerned despite all pleas from broadcasters.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday was quite categorical in an interview to the Financial Express that there would be no changes made to the original DTH guidelines.

Swaraj‘s consistent refrain on the subject despite strong lobbying indicates that entry into the DTH club will prove virtually impossible for most aspirants. There is a distinct possibility that when DTH does take off, there may be only one or at the most two competing players.

And with the government‘s own Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) announcing the formation of a five-member panel to chalk out its entry into DTH it all seems pretty well sewed up on that front. Who else if at all any remains to be seen.