Bangladesh cricket rights up for grabs as Nimbus deal expires

MUMBAI: The Bangladesh Cricket Board has appointed a three-member committee to finalise the tendering process for global media rights following its deal with Nimbus Communications ended 30 April this year.

BCB Vice President Ahmed Sajjadul Alam is the convener of the committee which includes BCB Directors Mirza Salman Ispahani and Aziz Al Kaiser.

"A three-member committee has been formed to oversee the tender process for BCB?s worldwide media rights," BCB said in a statement.

The BCB, according to local press reports, has had a rocky relationship with Nimbus due to payment disputes. In fact, BCB chairman Mustafa Kamal had blasted his predecessors for signing a deal, which had many loopholes.

However, a Nimbus official told Indiantelevision.com that it chose not to use the first right to refusal as the BCB failed to keep up its commitment.

The BCB, according to the official, had promised three India tours, two South Africa tours, two England tours and one Australia tour as part of the contract but failed to deliver on them.

"Instead, they gave us four Zimbabwe and three Sri Lanka tours," the official added.

Efforts to reach out to BCB acting Nizamuddin Chowdhury proved futile till the time of filing this report.

Pertinently, Nimbus had last year lost the lucrative India cricket rights after the BCCI terminated its contract for default of payment. The company is currently engaged in arbitration process with the BCCI.

In November 2006, BCB had entered into a six-year contract with Nimbus for television and marketing rights of BCB events until 2012. Under the agreement Nimbus had committed to give a minimum guarantee of $56.88 million.

Before Nimbus, the television rights for Bangladesh were held by ESPN Star Sports, which has recently bagged the broadcast rights of the Bangladesh Premier League for three years for India.

As per the ICC FTP till 2020, Bangladesh is expected to host several top teams including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and New Zealand among others. India will tour Bangladesh twice, first in June 2014 for three ODIs and in May-June 2015 for two Test?s and three ODIs.