MUMBAI: Gerald Majola, the beleaguered chief executive of Cricket South Africa, has been sacked on account of damning indictment in the 2009 IPL bonus controversy.

The committee investigating the bonus payments ruled that Majola had violated the Companies Act and recommended that the case be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority.

CSA also rescinded the decisions of an internal inquiry that cleared Majola but was then criticised by the committee for not being neutral and possibly trying to cover up Majola?s actions.

CSA?s board also decided to appoint Dr Willie Basson as acting president of the organisation until the annual general meeting in September 2012 together with a request to provincial franchisee North West to second its CEO, Jacques Faul, to act as the head of CSA until the matter was resolved.

Basson is a highly experienced cricket administrator and is currently chairman of the CSA Transformation Committee.

Earlier, CSA?s woes had further accentuated with acting president AK Khan, the man who led the much?criticised internal inquiry, and Audit and Risk Committee chairman John Blair handing out their resignation from the organisation. CSA?s Brand and Corporate Relations Manager Kass Naidoo had also tendered resignation.

Khan was first appointed acting president from 12 February to 4 May 2011, and then again from 15 October 2011, up until the current date. He made his announcement at CSA?s Manco meeting and the decision has also been conveyed to the Board of Directors.

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Zeel) expects its sports broadcasting business to break-even by the middle of FY‘14 and has no plans to raise capital to fund its expansion.

Subscription revenue will drive the business to profitability while advertising will be event-led.

"Given our growth trajectory and contracts, the sports business should break-even in two years. In the worst case scenario, we should be able to turn it around by the middle of FY?14," Zeel managing director and chief executive officer Punit Goenka said in an interview with Indiantelevision.com.

Zeel‘s sports losses for FY‘11 stood at Rs 2.08 billion on a revenue of Rs 4.4 billion (excluding a one-time revenue gain of Rs 700 million as one-time fee for the pre-mature termination of rights for AIFF). For the full-fiscal ended March 2012, the company expects to limit the operating loss to a maximum of Rs 1 billion.

The eight-year Cricket South Africa (CSA) television rights for $180 million has been a valuable purchase. The earlier five-year rights had gone for $75 million.

"The price is in our comfort zone. It is an inflationary rise and has been one of the most valuable boards for us. By having one of the strategic boards under our belt for a longer term, we are under less pressure," said Goenka.

Zeel will be able to give its sports business maximum firepower when it is able to retain the telecast rights for the other three boards ? Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies. The company is understood to have pocketed the Zimbabwe board rights for $20 million, which had earlier gone for $6 million for four years.

"We have not yet signed with the Zimbabwe board, so I cant comment on that. The other three boards are up for renewal during FY?12 and FY?13. We have done our calculations and will not bid recklessly for these rights. There are boards outside these which are also coming up for grabs," said Goenka. 

Is Zeel looking at hiving off the sports business to raise capital by offloading equity?

"We have no capital-raising plans. Zeel will continue to fund the sports business till it turns around. We have taken a long term call and sports broadcasting is a strategic business for us," averred Goenka.

Zeel is awaiting government approval for the launch of the golf channel."We are ready to launch it within 60 days of obtaining the regulatory clearances," said Goenka.

Will Comcast be a partner for the channel? "Earlier Taj Television (which Zeel later acquired) had some sort of an agreement with Comcast for the golf channel.We will do it ourselves and completely own it," Goenka stated.

By adding a full-fledged HD channel, Zeel will have four sports channels by this month-end. "We have acquired a slew of properties across different sports such as football and tennis.This has enabled us to launch three different channels and post strong subscription growth. Advertising revenue is heavily dependent on cricket.Within that segment, it is India cricket. While advertising revenue is cyclical, subscription income is consistent throughout the year," Goenka said.
 

MUMBAI: Zee-controlled Taj Television Limited has sealed fresh eight-year deals with two cricket boards for around $200 million, ensuring that its content stays rich as it seeks to scale up revenues from its sports broadcasting business.

The Cricket South Africa (CSA) television rights, pocketed for a price close to $180 million, will be one of Taj Television?s key properties. It will provide around 300 days of cricket, including two India tours.

"It is good that the South Africa rights has gone to a broadcaster who needed it the most. Otherwise, there would have been a big hole in the content of Ten Cricket (one of the channels that Taj TV owns and operates)," said a senior executive who was earlier with Taj Television.

The South Africa rights had earlier fetched $75 million for five years (One year and then four-year extension).

"The value of the South Africa property has increased. Along with England and Australia, it looks likely that India will send its full-team strength to these three countries," said the executive on condition of anonymity.

The period through to 2019-20 will have 48 days of India cricket, including six Tests, 14 ODIs and 4 T20s.

CSA has sold the eight-year exclusive media rights to Taj Television and Willow TV for a record $202 million, indicating that the cricket broadcast rights market is booming. While Taj Television gets Asia and the Middle East, the rights agreement with Willow TV covers the US, Canada and Mexico.

"There is a price escalation but the positive thing is that these are long term rights," said a media buyer.

Taj Television has also renewed Zimbabwe rights for eights years for $20 million, according to sources. The four-year rights had earlier fetched $6 million. A smaller board, Zimbabwe will give the sports broadcaster 147 days of cricket including a single India tour.

Taj Television is looking at renewing rights of three more cricket boards - Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka.

"Our broad strategy is to have over 200 days of cricket every year so that we can ramp up subscription revenues. It is important to build a reliable cricket platform with quality and volume of content. We have also got other strong sporting properties," said Taj Television India CEO Atul Pande, while declining to comment on any financials.

The competitive environment will only help content costs climb. "Acquisition prices are set to rise as these rights open up in 2012-13. Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony Entertainment Television India) is keen to launch a sports channel. Though it has Indian Premier League (IPL), it needs more cricket content. It will have to bid aggressively. Outside these three boards, ESPN Star Sports has England and Australia which are also coming up for renewal," said a senior sports marketing official.

Cricket boards are living in a dynamic economy where values are shifting. "New Zealand and Bangladesh boards seem to have lost some value during this period," the sports marketing executive added.