MUMBAI: Premier League Soccer, West Bengal?s franchise-based soccer league, has mopped up Rs 712.5 million through the sale of five franchises while the sixth one went unsold.

Surprisingly, the Barasat franchise has gone for a higher price than that of Kolkata, the epicentre of football. URO Infrarealty has taken the Barasat franchise for Rs 251.5 million, paying over three times the floor price of Rs 8 million.

Siliguri was the second costliest franchise, going to Ajay Consultants for Rs 180 million. The organisers had set the base price for the franchise at Rs 10 million.

Kolkata-based Camellia Group, which has interests in diverse sectors like aviation, education, and hospitality among others, bagged the Kolkata franchise for Rs 115 million. Kolkata had a base price of Rs 10 million.

The Howrah and Durgapur franchisees were bought by Syncsys Infotech and Tulip Infotech for Rs 90 million and Rs 76 million respectively.

The Haldia franchise is yet to find an owner as the bidders stuck on to their base price. Unsuccessful bidders will be given the right to purchase the unsold Haldia franchise. If they refuse, the franchise will go through a bidding process again.

All the three franchises - Howrah, Haldia and Durgapur - had a base price of Rs 7 million.

The franchises have been awarded for a period of 10 years. However, the current team owners will have a first right of refusal over the teams when the franchise term ends.

The organisers have fixed an expense cap for the season 1 of the league. While the maximum expense cap is $2.5 million, the minimum has been fixed at $2.0 million.

The organisers have also named six players -- Crespo, Sorin, Maniche, Jay Jay Okocha, Concecao, Robert Pires & Cannavaro -- who will be participating as icon players in the PLS Season I that kicks off in mid-February this year.

Each of the six franchise of PLS will be headed by world class coaches like Peter Reid, John Barnes, Samson Siasia, Marco Etcheverry, Tony Adams and Teitur Thodarson.

Said Camelia Group CMD and owner of Kolkata Team NR Dutta, "PLS will be the future of Indian football. I thank CMG and IFA for coming out with an unique concept and I am also looking forward to the foreign players and coaches auction.?

The exclusivity for PLS is that each team will have one icon player who will be an overseas player with great repute, preferably someone who has represented his country in international matches.

A host of quality international players have also been signed up. They are: Joaquin Botero (Bolivia), Limberg Gutierrez (Bolivia), Christian Lara (Ecuador), Maniche (Portugal), Diego Toro (Colombia), David Cordoba (Colombia), Brian Vega (Costa Rica), Diego Madrigal (Costa Rica), Jose Carlos Castillo (Guatemala), Christopher Omoseibi (Nigeria), Robert Egbeta (Nigeria), Daniel Varela (Costa Rica), Erick Sanchez (Costa Rica), Leider Preciado (Colombia), Edwin Tenorio (Ecuador), Walter Moreno (Venezuela), Alonso Solis (Costa Rica), Fabio Firmani (Italy), Nicolas Marin (France), Moncef Zerka (France), Sammy Traore (France), Igor Hrabac (Slovakia), Matjaz Kek (Slovenia) and Diego Cabrera (Bolivia).

The auction for foreign players will take place today in Kolkata, while the auction for Indian players will be conducted on 7 February.

As already reported, the international media rights have been sold to MP & Silva, while negotiations are on with at least three broadcasters for the South Asia rights. The organisers are targeting $5-6 million from season 1 of the PLS.

The Indian Football Association (West Bengal), the governing body of football in West Bengal, has signed a 30-year deal with Celebrity Management Group to launch the PLS on the lines of US? Major League Soccer.

MUMBAI: Sameer Manchanda-promoted Den Networks‘ cable business has posted a 65 per cent drop in its net profit for the second quarter of the fiscal ended 30 September.

The multi-system operator (MSO) with a pan-India footprint has posted a net profit of Rs 26.9 million compared to Rs 77 million in the year-ago period from the cable business. In the trailing quarter, the net profit was at Rs 8.8 million.

Total revenue during the quarter jumped 18 per cent to Rs 1.63 billion as against Rs 1.39 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. In the three-month period ended 30 June, the revenue was at Rs 1.57 billion.

Expenditure stood at Rs 1.34 billion compared to Rs 1.32 billion in the fiscal first-quarter.

Den‘s profit from operations before other income, interests and exceptional items (Ebitda) at Rs 284.7 million was up 5 per cent compared to the year ago period, while in the trailing quarter Ebitda was at Rs 261.1 million.

Den said that it is focusing on growing its market shares in towns it has entered recently, namely in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. It is investing in upgrading existing networks and is getting the digital infrastructure in place.

As of 30 September, Den has spent Rs 2.68 billion out of Rs 3.64 billion that it had raised from the IPO.

Den has total investment of Rs 3.84 billion in subsidiaries and joint ventures.