Prasar Bharati is close to sewing up a terrestrial deal for the ICC-organized cricket telecast rights. 

"We have explored various options and are close to hammering out a deal with WSG Nimbus for the terrestrial rights of cricket," a senior official of Prasar Bharati Corporation told indiantelevision.com. 

According to the official, offers and counter offers had been made, but broadly, both the parties have come to a "consensus of sorts which revolves round revenue sharing." The deal that Prasar Bharati is angling for is to provide a platform for the telecast of ICC-organised cricket matches for the next six years wherein WSG Nimbus, the official holders marketing the telecast rights, pays a minimum assurance money to DD for every match telecast, apart from revenue sharing. 

"What we are looking at is that WSG Nimbus assures a minimum amount per match telecast, then markets it or has its associate(s) do it. The revenue sharing happens from the first dollar where WSG Nimbus gets to keep the majority share," the official said. 

Prasar Bharati is under tremendous pressure to get at least the terrestrial rights for the cricket matches in a cricket crazy nation like India. SET India has already bagged the satellite telecast rights for the cricket matches for the next six years which also includes two cricket World Cups. 

"If we manage to hammer out a deal for the cricket telecast, then the matches would be telecast on DD's terrestrial network and not on DD Sports (which is a satellite channel), the Prasar Bharati official said, pointing out that DD's massive reach, compared to any satellite channel, is likely to ensure good advertising revenue. 

In recent times, DD has lost out to private satellite channels where sporting events are concerned. This includes the just-concluded FIFA World Cup soccer and Wimbledon. While the soccer was an exclusive property of Ten Sports, Wimbledon was shown exclusive on Star Sports.