TV and ad worlds get set to change pitch

The uncertainty on the cricketing front is giving sleepless nights to members of the television and advertising fraternities, whose fortunes...

The uncertainty on the cricketing front is giving sleepless nights to members of the television and advertising fraternities, whose fortunes depend to a great extent on whether the stars play in Sri Lanka.

What if the cricketers decide to stay loyal to their sponsors and forego the pickings offered by the BCCI? What will advertisers advertise if Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar decide not to play ball in the Champions Trophy to begin with, and subsequent ICC tournaments? What if the BCCI decides to send a second team instead of the A-class team as originally promised?

While Sony Television — which has pitched nearly $250 million to bag the cricketing rights to major ICC matches till 2007 — hopes the time will never come when they have to renegotiate terms with the Global Cricket Corporation (GCC), market watchers have reason to believe that ICC chief Malcolm Speed might be confronted with these possibilities when he sits down at the same table with broadcasters.

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If Sony does, will the advertisers be far behind? According to sources Sony has put a price advertising tag of $10,000 for a 10-second commercial on its channel once the matches begin. Advertisers will definitely seek a concession if Sony seeks one.

As for DD, its yet to thrash out a deal with GCC. There are two crucial issues facing the public service broadcaster: One is a minimum guarantee amount that they are seeking from GCC. Second is an arbitration clause that provides for a redressal if things don’t work according to plan.

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