The worldwide media and broadcasting rights tender was one of the agendas in the board meeting yesterday held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium as it was proving to be a major hindrance for the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). BCB president Nazmul Hasan though went some way towards providing a solution informing the media that the last date of receiving the technical offer was rescheduled to May 14 while financial bids will be entertained on May 16.
The BCB had floated the media rights tender on April 24 where it was decided that the last date of dropping the tender was scheduled for yesterday but it was pushed back to May 14 after the board meeting.
“We will be receiving the technical offer on May 14 and the financial one on the 16th and we have reconfirmed that it is all set to take place through an open bidding. We discussed about going for a closed-door bid but eventually decided to go for an open bid which gives more transparency as whoever becomes the highest bidders will accept it,” said Nazmul.
Earlier, the BCB inked a $56.88m deal with Nimbus Sports International in 2006 which fell in ruins before the Nimbus-BCB relationship ended in 2012 with the latter filing a case of $20m over the non-completion of the deal. Nazmul notified that they have worked out the floor price of the tender and also said they are planning to give the responsibility to an Australian-based company who will deal with the issue.
“We have worked out a floor price but we have decided to give the responsibility to an Australian-based professional house who assesses these things and gives the best possible price. They have worked for ICC and Australia and we have communicated with them but they have asked for a high price so we are trying to negotiate which will augur well for the future as well,” he said.
According to sources, two of the most popular sports channels - Ten Sports and Star Sports - along with local TV channels - Gazi TV and Mediacom (Maasranga TV) - have already purchased the tender documents for the TV rights for six years starting from May 1, 2014 to April 30, 2020.
Meanwhile, the board meeting also confirmed the hosting of the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2016 and the ICC World Cup qualifiers in 2018.