Sony Entertainment Television India and the Indian cricket federation (BCCI) have reached an out-of-court settlement that will see Sony keep the Indian TV rights for the Indian Premier League.
The agreement ends a dispute during which the BCCI had threatened to terminate Sony’s five-year contract for the rights, beginning with last year’s inaugural competition, for breach of contract. The Indiantelevision.com website reports that Sony is thought be paying an extra Rs1.5 billion to keep the rights.
Indiantelevision.com says that a current battle by IPL commissioner Lalit Modi with the Indian government to have the competition played during Indian elections meant BCCI and Sony ‘had little option but to settle’.
Indiantelevision.com reports that broadcasters NDTV and ESPN Star Sports (ESS) had been interested in picking up the rights. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of ESS parent company News Corp, had previously said ESS had “miscalculated in not getting the IPL.”
