Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has written a letter to Ms. Smriti Irani, Union minister of Information and Broadcasting requesting for her urgent intervention to obtain permission for temporary live uplinking of the tournament.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to commence in just two days and the BCCI is struggling to get permission for temporary live uplinking of the tournament from the central government.
The BCCI through a letter to Ms. Smriti Irani has explained the importance of the issue, seeking for her intervention.
Earlier, Star India Pvt Ltd, the broadcast rights holder of the IPL , had filed a compliant application, and the recent BCCI letter is a follow of the earlier one.
Star India Pvt Ltd’s compliant application was to seek permission to temporarily live uplink the league’s 11th edition that gets commenced this weekend.
The consolidated rights for the property costed Rs 16,347.5 Cr for Star India last year September.
BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary has signed the BCCI’s letter to Ms. Smriti Irani which read as follows “I write on behalf of the BCCI, the owner and licensor of media rights for the IPL 2018 (“the Event”). The Event is scheduled to commence on 07 April 2018 and we understand that the broadcaster, Star India Private Ltd, has made a compliant application to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for permission of temporary live uplinking of the Event starting 06 April 2018 (inaugural ceremony),”
The letter further stated “We are given to understand that this permission has, however, not been granted yet. Given that we are so close to the Event, we request your kind intervention in ensuring that the permission is granted urgently, to ensure that our Indian audiences are able to view and enjoy the Event, and to prevent significant commercial losses to the parties involved.”
It is worth mentioning that Facebook had made a jaw dropping Rs 3900 cr bid for the digital rights for the IPL.
