Decision on local TV rights bid put off till end May
The Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee, which was to evaluate local bids for TV rights on Wednesday, has put off the decision for a further date.
Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva
Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva told the Sunday Times: “The Tender Committee which met prior to the Interim Committee meeting to evaluate the tender felt that they needed further details with regard to the matter and they decided to put it off for a further date.
De Silva said last week that the Tender Committee would comprise the CEO, the Head of Finance, the Head of Marketing and the Secretary of the Interim Committee along with either the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Interim Committee.
SLC received a Rs. 175.5 million bid from CSN for local TV rights of Sri Lanka Cricket for a three-year period from 2015 to 2018 – a sum much higher than what was quoted by any other bidder.
It is said CSN’s bid is a massive Rs. 65.5 million more than the second highest bid offered by state television Rupavahini which had offered Rs. 110 million while the country’s only other sports channel, MTV, has come in third with a bid of Rs. 51.5 million.De Silva explaining said: “The matches are scheduled to begin early June, so we have to finish awarding the tender before the end of the month”.
Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee which is hit by the snapping of funds by the International Cricket Council is reported to have sought a Rs. 650 million overdraft from the Bank of Ceylon.
The SLC CEO who refused to state the exact amount said, “We have this running facility with the bank and the bank already has approved it.”
He also explained even if the ICC funds are not available, SLC would be able to wade through this period with this money and the monies that they are hoping to raise through various means during this period.
Meanwhile a spokesman for the cricket stakeholders said that they are scheduled to meet the cricket membership on Tuesday to explain what took place during their meeting with the Minister of Sports Naveen Dissanayake on the 12th of May. He said that during the meeting there were several things that they pointed out to the Minister and took time to than the minister for already taking action on some of those issues.