Zee, ESPN asked to make fresh bids

10 September 2004

The rights will be granted to the highest bidder and the court will not entertain any further appeals after this round of bidding, chief justice D S Bhandari and justice D Y Chandrachud told the court.

The judges asked the contenders, ESPN-Star Sports and Zee TV, to arrive at a consensus and settle the issue.

The two parties are expected to submit their bids in sealed envelopes to the registrar-general of the Mumbai High Court on September 15. The bids will be opened on the same day in the court. Lawyers representing ESPN-Star Sports told the court that the channel is willing to participate in a final bid process. However, Zee said that it would have to seek its board''s approval.

Zee''s board is slated to meet on September 13. If the board agrees to go in for a final bid, it will have to inform ESPN-Star Sports and BCCI on Tuesday, the judges told the company''s lawyers. In the event of Zee''s board not agreeing for a final bid, the ESPN-Star Sports case will be heard on September 16.

Zee Network had emerged the highest bidder for telecast rights with its bid of $260 million, followed by ESPN-Star Sports at $230 million. Sony Entertainment Television, Prasar Bharati and Ten Sports were the other bidders.

In the last round of negotiations, both Zee and ESPN-Star raised their offer to $308 million as BCCI increased the number of days of international cricket to 160 from 144.