Advertisers that have signed deals with Neo for composite commercial time were seen trying to rework their deals over the weekend, with industry sources indicating that Neo Sports new asking price for a ten-second slot is NOW around Rs1.4 to Rs1.8 lakh, and in some cases, even as low as Rs1.2 lakh.

Now that Doordarshan has the rights, sources in media buying agencies indicate that advertisers are keen to strike independent deals with the public sector broadcaster, as a means to ensuring their presence in front of eyeballs in non-cable and satellite homes as well. Avid advertisers, such as LG Electronics, Perfetti, Nokia, Pidilite, S Kumars, HDFC, Hero Honda, RCom, Airtel, Vodafone and IOC are learnt to be among those who have chosen to signed up independently with Doordarshan as sponsors.

Despite the numbers stacked in favour of Doordarshan, some corporates such as Proctor and Gamble (P&G), Asian Paints, and Godrej among others, were reported to be negotiating with Neo. Neo Sports CEO Shashi Kalathil said his company is trying to get advertisers a good deal on the series.

Then again, most advertising and sponsorship deals with Doordarshan have been re-done at rates ranging from Rs2.5 to Rs2.75 lakh for a ten-second spot for the one-day internationals (ODIs), and Rs80,000 for a ten-second spot for test matches. Doordarshan is expected to put away around Rs150-180 crore from the entire series.

Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani is trying to take the loss in his stride, saying that "it''s a good deal from Doordarshan, and both Doordarshan and Neo Sports can focus independently on their channels." However, the pain seemed evident when he said, "If Neo is unable to meet its earlier targets, so be it."

About the loss Neo Sports would incur on account of the painful weekend, Kalathil pointed out that Doordarshan''s bid of Rs81.5 crore, plus the rates at which it is selling the series will ensure that Neo''s revenues are not impacted, since 75 per cent of Doordarshan''s sales would trickle down to Neo. However, industry sources indicate that had Neo Sports retained its earlier position as the official marketing agent for the series, it would raked in about Rs180-200 crore, of which a little under Rs150 crore would have been Neo''s revenues, and 25 per cent would have gone to Doordarshan.

That would put Neo''s short fall at around Rs40-60 crore below its target.

Series'' anchor partner, Kishore Biyani and his Future Group was definitely peeved with all the last-minute cacophony, given the "constant state of flux" in cricket, which can be "quite disturbing for advertisers". He made no bones about the inconvenience of having to "restructure and re-price deals at the nth hour."

In a related development, the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati told the Delhi High Court that the BCCI and Neo Sports were in no position to force it to encrypt the live feed of cricket matches, during a hearing of a petition by BCCI and Nimbus Communications seeking a direction to encrypt Doordarshan''s signals to avoid illegal transmission of the live feed by private operators.

Prasar Bharati''s counsel Dushyant Dave contended that private broadcasters sharing live feed under the Sports Act (Mandatory Sharing of Feed) do not have legal right to ask for encryption of feed. Nimbus had suggested that the public broadcaster issue instructions to cable operators to cease and desist from indulging in piracy, to which Prasar Bharati responded that Nimbus was free to take action against cable operators by filing suits against them.