Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 12736234" data-attributes="member: 92282"><img src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTsEYNKtsJfvGVQljuuDiLoeD4cZ_9Y43tOCwLODFKvIaFI2zDT" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />The television rights of the Sri Lankan cricket team’s matches for the  territory of Sri Lanka have been offered to sports channel Carlton  Sports Network (CSN) for three years from 2012 to 2015, Sri Lanka  Cricket President Upali Dharmadasa said yesterday.CSN had been the only bidder for the local TV rights in response to  advertisements SLC published in January in local newspapers and also on  their website, so the SLC Sponsorship committee which met yesterday  decided to grant it to CSN, Dharmadasa added.Earlier last month, the SLC Executive Committee also approved CSN’s bid of Rs. 125 million for the three years.This comes as a stupendous achievement for a company which is just 15  months old having been incorporated on February 10 last year.State Television Sri Lanka Rupavahini who had almost enjoyed a monopoly  on local TV rights ever since Sri Lanka gained Test status has been  notable absentee in the bidding process.Rupavahini Chairman Mohan Samaranayake admitted they did not make a bid  but said that they are still interested in winning the rights.“I have given my instructions regarding this matter to the officers  concerned to write to them. I think our Marketing Manager has written to  Sri Lanka Cricket, But I am sorry, at the moment I don’t know what the  reply was from SLC. Probably I can tell that by tomorrow morning,” said  Samaranayake who explained that they are also interested in the rights.Rupavahini made a whopping Rs 556 million revenue during last year’s  cricket world cup having spent only Rs. 143 million to win the rights,  and failure to secure SLC’s local cricket rights is likely to come as a  deadly blow to the loss-making TV giant owned by the government.The fact that SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga is also the Chief  Executive of CSN created a controversy in recent times and the conflict  of interest issue also received attention from the Sri Lanka  Parliament’s Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) which investigated  Sri Lanka Cricket last year.“The dissatisfaction of the Committee was expressed on offering the  tender to an organization in which the Secretary of the Cricket Board  was functioning as the CEO,” stated the COPE report tabled in parliament  on December 1 last year.Last year, the government passed a law that all local television and  radio broadcast rights for cricket matches will only be awarded to state  media or dedicated sports channels.CSN interestingly was the only dedicated sports media channel at the time the law was passed in July last year.CSN first won the local TV rights for Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in June last year.DM</blockquote>

Verification: Haya warak paha keeyada? (haya wadi kireema paha)

Top Bottom