The Hindu Business Line : First ODI: Prasar Bharati rakes in Rs 10 cr in ads

PRASAR Bharati seems to have made a killing on the first One Day International match played between India and Pakistan in Karachi. It managed to sell over 5,000 seconds of advertising time garnering revenues of Rs 10 crore.

After the Supreme Court order on Friday night, advertisers who had agreed to be part of the highlights package were roped in and a 10-second spot was available for Rs 2 lakh, lower than Ten Sports rates of Rs 5 lakh for 10 seconds.

"I got a call at 3 a.m. and since we had booked ads for the highlights package, we decided to upgrade it. We will buy more, in case Doordarshan gets the rights to the entire series," said Mr Sandip Tarkas, President, MPG (part of Havas Advertising). "Most of the advertisers who are on Ten Sports have signed up with us," added Mr K.S. Sarma, CEO, Prasar Bharati.

India may have won the first match against Pakistan, but the slugfest between the two broadcasters — Ten Sports and Doordarshan (DD) continued on Day One of the ongoing Indo-Pak cricket series.

Ten Sports, on Friday signed an undertaking before the Supreme Court offering to share its signals with DD as a "goodwill gesture," but it was quite shocked to see the Ten Sports logo and a new set of advertisers on DD's version. Initially, the match was available on Doordarshan minus the Ten Sports logo, but just after the initial 16 overs, the Ten Sports logo was back on the screen.

According to Mr Kapil Sibal, Counsel for Ten Sports, normally for a highlights package, a clean feed without the advertisements and the logo was given to Doordarshan.

"Initially, DD started airing this feed and inserted its own ads. After a little while, the feed was changed and the normal feed with ads and the logo was given," he said. However, Ten Sports officials were not happy with the insertion of ads. The channel has written to Prasar Bharati on the issue.

Mr Sarma while stating that he has not received any letter said that the ads were inserted since the Supreme Court was silent on the issue of ads. Last night, the Dubai-based channel gave an undertaking to give the signals for the first match to a three-judge bench comprising the Chief Justice, Mr B.N. Khare, Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde, and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia.

The SC also said no High Court in the country would entertain any petition on the issue of telecast rights of India-Pakistan series nor pass any interim order.

Meanwhile, Mr Sarma said that he would be meeting the Attorney-General, Mr Soli Sorabjee, and the Solicitor General, Mr Kirit Raval, on Sunday. He also added that he was still interested in entering into a commercial agreement with Ten Sports.

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