MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has terminated its existing contract with broadcast rights holder Nimbus and it is now set to encash the Rs 2000 crore bank guarantee. The decision was made during the board's working committee meeting on Monday.
The board's decision comes in the backdrop of Nimbus failing to make advance payments for India's home series against England and West Indies. It is learnt that Nimbus had failed to make payments for 20-odd matches (at Rs 31.5 crore per match) with the pending amount exceeding Rs 600 crore.
Sources said the decision to terminate the contract was a unanimous one, seconded by all members of the working committee. The committee felt it was not the first time the broadcaster had defaulted on payments. Nimbus, in fact, had already been warned in advance about defaulting.
The four-year contract with the board, renewed in 2009-10, was in its second term. Nimbus had been BCCI's broadcast partner since 2005-06 but the relationship was edgy throughout because of payment disputes.
TOI reported on the eve of the working committee meeting how the broadcaster was facing suspension but highly-placed officials in Nimbus had denied any such possibility, with a senior official claiming all disputes had been resolved and that a request had been made to BCCI to extend the January deadline for part payment of the advance money.
Newspaper:Times Of India, 13th Dec
