MSM & BCCI spat over IPL erupts again over ‘non-terminable’ clause
The Multi Screen Media and BCCI row that had appeared to be a settled matter on March 19, 2009 is under threat of erupting once again. IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi has been quoted in sections of the media as saying that MSM’s clause of binding into a non-terminable contract was “unacceptable” to the BCCI.
One may just be reminded of a Tom & Jerry sequence in the manner that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Multi Screen Media (MSM) have locked horns with each other over the Indian Premier League (IPL) telecast rights. The high-action drama that began last weekend continues, and the latest round of developments brings the discussions between the two in a deadlock again.
On March 14, 2009, the BCCI had terminated the deal with MSM, stating that it wanted to renegotiate the value of the deal. MSM dragged BCCI to court over the issue. The matter was heard on March 16 and remained inconclusive till March 18. In the early hours of March 19, MSM made a bid that ousted NDTV, which was the other contender to the telecast rights, to hang on to the IPL rights.
The process had already reached the vetting of legal papers and the negotiation between advertisers and MSM that had stopped on March 18 restarted. And now the game is back to square one. It is learnt that MSM wanted the contract to be a non-terminable one, while IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi is clear that BCCI would not agree to this.
The out of court settlement that the two parties had reached on March 19, where MSM had upped its bid to $1.6 billion in its negotiations with World Sports Group Mauritius, is back to the discussion stage, and the two parties have hit a deadlock again.
Who blinks first and which third party could benefit from this row would be known soon enough.
Also read:
To give or not to give: The MSM-IPL saga
After an out of court settlement of Rs 1.6 bn, MSM gets IPL back
Earlier report: IPL rights kept oscillating between NDTV & Sony on March 18
