Nimbus had entered into a deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in February 2006 for the telecast rights to all matches featuring the Indian team till March 2010.

Many Indian fans, however, were not able to watch India’s series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka earlier this year and following their demands, the government brought out the ordinance asking the sports channel to share its telecast with the Prasar Bharati, which controls Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), albeit with a seven-minute delay.

The channel has pointed out that the arrangement is eating into its revenues as the Doordarshan’s footprint also includes places outside India. (more…)

Neo Sports has announced the details of its Pan Asian expansion as part of its mission to be a Pan Asian cricket channel by the middle of 2007. These markets include the Middle East, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Shortly, the cricket dedicated channel will also commence broadcasting in Malaysia and Singapore.

Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd CEO Shashi Kalathil said, “in barely three months of our commercial launch in india, we have succeeded in a comprehensive Pan Asian roll-out. Asia is a very important market for us as it is an amalgamation of cultures and nationalities with a huge indian ethnic community.”

The revenues from the Pan Asian operations of Neo Sports outside india, between subscription and advertising are expected to add up to approximately $ 26 million in 2007-2008 with an approximately 30 per cent EBiDTA margin, as incremental cost for international operations is relatively insignificant since the bulk of the costs are already absorbed in the indian operations, informs an official release. (more…)

The Nimbus Communications now plans to float three sports channels at an investment of Rs 350 crore. The company has raised Rs 135 crore on Friday from Deutsche Bank in the form of bonds, which is exchangeable into impartiality after a year at a market value of approximately Rs 200 per share. Deutsche Bank will hold a 10 per cent stake in Nimbus Communication. The company will exploit its internal accruals of Rs 80 crore for financial support in new projects.

First channel will be launching in October, and it will be a cricket channel. Money raised by Nimbus Communications will be used in creating the infrastructure for the new channels and for the purchase of upcoming telecast rights. The second channel will be forthcoming in April 2007, which will a sports entertainment channel. The third channel, to be launched in September 2007 and will be enthusiastic to be a news channel. The channels will increase its paw marks across Asia to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, West Asia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. For the Pakistan territory, Nimbus has approved Pakistan-based GEO TV.