Times Internet bags IPL media rights

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Times Internet Limited, part of the Times of India group, has been awarded the media rights for the IPL's global internet, mobile and radio rights, along with the television rights for certain territories. According to the IPL governing council, the winning bid was Rs. 261.6 crore (approx $58 million) for the four-year period 2011-14.

The bids were opened in the presence of Justice Mukul Mudgal, a former High Court Chief Justice, under the orders of the Supreme Court, which required the bids to be opened in front of an independent observer because of the ongoing dispute between the BCCI and sport marketing agency, World Sport Group (WSG).

Under the terms of the order, any money the BCCI receives from Times Internet is to be kept in an escrow account, and the board can only withdraw amounts equivalent to those which it would have received from WSG under the existing contract as if their agreement had not been terminated. The bids will also not be final until the dispute between the two is resolved.

Although WSG had asked the Supreme Court to prevent the tender from being issued, it still welcomed the March 18 order. "In effect, the order protects our long-term rights and that of our partners, and also our revenues pending the final legal outcome of the case, and that is what we had sought to preserve," Seamus O'Brien, chairman and chief executive, WSG, said in a statement sent to ESPNcricinfo.

The statement also reiterated that the agency will take whatever further actions are necessary around the world, "and particularly in key markets to protect its rights and interests, and that of its licensees who have invested in the success of the IPL, as a result of the illegal termination of its agreements by the BCCI, and their subsequent actions."

The BCCI have also appealed the Bombay High Court's February 23 ruling that issued a stay on the termination of the WSG contract, but the appeal was not admitted by the Supreme Court at Friday's hearing, and a date has been set in four weeks time.

The 2011 IPL kicks off on April 8 when reigning champions, Chennai Super Kings, host the Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai. The television rights for the Indian subcontinent, held by SET MAX, as well as certain other territories, were not part of the tender offer.