New Delhi : The ongoing cricket World Cup in Australia will fetch tens of crores in revenues to Prasar Bharati, the national public broadcaster.
Doordarshan (DD) on Friday got the SC nod to continue sharing live feed of the India matches, semi-finals and the final with cable operators, while the All India Radio (AIR) had already sold spots worth Rs 5 crore as of last week after buying the radio broadcast rights for the World Cup from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“Along with the associate sponsors, BSNL has come back to AIR after a gap of six years for the series which clearly shows rising interest in cricket,” said an AIR official. Bank of Baroda, Muthoot Finance and Saridon, too, are advertising on AIR during live commentary of World Cup matches. AIR has rights to broadcast 17 matches of the series with live commentary.
In the last World Cup, AIR had made Rs 18 crore of advertising revenues, more than double of the original target of Rs 8 crore. This year, with defending champions India starting very well with comfortable victories over Pakistan and South Africa, there are expectations that AIR can earn as much, if not more, as during the 2011 tournament.
Doordarshan stands to earn much more, as the SC has dismissed official broadcaster Star India’s plea to restrain the public broadcaster from sharing the matches live feed with private cable operators.
