Zee takes BCCI to Chennai High Court

Zee TV, the broadcaster that unsuccessfully sought to clinch Indian cricket's television rights after bidding a record sum of $308million, have taken the issue to the Chennai High Court. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, February 9.

Zee were front-runners for domestic television rights after outbidding their competitors in September, but the BCCI asked for further bids and then scrapped the bidding process altogether, after which Zee approached the Supreme Court with the argument that the BCCI was, by definition, a "state". However, earlier this month in a landmark judgment, the court resolved that the Indian board was not a part of the government - which made the broadcaster's case irrelevant - but acknowledged that Zee could pursue the matter of cancelled bids in a High Court. This move by Zee, therefore, was hardly unexpected.

This further complicates matters for the BCCI, which lost significant revenue during the tours by Australia and South Africa, for the games were broadcast by the state-run broadcaster, Doordarshan - an organisation that once demanded that the board pay it for broadcasting cricket.