Prasar Bharti bags rights for Pakistan series

The Madras High Court has directed Prasar Bharti, the national broadcaster, to telecast the upcoming series between India and Pakistan and has permitted them to engage any producer except Zee Telefilms and ESPN-Star.

The Indian board has welcomed the order and said that it will take necessary action as per the court's direction. "We welcome the court order," SK Nair, the board secretary, was reported as saying on the NDTV website. "We will take necessary action as per the high court direction." Nair added that the board will take action after obtaining the details of the court order.

Ten Sports and Sony, two rival channels, have expressed their interest to produce the series. Kunal Dasgupta, the chief of Sony India, told the Press Trust of India: "We are interested to produce the series and would approach the BCCI on the matter, though finer details in the judgement are yet to be seen." Sony got international rights for 31 cricketing days last year, and were also responsible for telecast of the World Cup in South Africa.

The Indian board had earlier said that the Pakistan series, beginning next week, may be called off if the telecast issue was not resolved. KP Sivasubramanian, a judge in the Madras High Court, passed the ruling and added, "I am sure cricket fans will be happy now." He said a final judgement would be made later in the writ petition filed by Zee Telefilms after it was denied the TV rights by the board last September.

Doordarshan had also telecast the home series against Australia and South Africa earlier in the season on the advice of the Supreme Court. Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the board president, welcomed the interim order, saying all doubts about the Pakistan tour taking place had been removed. Mahendra told AFP: "We will abide by the court's judgement and finalise the production details soon."

The Pakistan team are due to arrive here on Monday to play three Tests and six one-day internationals on their first full tour of India since 1999. The first Test is scheduled to begin in Mohali on March 8.