Sri Lanka Cricket broadcast and production rights go to Ten Sports

Sri Lanka cricket has roped in Ten Sports to be their official TV broadcaster.

The Sri Lankan cricket board has handed both the broadcast and production rights for all matches to be played in the country to Ten Sports.

This deal, which is estimated to be around $60m, is for a period of seven years.

“This year, we called for separate tenders for production and TV rights for the first time. What we wanted was to see if we could demand better quality in production and also probe the possibility of a better deal for SLC financially,” said Nishantha Ranatunga who is the secretary of the SLC.

Ten Sports is owned by Taj TV, which is a Dubai-based company. This was the first time that the SLC had called for separate production and TV rights bids.

Even though most bids were higher than expected, it was revealed that Ten Sports had made the highest bid for the broadcast rights. After evaluation and consideration by the SLC Technical Evaluation Committee and also checks by the Tender Committee, Ten Sports became the obvious choice.

The fact that they have been associated with Sri Lankan Cricket for such a long term also went in their favour.

Ten Sports are also contributing $40,000 per year for the development of Sri Lankan domestic cricket.

Zahid Noorani is the director of Taj TV. Being a former cricketer from Pakistan, he understands cricket in the sub continent, and was instrumental in getting the deal through.

Ten Sports have held TV rights for matches in Sri Lanka for over a decade, and they also hold rights in the West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Sharjah and Morocco.