After weeks of see-sawing and conflicting reports, there is finally clarity on the future of the Indian Premier League, the popular 20-20 cricket tournament. It will be held in South Africa between April 18 and May 24. In all, 59 matches will be played. The games will be telecast at 4pm and 8pm Indian time.

Multi Screen Media (formerly Sony (NYSE: SNE) Entertainment Television) will remain the broadcaster, but will have paid a much greater amount for the previlege. A tripartite deal between MSM, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and World Sports Group was announced yesterday. MSM now has telecast rights for nine years and the deal is worth $1.6 billion. Under the earlier deal, MSM would have paid $918 million for the telecast rights and spent $108 million for marketing the tournament. A Mint story says some 80% of this amount will be paid by MSM. Ad rates for key IPL matches already attract a premium and last year semi finals and finals fetched Rs10 lakh for a 10-second spot. On an average, ad spots went for Rs3.5-4 lakh per 10-sec. MSM’s ability to raise the rates to record new levels will be contrained by the current economic environment, but the company must have gauged advertiser interest before signing the deal for a higher amount.

Citing an unnamed BCCI official, Cricinfo reported yesterday that the board will compensate franchisees for additional expenditure incurred due to the shift of venue to South Africa.

With the IPL heading to SA, tour operators expect a lot of traffic in the sector and have started working on packages, reports The Economic Times and Business Standard.
Source – contentsutra.com