The granting of telecast production rights for the high-voltage India-Pakistan series to Trans World International by the Board of Control for Cricket in India has led to an official protest by another bidder, Nimbus Sport.
Claiming that their bid of USD 1.29 million was the lowest received by the BCCI and accusing an unnamed Board member of misleading its Working Committee, Nimbus Sport chairman Harish Thawani shot off a letter on Tuesday to BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra and N Srinivasan, BCCI's Finance Committee chairman, seeking redressal.
In the letter, a copy of which is with Press Trust of India, Thawani wrote: "We refer to the offers contained in our letter of February 28, 2005, faxed to BCCI office-bearers and copies delivered by hand this morning to the Working Committee.
"We understand that our offer of USD 1.29 million for television production is the lowest received by the BCCI.
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"We learn that one member of the BCCI sought to create the impression that our offer is USD 1.50. We do not know how such an impression came about as our letter of 28 February 2005 is very clear that our offer is USD 1.29 million," Thawani wrote.
Stating that they contract all their international cricket production through their Singapore-based Group company World Sport Nimbus Private limited, Thawani wrote that given their lowest offer, the BCCI "will award the production contract to us".
The BCCI Working Committee had on Tuesday decided unanimously to award the TV production rights to TWI for USD 1.50 million.
"We sincerely hope that BCCI will respect well established principles of awarding contracts as followed by bodies serving a public function and invite us to enter into a contract for television production," the letter said.
Referring to their offer for various other rights including international media rights, the Nimbus chairman said their offers were either the highest in each category or the only ones in some others.
"Please also refer to our offers for various rights such as international media rights etc. all contained in our letter of 28 February 2005. We have good reason to believe our offers are either the highest in each category or the only offer in some categories.
"You will doubtless appreciate that given the paucity of time, it is imperative that we meet at the earliest to finalise contracts," the letter concluded.
