Petition against PSL’s media rights adjourned
Applicant fails to provide sufficient arguments for alleged irregularity in auction
According to the PCB’s legal adviser, the board and PSL officials fulfilled all criteria and there was nothing wrong with how the process was carried forward. PHOTO: SHAFIQ MALIK/EXPRESS
KARACHI:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) adjourned a case regarding the Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) media rights auction on Wednesday as the petitioner sought extension after his arguments were deemed insufficient and he was asked to provide solid arguments on January 4, 2016.
Applicant Shehzad Mazhar had filed the petition against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), stating that the board did not complete the process of media rights’ auction of the PSL, something which has been denied by the board and the PSL officials.
The petitioner argued that the PCB gave the advertisement for the auction of media rights of the league but illegally sold the rights to favoured media outlets, hence the court should declare the deal annulled.
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However, the LHC ordered the petitioner to come up with valid arguments on the next date to convince the court that the case is worthy of being moved forward.
PCB’s legal adviser Taffazzul Rizvi and PSL Governing Council Chairman Najam Sethi presented themselves in the court for the hearing.
Rizvi said that the board and PSL officials fulfilled all the criteria and there was nothing wrong with how the process was carried forward.
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“The board followed the standard practice in PSL’s media rights of PSL and there isn’t anything wrong in it as far as I see,” Rizvi told The Express Tribune. “There is a proper procedure when such rights are being sold. The tender was published and people came out with bids which did not meet the reserved price which the officials were looking at. Once no one meets the reserved price, the board is open to negotiate and that is what they did.”
Meanwhile, another official of the board added that this is not the first time the PCB had entered the negotiation process during the sale of rights and it remains a standard practice to get the best possible returns because the revenue is important for the running of Pakistan cricket.
Once the board was unable to lock down a deal for the media rights, it bought all the airtime of the PSL from Ten Sports and PTV Sports.
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PTV Sports Director Dr Nauman Niaz said he decided to sell the airtime after considering the commercial wellbeing of the organisation.
“The PCB came to us as clients and we decided to strike a deal with them as it was in PTV Sports’ interest to improve the financial health of the organisation,” said Niaz. “We’ve nothing to do with the board and the petitioner, but I can say that standard procedure of broadcasting rights was followed.
“We’re not the broadcasters, so we have no issues with what the PCB does with the airtime as we’ll still get the PSL feed for our fans.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2015.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) adjourned a case regarding the Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) media rights auction on Wednesday as the petitioner sought extension after his arguments were deemed insufficient and he was asked to provide solid arguments on January 4, 2016.
Applicant Shehzad Mazhar had filed the petition against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), stating that the board did not complete the process of media rights’ auction of the PSL, something which has been denied by the board and the PSL officials.
The petitioner argued that the PCB gave the advertisement for the auction of media rights of the league but illegally sold the rights to favoured media outlets, hence the court should declare the deal annulled.
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However, the LHC ordered the petitioner to come up with valid arguments on the next date to convince the court that the case is worthy of being moved forward.
PCB’s legal adviser Taffazzul Rizvi and PSL Governing Council Chairman Najam Sethi presented themselves in the court for the hearing.
Rizvi said that the board and PSL officials fulfilled all the criteria and there was nothing wrong with how the process was carried forward.
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“The board followed the standard practice in PSL’s media rights of PSL and there isn’t anything wrong in it as far as I see,” Rizvi told The Express Tribune. “There is a proper procedure when such rights are being sold. The tender was published and people came out with bids which did not meet the reserved price which the officials were looking at. Once no one meets the reserved price, the board is open to negotiate and that is what they did.”
Meanwhile, another official of the board added that this is not the first time the PCB had entered the negotiation process during the sale of rights and it remains a standard practice to get the best possible returns because the revenue is important for the running of Pakistan cricket.
Once the board was unable to lock down a deal for the media rights, it bought all the airtime of the PSL from Ten Sports and PTV Sports.
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PTV Sports Director Dr Nauman Niaz said he decided to sell the airtime after considering the commercial wellbeing of the organisation.
“The PCB came to us as clients and we decided to strike a deal with them as it was in PTV Sports’ interest to improve the financial health of the organisation,” said Niaz. “We’ve nothing to do with the board and the petitioner, but I can say that standard procedure of broadcasting rights was followed.
“We’re not the broadcasters, so we have no issues with what the PCB does with the airtime as we’ll still get the PSL feed for our fans.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2015.