Zee pays $20 m to BCCI

Zee Telefilms paid the first installment of 20 million dollars to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the telecast rights of cricket matches to be played in India and said it will decide "in a day or two" on who it will partner for its sports channel.

"We have paid the first installment as stipulated by the BCCI," Essel Group vice-president (corporate and brand development) Ashish Kaul said in Mumbai, on Tuesday.

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Asked about the rest of the money that has to be paid to the BCCI, Kaul said, "A detailed payment schedule has been given to us. Both the parties (Zee and BCCI) are yet to finalise the schedule and sign it."

With regard to the launch of the sports channel, he said Zee Telefilms is talking to the Turner group and Ten Sports.

"These are among the companies that have approached us and we will take a decision very soon, in a day or two," he said.

The Turner group already has a distribution network with Zee called Zee-Turner Ltd.

The Zee group bagged the rights for telecasting domestic cricket matches for the next four years for a whopping 308 million dollars.

On the name of the sports channel, he said it will be decided by today or tomorrow.

The selection of Zee Telefilms by the BCCI has been challenged in the Mumbai High Court by ESPN-Star Sports which alleged that "unfair advantage" was given to Zee.