Discussions unsuccessful. SLRC can’t show West Indies cricket series live in Sri Lanka[/caption]
All efforts made by the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) to show live coverage of the Sri Lanka versus West Indies cricket series, starting today (4) in the Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda, failed last afternoon and there is a strong likelihood of a complete blackout of the month-long, all-format cricket series in Sri Lanka.
We at the Morning Sports predicted this eventuality in our Monday (1) and Tuesday (2) sports pages quoting sources of SLRC.
“We tried our best to have the live coverage until this (yesterday) afternoon. That is because we considered it was part our duty as the national broadcaster. But there is a huge extra cost that is involved in getting the feed. We can’t afford such an extra cost and we pulled out from the deal,” a reliable SLRC source revealed yesterday (3).
The “link” coming only from England
Explaining further on the reasons for the extra cost, the source said that for the present series, they needed to have the connection from England, not from India, as it has been the usual practice on earlier such occasions.
“We needed to get the link from England which was to cost us $ 50,000 (Rs. 9.7 million) extra. After our negotiations with the West Indies cricket board (Cricket West Indies or CWI), a normal amount was agreed up on $ 40,000. But the said extra cost involving this England link is something that is way too much for us. Therefore we decided not to have it this time,” he explained.
About ten million extra cost
The source further added that this time the connection link for the cricket series is not available in the Indian sector due to the ongoing arrangements of CWI telecasting rights.
“With such an extra cost, we will have to pay an additional amount of around 10 million rupees (altogether, a total of 15 million rupees). In fact, we earlier expected the costs could be in the range of five million rupees. It will be tough for us to cover such an amount by our advertisers.”
Poor performance of the team
The Morning Sports reported first on 22 February that there was a great possibility of the over-one-month long Sri Lanka tour of West Indies would not be shown live by any of the local TV channels. That was after contacting two local TV stations who had shown live cricket action over the past years.
There we also said that there could be a lukewarm response in the broadcasting market for the West Indies-Sri Lanka series in this region. That is mainly due to the fact that Sri Lanka team is not performing well enough at present, discouraging prospective advertisers in investing on TV ads in the regional broadcasting channels.
The other contributory factor for this lukewarm response from the broadcasters is the massive nine-and-half-hour time difference between Sri Lanka and Antigua. This means all action –particularly the day-night action in Antigua—going deep into night here in the Asian subcontinent. At times the live feed can run past dawn the next day here.
This is a major reason that distracts the advertisers on live coverage. Creating viewer interest during these extraordinary playing hours needs exceptional appeal from the part of the players, a feature Sri Lanka is lacking at the moment.
SLRC to air Legends Series, instead
“We could not have successful live coverage last time too (the South Africa and England series in recent months). The performance of the team matters with regard to the advertising revenue of the coverage. Even the Captain of the Sri Lanka T20 team couldn’t make the West Indies trip. Therefore undertaking a live coverage in such circumstances carries a huge risk anyway. All those matters added to arriving at our final decision,” the SLRC source explained.
In the mean time, SLRC is planning to have the live coverage of the “Road Safety Legends Cricket Series”, starting tomorrow (5) in Raipur, India involving an array of former stars including those of Sri Lanka.
“We had that concern as well when we negotiated on the West Indies series. The Legends Series will have a greater appeal among our audiences. There will be clashes too in the match schedules of the Legends series and the West Indies series,” he pointed out.
West Indies TV rights distribution
Other than SLRC, the Independent Television Network (ITN) and another private TV channel were expected reportedly to have the West Indies series live coverage here. Yet, as we reported earlier, they too were awaiting a clear response from CWI with regard to the finalisation of their broadcaster for the Indian region.
London-based Pitch International is the commercial consultant and sponsorship sales agency of CWI at present. CWI on 25 January confirmed officially its third new multi-year broadcast rights agreement with Super Sport on its television and digital platforms for four years until 2024. That was only in sub-Saharan Africa covering over 54 African countries, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Kenya.
Earlier, in two major broadcast agreements, CWI had reached the United States market, with ESPN+ channel, and the United Kingdom and Ireland markets, with channel BT Sport. Still we have the understanding that there is no agreement reached between CWI and any potential Asian broadcaster to provide live coverage in this region.
“Star Sports India may get the live coverage of the West Indies series in our region. If that happens, the local fans might be able to watch the matches via their local satellite pay TV providers,” the above SLRC source opined.
Sri Lanka will play three T20Is on 4, 5, and 7 March in Coolidge Cricket Ground, three ODIs on 10, 12, and 14 March at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, and two Tests, from 21-25 March and 29 March-2 April at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, in Antigua. But 2.30 p.m. in Antigua is 12 mid night in Sri Lanka. Therefore all matches starting after 2.30 p.m. Antigua time will fall on the next day here.
The first of the three-match T20I series starts on Wednesday (3) at 6 p.m. Antigua time, which means 3.30 a.m. Sri Lanka time on Thursday (5). The first two ODIs will be day games (starting around 7.30 p.m. here on the same day) but the third and final ODI will be a day-nighter starting at 11 p.m. Sri Lanka time. Both Tests will be day matches starting around 7.30 p.m. here.