Business Opportunities5 broadcasters shortlisted for CWG 2010
Leading foreign production companies Tokyo Broadcasting, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), USA’s International Sports Broadcasting (ISB) and International Games Broadcast Services (IGBS) are among the five international production companies and their partners in race to bag the public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati’s contract to cover the Commonwealth Games 2010 (CWG 2010) in New Delhi in the High Definition Television (HDTV) format.
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While the contract-size of this deal is not known, industry estimates suggest that any international production company that covers sporting events like the Olympics or Asian Games for 15 days tend to charge $300-500 million. The Commonwealth Games 2010 are scheduled to be held from October 3 to October 14 next year and the rules specify that host broadcaster Doordarshan has to produce an international feed in HDTV format.
Tokyo Broadcasting has tied up with Reliance Big Productions, a subsidiary of Reliance Entertainment, while Mumbai-based Nimbus Communications has tied up with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a senior official in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) said.
Nimbus Sports Singapore, the international division of Nimbus Communications, has tied up with ISB of USA, while Satellite Information Services of UK (SIS live), also called SIS Outside Broadcast, and IGBS of Switzerland, have applied without any Indian broadcast partners.
These tie-ups by Indian bidders are required to meet the eligibility criterion specified in the Expression of Interest (EoI) document that government-owned TV broadcaster Doordarshan floated in December last year. Doordarshan comes under the Prasar Bharati umbrella.
“There were 10 companies who had responded to the EoI floated by Prasar Bharati, of which only five have now been shortlisted and only one will finally bag the right to produce the feed of Commonwealth Games 2010 for Doordarshan,” Ambika Soni, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, said.
“Bidders must have experience in the production and coverage of international sporting events like the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Olympics in the past 18 years,” a senior Doordarshan official explained. “Bidders must also have experience in covering sports events of international standards in HDTV,” he added.