Big relief for BCB as media rights for Ban-Pak T20I series sold

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) heaved a sigh of relief after managing to sell its worldwide media rights for the national team's upcoming three-match home T20I series against Pakistan.

Although the media rights were expected to be sold through an open bidding, scheduled for Thursday (July 10), the board had to sell it in a different way after companies who showed interest for the series did failed to meet the floor price.

It has been learnt that the board had offered a floor price of Tk 4cr for the media rights of the series but none of the interested companies offered even half of the figure.

"The offer prices were just nonsense. Then we talked to a few of the interested companies separately and eventually got an amount which almost fulfilled our target," a BCB director, requesting anonymity, told The Daily Star.

The director, however, didn't disclose the name of the company or the amount the board received from the sale.

"We can't reveal the figure right now as the company which bought the media rights need to sell it to the broadcasters. But we will reveal it after the series," he added.

However, it has been learnt that T Sports, a local private television channel, will broadcast the series, scheduled between July 20 and 24.

Earlier in April, the BCB had failed to sell media rights for the two-Test home series against Zimbabwe as neither broadcasters nor marketing agencies showed any interest.

The BCB had to telecast the series on state-owned BTV free of cost.