The All India Football Federation agreed its own television rights deal for domestic cup competition the Federation Cup with public-service broadcaster Doordarshan after a deal arranged by the federation’s commercial partner IMG-Reliance fell apart.
Indian newspaper The Hindu said the new deal was the latest evidence of strain in the relationship between the federation and IMG-Reliance which has led the federation to consider activating an exit clause in the contract in order to seek a new commercial partner. The federation is reported to be unhappy with IMG-Reliance’s efforts to market its competitions and believes not enough money is being generated.
“It is quite intriguing that a big company with wide experience of hosting major events cannot generate enough revenue for football in a country which is considered the biggest market of the sport by the world body Fifa,” a senior AIFF official told The Hindu.
The AIFF and IMG-Reliance, a sports and media joint venture between the IMG agency and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, are currently in the second year of a 15-year media and marketing rights deal.
IMG-Reliance originally signed a deal for the rights for the Federation Cup and the I-League, the country’s top league division, beginning this season with pay-television broadcaster Ten Sports. Ten later withdrew from the agreement.
The AIFF then agreed a deal with Doordarshan for the broadcaster to provide live coverage of the Federation Cup from the semi-final stage. The Hindu said the deal was agreed “outside” the AIFF’s agreement with IMG-Reliance.