Indian cricket’s governing body sets up production unit

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, the sport’s governing body in India, will take the broadcast production of matches in house after ending its contract with the Nimbus Communications agency, owner of the Neo sports channel, according to the Indian Television website.

The website said that the body had launched its own production unit, BCCI Broadcasting Services, which would begin operations to coincide with the start of India’s series against New Zealand in August.

Nimbus had handled production for international and domestic matches as part of its broadcast rights agreement with the BCCI, which was scheduled to run from 2010-11 to 2013-14. However, the board decided to cancel the Nimbus deal late last year after accusing the agency of failing to pay rights fees on time.

Following the termination of the BCCI’s production and rights agreement with Nimbus, News Corp’s Indian subsidiary Star acquired worldwide rights for all India national team Test, one-day international and Twenty20 matches held in the country, as well as some domestic tournaments, for six years, from 2012-13 to 2017-18.