Sri Lanka Cricket has launched a new combined invitation to tender for its television, radio and digital rights after determining that separate tenders failed to produce bids of a satisfactory nature.
SLC’s current contract for media and sponsorship rights, an eight-year deal with Indian pay-television broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks running from 2012-13 to 2019-20, comes to a close on March 31.
In December, SLC issued three separate invitations calling for expressions of interest in the rights from 2020 to 2023. These covered television and radio rights, digital rights and production services in respect of the International Cricket Council’s men’s Future Tour Programme.
On January 31, SLC then issued three separate invitations to tender to qualifying participants that had submitted expressions of interest. In response, SLC said bids were submitted by “several interested parties” on February 20.
However, the governing body said in a statement on Friday: “Having evaluated the said bids in the presence and under the observation of representatives of the ICC and other independent parties in a transparent process, SLC is of the view that SLC could obtain better value for its television, radio and digital rights by combining the tenders for the said rights into a single consolidated tender process for television, radio and digital rights.”
SLC yesterday (Sunday) invited expressions of interest for a new combined tender comprising television, radio and digital rights. It added that evaluation of the bids for production services is still taking place. A parallel tender process for ground rights has also been issued.
The new rights cycle begins in April and its first major fixtures are the tours of Sri Lanka by South Africa, India and Bangladesh taking place between May and August.