DD nets Rs 46 cr via cricket ad rights

NEW DELHI: While DD has raked in a total of Rs 182 crore from selling advertising rights for seven cricket series between March 2007-08, it could retain only Rs 46 crore. This is because, under the Sports Broadcasting Signal Act, it has to share 75% of its revenues to the broadcaster who holds the rights for the series.

This means that Nimbus and ESPN Star Sports pocketed a total of Rs 136 crore in the last fiscal as part of the revenue-sharing arrangement with DD. ESPN-Star, which shared the England and Australia series, made an additional Rs 34 crore while Nimbus, which shared the feed for five series ��� Bangladesh, Ireland, Australia (including the 20:20) and the Pakistan series, was able to garner over Rs 100 crore from the DD deal.

For both Nimbus and ESPN-Star, this is in addition to the money they earned by selling air time on their respective channels. I&B data shows that the India-Pakistan cricket series aired from Nov 5-Dec 12 earned DD a total of Rs 81 crore, of which the state-owned broadcaster could keep Rs 20.31 crore.