New Delhi: Indian cricket fans, who preferred listening to cricket commentary on radio have been suffering for quite some time now as a result of an impasse between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and All India Radio (AIR).
According to a report in The Indian Express, it has been close to 10 months that AIR has stopped commentary for cricket matches.
The report further added that two years ago, the Indian board approached AIR with a proposal, which the national public radio broadcaster didn’t agree to. And the Indian board claims that despite their various attempts at convincing Akashvani, they are yet to break the deadlock.
“The BCCI proposed that we will take care of all their production costs, including the hiring of the best radio commentators available in the country — which itself would be around Rs 7-8 lakh. All we require from them is their airwaves. And as a result they will have to share 50 per cent of the profits of their revenue with us. But they have kept dilly-dallying ever since,” said a senior BCCI official.
On the other hand, AIR believes it's the BCCI which is at fault.
“It’s simple market science. You have a buyer and a seller. But if the seller isn’t prepared to sell his product, then what can anyone else do. Earlier the norm was that we signed rights contracts from series to series. But they have simply stopped coming to us over the last many months, maybe in quest of a long-term contract, which isn’t forthcoming at the moment,” said a senior AIR official.
Since India's tour to Australia, the fans have been missing the unique radio commentary and there seems to be no solution as if now.
