The Champions League T20 tournament has begun, but Global Cricket Ventures (GCV) is not sure if it has the digital rights to the tournament. AIM listed Elephant Capital, which invested $10 million in GCV last year, has issued a notice to its stareholders (full text below) that there has been very little definitive information from the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) about the status of the rights, after BCCI rescinded its global media rights agreement with World Sports Group in June 2010, and then signed a fresh contract with broadcaster Multi-Screen-Media, excluding WSG.
GVC had licensed online and mobile rights to the IPL and CLT20 through World Sports Group, and then further split the rights accoriding to media and geography, licensing those forward to other vendors (More in our IPL Digital Rights coverage). So the fate of many a company, some of them build mostly around IPL rights, hangs in the balance. Elephant Capital says that it is attempting to clarify with the BCCI, it’s rights to design, build, host and manage the official CLT20 website (which is currently being powered by Criczenga).
Related:
– Times of India: BCCI scraps IPL media rights deal with World Sport Group
– The Hindu: World Sport rejects BCCI’s termination of agreement
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– LCM President Mark Melville Resigns; To Join Global Cricket Ventures
– July Systems Expects Double Digit Million Revenues; Equity Deal With GCV
– VRock Licenses IPL Mobile Content To Multiple Co’s; In Talks For Stake In PhoneyTunes
– Complete List Of IPL3 Mobile Partners
Full text of Elephant Capital Press Release
ELEPHANT CAPITAL PLC (“ELEPHANT CAPITAL” OR “THE COMPANY”)
GLOBAL CRICKET VENTURES (“GCV”) MEDIA RIGHTS
Elephant Capital, after discussions with its investee company Global Cricket Ventures regarding the current situation of its various Indian Premier League (“IPL”) and Champions League 20/20 (“CLT20”) digital and media rights, issues a brief update to shareholders.
Elephant Capital invested a total of $10m in Global Cricket Ventures Limited, Mauritius, in 2009 through its Mauritian subsidiary, Tusk Investments Fund 1.
GCV sub-licences the IPL online and mobile broadcast rights from World Sports Group (“WSG”). Since the announcement in June by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (“BCCI”) that it had rescinded agreements with World Sports Group (“WSG”) for the global media rights to the IPL, there has been very little definitive information from BCCI.
GCV is also attempting to clarify with the BCCI its rights to design, build, host and manage the official CLT20 website.
Elephant Capital is in regular contact with GCV in order to fully understand what the repercussions of the current events could mean for the ongoing business interests of GCV, and will update shareholders as the situation regarding these issues becomes clearer.
