Furious television broadcasters are threatening to walk out of the bidding for the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) media rights after the governing body-appointed auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), pulled out of the process midway.
PwC’s decision to bow out, and the broadcasters’ threat to pull out, are the latest episodes in a saga that is beginning to resemble a shambles for the ICC, in sharp contrast to the smooth rollout of media rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) by The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in June.
All four broadcasters – Viacom18, Disney Star, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) – have independently written to ICC saying they will boycott the bidding if the process is not transparent, people aware of the development told News18. They have also assailed the ICC for being mealy-mouthed about explaining the departure of PwC in the middle of the process.
In his missive, Anil Jayaraj, the CEO of Viacom18 Sports, has told ICC that it must abandon the plan for a closed auction in the initial stage and instead opt for a transparent e-auction as the sole process for the bid.
