A cricket series between India and Pakistan is not just good diplomacy or great cricket - it is huge business as well.
With the ice melting between the two countries faster than expected, the tour of Pakistan by the Indian cricket team some time in 2004 has companies and media planners reaching for the cheque books.
The first bookings for the series have already started flowing in, said a source in the media planning business in the city.
Rates for the one-day tourneys, test matches and some other select matches have been almost finalised to accommodate new advertisers, over and above companies which regularly advertise on Ten Sports, the channel which will telecast the matches.
"Most of the advertising in cricket comes from India and only a small percentage from other countries, so the importance of the forthcoming series can be guessed," the source added.
Any match between India and Pakistan enjoys a high level of interest and is dominated by the traditional rivalry between the two teams as well as cross-border, mutual admiration for star players in both teams.
Media planners said that the level of viewing interest in cricket matches played between India and Pakistan among Indian audiences would be second only to interest at the semi-final or final level of a cricket world championship with Indian playing.
Revenues per match were thus expected to be higher than league matches in the recently concluded cricket world cup, they added.
"The level of interest in Pakistan is very high and people are looking forward to the series- it should open the floodgates of exchange between the nations," said top sources in the Pakistan mission to India, currently touring Kolkata.
As far as Ten Sports is concerned, the Indo-Pak series was expected to lead to a sharp spike in revenues not unlike the bonanza enjoyed by the Sony network at the last cricket world cup. The channel has advertisers like Castrol.
Ten Sports holds telecast rights for all cricket matches in Pakistan. In addition, the channel had the rights for matches in South Africa and the Caribbean, and venues in west Asia.
A visit by the Pakistani team to India would boost the revenues of Doordarshan, which holds the telecast rights for matches in India till 2004.
The ESPN-Star Sports network holds telecast rights in other countries like Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom.
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