Prasar Bharati gains Rs 70 cr from Indo-Pak series

The Indian cricket team may still be nursing the wounds inflicted by the humiliating defeat at the hands of archrivals Pakistan, but for public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, the series has meant big moolah as it has pocketed a net profit of Rs 70 crore.

The public broadcaster, which was awarded the rights by the Chennai High Court just before the start of the series, managed the marketing well, getting a total gross revenue of Rs 185 crore (Rs 1.85 billion) for the three tests and six one-day matches.

"The gross revenue is about Rs 185 crore and of this, about Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) is payable to the cricket board BCCI," Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma said.

He said they have written to BCCI about this. "We have told them that about Rs 100 crore is payable to them in lieu of the series. We expect a positive response," Sarma added.

In the wake of squabbling between ESPN-Star, Zee Telefilms and BCCI over the allotment of long-term cricket rights, the court had given the telecast rights to Prasar Bharati in February, days before the start of the series.

In fact, the public broadcaster had benefited due to this fight last year as well, when it received rights for 31 days involving series against Australia, South Africa and a one-off against Pakistan.

However, then the profits were much less. The sponsors' list for the just-ended high-profile series was a long one and included biggies like Pepsi, TVS, Indian Oil and BSNL.