LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to extend the date of submission of bid documents by the bidders for the next five years’ broadcasting rights.

A meeting in this regard was held under the bid committee chairman Ehsan Mani and it was decided to extend the original date which expired on Friday. The next date to submit the bid will be decided in a couple of days.

Though the PCB has not mentioned any reason for extending the date, it is possible that since doubts are still existing over the resumption of the Indo-Pak bilateral series, the PCB may not get an attractive bid for its five-year broadcasting package.

According to an agreement, Pakistan are required to host India six times in the next eight years but the BCCI has put the ball in the Indian government’s court to give its ruling on the tour.

The PCB is possibly awaiting the Indian foreign secretary’s visit to Pakistan next month to resume dialogue between the two countries which may also see some headway in resumption of cricket ties.

Last time, the PCB sold out the five-year broadcasting rights for US$ 140million. But since India did not visit Pakistan in this period, as much as 60 per cent of that amount was not received by the PCB.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2015

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