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Cricket fans fear a blackout during the upcoming West Indies-Bangladesh series as no TV channel has officially acquired the broadcast rights with just five days to go ahead of the commencement the first Test at Antigua.
Total Sports Marketing (TSM) holds the broadcast rights of West Indies-Bangladesh series where the Tigers will play two Test matches, three Twenty20 Internationals and three One Day Internationals.
But TSM is yet to find a consortium or any local TV channel who are willing to buy the feed from them and broadcast the matches live.
A consortium formed by seven members including two TV channels and multiple agencies usually deals the matters of broadcasting matches of the away series of the Tigers, but this time a feud between the consortium and TSM could deprive the Bangladesh cricket team fans from watching the matches on TV.
An official working at a TV channel told The Business Post that chances are high for a broadcast blackout as the matters between the consortium and TSM is yet to be resolved,
“Our TV channel has no issues with TSM but some other members of the consortium have some unsettled issues. Therefore, we are not going to buy the feed directly from the host board due to internal issues”, he said seeking anonymity.
Salahuddin Chowdhury, executive director of Gazi Group (parent company of GTV) told The Business Post that they are also not broadcasting the matches from
West Indies, “From 2020 we have stopped buying rights directly. The consortium buys the rights and they buy airtime from us to broadcast the matches”, he said on Friday.
Salahuddin also said that GTV is ready to broadcast matches if there is any last moment deal,
“We are always ready, if any company buy the feed and wants to broadcast through our channel then it will take no time to facilitate the live coverage”, he added.
Salahuddin is also a director at the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
The matter was placed to BCB president Nazmul Hasan as well but he decided to stay away which left the feud unsolved.
In 2021, Australia toured Bangladesh for five T20I matches and due to disagreement between Australian broadcasters and local rights the matches weren’t telecasted in down under.
Fans are fearing a similar kind of experience as still TV channel has confirmed the live telecast.
“It is very disappointing that we still don’t know if we can watch the matches on TV or not. Our cricket board is one of the richest but yet they could not find any solution. This is very sad”, said Rohan Khan from Bangladesh Cricket Fans Association.
Tanvir Ahmed Titu, the chairman of the media committee at the BCB told The Business Post that they are trying to find a solution,
“ We are working to find a solution, tomorrow (today) I will go to the BCB office and possibly in the afternoon I can come out with something”, he said on Friday.
