Daily Times

A Lahore civil court granted PTV Sports relief after Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) cancelled an arrangement with the state-run TV network which allowed PTV to have exclusive rights for matches in Pakistan.

A civil court in Lahore prevented the Board from awarding broadcast rights to any commercial station other than PTV.  The PCB was served with a notice by the court for allegedly violating the agreement with PTV Sports.

The PCB had opened a new tender inviting bids for new media rights for the upcoming series against West Indies and Australia. That process will have to be put on hold for now until the matter resolves.

PTV also asked the PCB for Rs2 billion in damage after a private station recently started broadcasting matches. Pakistan Television Corporation filed a suit alleging that the PCB breached an agreement that obliged it to offer exclusive rights to PTV to broadcast cricket matches in Pakistan until 2023. Civil Judge Talat Mahmood heard the case.

The PCB had suspended the agreement with PTV on Nov 5 without any notice, the suspension of broadcasting rights by the PCB was a violation of the agreement, PTV Sport said.

PTV Sports management had requested the court to force the PCB to follow the agreement and stop it from signing a new contract with other channels by any means. The court ordered the PCB against granting broadcast rights to any other channel than PTV.

Moreover, the court also issued notices to the PCB over PTV’s claim that it suffered damages worth Rs2 billion due to the violation. The court asked the PCB to submit a reply to the claim by December 6.

To ensure that the PCB’s broadcast content was not unlawfully rebroadcast by cable providers, the PCB inked a three-year broadcast deal with PTV in 2020, as well as an agreement with I-Media Communications Services. The agreement was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who also serves as the PCB’s patron-in-chief.