Pubcaster Prasar Bharati‘s board these days is seized with matters mostly related to telecast rights. If it is not football, then it must be cricket. A recent meeting of the board just did that - discuss the issue relating to the terrestrial rights of the ICC-organised cricket matches.
"Even the board meeting slated for early next month will discuss the cricket telecast issue as DD cannot simply afford to ignore the cricket matches in a cricket-crazy nation like ours," a senior Prasar Bharati official told indiantelevision.com on Thursday.

The telecast rights of the ICC-organised cricket matches for the next six years is held by World Sports Nimbus combine, a joint venture between World Sports and Mumbai-based Nimbus Communications, which sold the satellite rights for the India region to Sony Entertainment Television India for a reported sum of $255 million.

Admitting that DD, despite being the national broadcaster, is slowly getting edged out of the sports telecast scene in India in recent times, the official said: "Private channels can push through some decisions fast, but being remote-controlled by the government still, Prasar Bharati Corporation cannot take quick decisions where huge amounts of money are involved. We have to take into consideration not only economic factors, but political ones too."

DD has been in negotiations with World Sport Nimbus for the sale of terrestrial rights of the cricket matches, including the next two World Cups. But talks reportedly broke down as DD‘s offer did not find much favour with World Sport Nimbus negotiators, which included the joint venture‘s co-chairman and managing director of Nimbus Communication Harish Thawani.

When contacted, Thawani refused to either confirm or deny the report other than to say: "We do not discuss commercial negotiations that are in progress."

Business channel CNBC India is launching yet another weekend business show, Global Market Wrap from 25 May.

The 30-minute show aims to focus on key developments in the international world of finance and markets. CNBC markets editor Udayan Mukherjee will bring viewers a comprehensive round up of the US, European and Asian markets on a weekly basis.

The new show is based on CNBC‘s belief that in today‘s scenario, economies, markets and businesses are linked more closely than ever. The show will feature popular market barometers like the NASDAQ and the Dow Jones indices, the key trends in the US and the European stock markets to the latest updates on the global currencies, commodities and oil prices. There will be live analysis from US and Asian market experts and also an update on key issues such as the Enron crisis, the HP-Compaq deal and the Microsoft case, featuring captains of the US Industry. The wrap will also include key corporate developments from the US.

The show will be telecast at 8 pm on Saturdays with repeats at 10:30 am on Sunday.