MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said the umpires named in the sting operation conducted by news broadcaster India TV have been suspended pending further enquiry.

The news channel had recently conducted a sting wherein six international umpires from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were caught on camera agreeing to fix Twenty20 matches in exchange for bribes.

"The International Cricket Council (ICC) and its relevant Full Member Boards have agreed not to appoint any of the umpires named in a sting operation recently conducted by India TV to any domestic or international cricket matches pending the outcome of the ongoing investigations into the allegations made," the ICC said in a statement.

"The officials named are not contracted by the ICC and those Boards which employ and nominate the umpires directly will conduct the investigations as a matter of urgency," the ICC clarified.

The sting operation called "Operation World Cup" had revealed how umpires Nadeem Ghauri and Anees Siddiqui of Pakistan, Nadir Shah of Bangladesh, and Gamini Dissanayake, Maurice Winston and Sagara Gallage of Sri Lanka were willing to fix decisions and share information like pitch report, weather report, toss report and playing elevens in exchange for money.

The accused have however denied the allegations saying that they were trapped by the channel. The news broadcaster had said that the seventh umpire Sharfudoullah Shahid Saikat of Bangladesh refused to give any favour in lieu of money.

MUMBAI: Rajat Sharma helmed Hindi news channel India TV has done it again. The news channel has alleged that it has caught six international umpires from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on camera who are willing to fix Twenty20 matches in exchange for bribes.

In a sting operation, the six umpires who were exposed called "Operation World Cup" are Nadeem Ghauri and Anees Siddiqui of Pakistan, Nadir Shah of Bangladesh, and Gamini Dissanayake, Maurice Winston and Sagara Gallage of Sri Lanka. The news broadcaster said the seventh umpire Sharfudoullah Shahid Saikat of Bangladesh refused to give any favour in lieu of money.

The entire sting operation was aired on Monday prime time on India TV.

Earlier, India TV had carried out a sting operation revealing how domestic players were willing to indulge in corrupt practices in lieu for money and other favours like getting a place in an IPL team. The sting led to a probe by Anti-Corruption unit of BCCI and the subsequent ban on five players.

The India TV sting operation revealed how umpires were willing to share information about match like pitch report, weather report, toss report and playing elevens in exchange for money.

The sting operation also alleged how newly created franchise leagues like the Sri Lanka Premier League and Bangladesh Premier League are susceptible to fixing. It must be noted that BPL is already facing allegations of match fixing by certain players.

Bangladesh‘s Nadir Shah, one of the umpires to be caught on camera, revealed that Pakistan‘s opening batsman Nasir Jamshed ‘fixed‘ several matches during the Bangladesh Premier League.

Sri Lankan umpire Sagara Gallage, who was the fourth umpire at the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match on 17 September, had agreed to reveal the match pitch report, weather report, toss report, and even the playing elevens of both teams for a payment of Rs 50,000.

The channel alleged that he had promised to give decision against Pakistani batsman Imran Nazir in Sri Lanka Premier League. Galage also promised that he would get a decision in favour of India with the help of match referee.

Pakistan‘s Nadeem Ghauri was also willing to lend a helping hand to the Indian team through favourable decisions.

The International Cricket Council while asserting its zero tolerance towards corruption said none of the umpires shown on the sting were involved in ICC World Twenty20 games.

It also urged India TV to share information that would help ICC in its investigation.

"The ICC and its relevant members have been made aware of the allegations made by India TV this evening and calls on the station to turnover any information which can assist the ICC‘s urgent investigations into this matter," the ICC said in a statement.

"The ICC re-iterates its zero-tolerance towards corruption whether alleged against players or officials. The ICC confirms that none of the umpires named were involved in any of the official games of the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka."

Meanwhile, Pakistani umpire Nadeem Ghauri said there is no truth in the sting operation. He also said that he had not been in the international panel for the past two years.

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council has signed Sports News Television (SNTV), Perform and Reuters News as distributors for the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 event.

These deals guarantee news broadcasters around the world will have access to news highlights from matches, press conferences, player interviews and event-related stories providing up-to-the-minute information to more than a billion viewers across the world.

ICC GM commercial Campbell Jamieson said, ?The ICC already has a long-standing relationship with SNTV and Reuters News. We are glad to have them on board for the next exciting installment of the ICC World T20 as they have an excellent distribution, global reach and have previously provided great support to all ICC events including those that form part of the Pepsi ICC Development Programme.

?We also welcome Perform as an ICC news access licensee for the first time at one of our major events. Their inclusion will further add to the distribution and reach of the event via Omnisport, their multi-platform daily sports news service.?

Reuters News Global TV Sports Editor Claire Watson said, ?Interest in sport crosses geographic borders and media platforms, so it is important to us to provide action highlights across all broadcast and online platforms globally, and with the ICC deal we can do this.?

SNTV is a sports video news agency supplying sports highlights, features and breaking news both to traditional television stations and a growing band of digital outlets. Through its clients, SNTV?s material can be seen in more than a billion households worldwide in more than 180 territories.

Reuters News provides real-time, high-impact, multimedia news and information services to newspapers, television and cable networks, and websites around the globe, reaching more than one billion people a day.

Omnisport is a progressive sports news services which enables multi-platform broadcasters to feed ready, formatted and cleared global sports news content across their TV, online and mobile services more easily and effectively. Omnisport is owned and powered by digital sports media group Perform.

MUMBAI: News channels in India have been barred from carrying live footage of the matches to be played as part of the ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka, including warm-up matches.

The News Access Regulations, issued on Thursday by ICC Development (International) Ltd (IDI), the commercial arm of International Cricket Council, also restrict broadcast of fresh footage per "news day" to a maximum of 5.5 minutes during news programmes. News day is defined as the period of 24 hours from the commencement of the match concerned.

The world T20 matches will be played at Colombo, Hambantota and Pallekele from 12 September to 7 October 2012.

The broadcast of fresh footage is further subject to a maximum of two minutes per hour of broadcasting and it can be repeated for a maximum of two exhibitions per hour of broadcasting.

News broadcasters have been allowed to use fresh footage only after a minimum of 30-minute delay following the live broadcast of the footage by the official/host broadcaster. A senior official of the News Broadcasters Association told Indiantelevision.com that the matter would be taken up by the NBA over the next ?three to four days?.

Further, a news broadcaster can broadcast a maximum of six minutes of archival footage per news day during its news programmes. The use of archival footage is subject to a maximum of two minutes per hour of broadcasting and a maximum of four exhibitions per news day with not less than a two-hour interval between each exhibition.

Archival footage means any footage from a match that forms part of the World Twenty20 2012 (or previous editions of the Event) 24 hours after the completion of the match concerned and all match footage from previous cricket events owned by the ICC.

Any archival footage merged with fresh footage will be treated as fresh footage and count towards the overall permissible limits of use of footage permitted under the regulations. All fresh footage and archival footage must be used "as is", without alterations or modifications.

The use of fresh footage and archival footage is also strictly limited to use within news programmes. Use of any footage on sports segments, bulletins or features not forming part of the news programmes is not permitted.

News broadcasters are not permitted to use any footage to make their own compilation or ?mix? the footage with footage from other television events and sports events except in respect of archival footage.

No use of any footage is permitted in any circumstances for any commercial purposes. A news broadcaster can commercially exploit a news programme within which fresh footage and/or archival footage is broadcast as a whole, in the regular course, through normal advertising breaks usual in programming of news channels.

No advertising, sting, logo, graphic and/or any other commercial (morphing) activity can occur immediately before, immediately after or during the broadcast of fresh footage and/or archival footage and no association is created, suggested or implied between the use of fresh footage or archival footage and any third party brand or product.

No news programme that uses fresh footage and/or archival footage may have a ?title? or other sponsor and no advertisement may be used or repeated in the regular ad breaks during the programme in such a manner as to create, suggest or imply an association between the advertiser and the Footage or the Event.

News broadcasters may not include any advertising, sting, logo, graphic or any other commercial (morphing) activity carried out immediately before, immediately after or during any regular or real-time score updates in relation to any match, and no association may be created between such score update and any third party brand or product.

News broadcasters cannot also include any advertising, sting, logo, graphic or any other commercial (morphing) activity immediately before, immediately after or during any ?player-of-the-day?, ?event-of-the-day?, ?image-of-the-day? or similar feature relating to the event.

Courtesy bugs acknowledging IDI and ESPN Star Sports will have to be pasted by the news broadcasters, with due prominence, throughout the broadcast of any fresh and/or archival footage.

News broadcasters will also have to use the correct name of the event (being either ?ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012? or the shorter title ?ICC World Twenty20?) and the event logo in any and all broadcasts in which the event is mentioned or referred to, whether or not including the broadcast of any clips of fresh and/or archival footage.

News broadcasters will have to pay $800 for up to every 60 seconds of footage of the ICC world Twenty20 2012 matches and $1000 for every 60 seconds of archival footage.