MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) will be discussing the matter of the sale of its broadcast rights at a meeting of the ICC’s Board only on 9 December.

Initial meetings with potential partners have been taking place, the ICC has said, further clarifying that reports stating that the matter will be decided today are misleading.

It is worth noting here that Zee Telefilms CMD Subhash Chandra, in an interview to business news channel CNBC TV18 given on Monday, when he announced the acquisition of Ten Sports, had said in this regard, "I am told that next Friday is when they (the ICC) will open the financial bids. Hopefully Friday next we will know about it."

Considering that Zee is one of the companies that has put in a bid for these rights, it would seem that the ICC has done a poor job of communicating its timelines to the concerned parties.

As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, there have only been three global bids tabled and a significant absentee from the list is ESPN Star Sports.

As it turns out, two of the global rights bidders -- Zee Telefilms and Ten Sports-Infront -- are acting in consort while the third contender is the now familiar name in all matters cricketing -- Harish Thawani's Nimbus.

As for ESPN Star Sports, sources familiar with the developments say it has tabled a territory bid that covers the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East.