Our Bureau

New Delhi , Sept. 6

ESPN-Star Sports on Monday announced that it has challenged the BCCI's decision to award conditional allotment of telecast rights for all cricket to be played in India to Zee Network in the Mumbai High Court.

The ESPN-Star Sports Asia Managing Director, Mr Rik Dovey, said: "Unfortunately, we are left with no option but to resort to the law in an attempt to bring fair-dealing and justice to the process. ESPN STAR Sports was the highest eligible bidder under the rules of bidding specified by the BCCI and now BCCI has changed the entire process of bidding in violation of rules set by BCCI themselves to favour our competitor by giving them an unfair advantage."

The Managing Director of ESPN Software India, Mr R.C. Venkatesh, said: "As described in the terms of the BCCI tender document, Zee should not have been allowed to bid in the first place. Zee does not qualify because it does not have any experience in broadcasting or producing live international cricket event as specified in the tender. Clearly the required technical evaluation of bids has not been carried out."

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