By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS,
New Delhi : Canada-based Live Current Media Inc has secured the rights to build portals of the Indian cricket board as well as the Indian Premier League (IPL) at a combined cost of $50 million.
While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) portal is worth $30 million, the IPL website fetched $20 million, according to a top BCCI official. The skeletal IPL website, which is currently not accessible, is expected to be launched before the Twenty20 tournament starts in Bangalore Friday evening.
IANS reported March 26 that the BCCI had secured a $50 million deal with a listed company in North America and that the revenue will be split on a 50:50 basis between the BCCI and Live Current Media.
“The board gave the BCCI member associations the details of the deal Wednesday. With the IPL in so much demand with the corporate houses and advertisers, it was not surprising that its website is fetching just $10 million less than the BCCI portal,” the official told IANS.
Live Current Media, which also owns the much sought after cricket website address, www.cricket.com, is based in Vancouver. The firm builds, owns and operates some of the most powerful and engaging content and commerce on the websites.
Ironically, the IPL portal will be functional before the BCCI’s. The BCCI portal will become fully functional after its formal launch in August.
Although the BCCI has a website – www.bcci.tv – it only had a static board emblem to show till a few days ago. Now, it is selling IPL tickets through ticketpro.in.
A basic IPL website — www.indianpremierleague.com — was launched some time ago with very basic information, largely for its eight franchises, like the buyers’ prospectus etc. Now, the website is not accessible.
Once the two websites become functional, the BCCI will launch its mobile service.
The BCCI is the only one among the 10 Test-playing countries that does not have a fully functional website.