Evaluator puts question mark on BCCI’s TV rights process: no verification, only tabulation

This sensational claim was made today by ESPN-Star Sports (ESS) in an affidavit filed before the Bombay High Court to buttress its writ petition challenging the award of the telecast rights to Zee network, which was the highest bidder.

ESS sought to substantiate its claim by producing a letter apparently written to it by a director of PwC, Deepak Kapoor, on September 6, a day after BCCI gave Zee live telecast rights over all international cricket matches to be played in India over four years.

Kapoor’s letter flies in the face of BCCI’s tender invitation which said that prices would be considered only after the bidders concerned were found by PwC to comply with the prescribed requirements — own production and telecast facilities as well as experience of at least two years in telecasting live international cricket events.

‘‘We were not required to and we did not evaluate whether the entities were qualified to participate or not,’’ Kapoor said, in the letter cited today in the high court.

PwC went on to say: ‘‘Since we did not involve ourselves in any manner whatsoever in the evaluation and assessment of the submitted bids, we provided to the BCCI only the tabulation of the financial portion of the bids submitted by the participating entities.’’

For good measure, Kapoor added that in its tabulation report, PwC had ‘‘clearly requested the BCCI to inform the participating entities about our scope of services to avoid any controversy regarding our role.’’

Responding to a query from ESS on September 6, PwC said in its letter on the same day: ‘‘You will appreciate that our role was extremely limited and we therefore decided not to charge any fee for the exercise for the cause of cricket.’’

ESS produced this letter in a bid to reinforce its allegation that Zee was considered for the tender only because, contrary to the terms of the tender invitation, PwC had not been allowed to perform its duty of evaluating the eligibility criteria of the bidders.

Though ESS had named PwC as one of the four respondents to its writ petition, the audit company has not put in any appearance in the two hearings held so far in the Bombay high court.

Zee on its part maintains that it fulfils all the eligibility requirements as it has been telecasting international cricket matches outside India for several years.