The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) invited bids for the live telecast and radio broadcast rights for international matches to be played in India as part of regular bilateral series, approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC), for the next three years.

The BCCI has fixed 1400 hours (IST) on August 14 as the deadline to submit the sealed bids, for the period between September 2004 and August 2007, at its office in south Mumbai, as per a notice issued.

The BCCI's five-year agreement with Prasar Bharati for the telecast rights of international and domestic matches conducted by the BCCI in India ends this September and was worth Rs 230 crore.

The hot topic of telecast rights for the next three years, which is expected to net the BCCI anything in excess of Rs 700 crore and provide a three-fold increase in revenue, is likely to come up for discussion at its Working Committee meeting in Kolkata on August 16.

The telecast and broadcast rights will also include domestic matches conducted by the BCCI, but will exclude any international or domestic match played under special events like the Platinum Jubilee.

It will also not encompass "excluded rights" mentioned in the bid document which is available for Rs 50,000 and is non-refundable.

The BCCI has added a rider at the end of its notice which says, "BCCI reserves the right in its discretion to cancel or amend the entire bidding process at any stage and to reject any or all bids without assigning any reason."

This will mean non-inclusion in the agreement, that is to be signed, the telecast and broadcast rights of BCCI's Platinum Jubilee one-day match between India and Pakistan, fixed for November 14 and most probably to be held in Kolkata.

The BCCI has also made it clear that the bidding will be restricted to broadcasters who have their own existing in-house production, telecasting units and channel network and have successfully telecast live and delayed international cricket events of international standard for at least two years (not as a licensee).

This season the BCCI has lined up a four-Test series against Australia in October-November to be followed by the two-Test series against South Africa.

A full series of three Tests and five one-day internationals against Pakistan have been pencilled in for February-March, 2004 after the team's return from the scheduled December-January tour of Bangladesh.