Transparency International Pakistan receives complaint about PSL broadcasting rights to ARY, PTV

• TIP asks PCB to revoke ARY-PTV's PSL broadcasting rights in case of violation.
• Action should be taken against officials of PTV, TIP says if consortium's bidding found against PPRA rules.
• "Why did PTV not bid individually for broadcasting rights of PSL?" TIP wonders.

Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to act on a complaint regarding broadcasting rights of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to a consortium of ARY and PTV.

In a letter sent to the PCB, TIP said it had received a complaint regarding the rights granted for broadcasting PSL for the years 2022 and 2023 to the ARY-PTV consortium.

The complainant has written to TIP that granting broadcasting rights of PSL 2022 and 2023 to PTV and ARY consortium is a violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), 2004 rules.

The letter states that Geo Super had bid Rs3.74 billion for two years alone, while PTV and ARY consortium had bid Rs 2.1 billion for one year. The complainant wrote if PCB had to approve the bid of the consortium, then it should have been Rs4.2 billion for two years but upon re-bidding, PCB approved the bid of the consortium for 2 years of Rs 4.35 billion.

Meanwhile, Transparency International Pakistan, in the letter to the PCB, expressed surprise that despite the experience of 65 years of sports broadcasting, "why did PTV did not bid individually for broadcasting rights of PSL?"

Moreover, action should be taken against the officials of PTV, it said.