The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the broadcasters of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) have reportedly knocked the doors of the court for settling a financial dispute.
As per reports, the PCB in 2018 had sold the broadcasting and live streaming rights of the HBL PSL for 36 million dollars, for a three-year period.
According to the agreement, the PCB was supposed to receive 25 percent of the amount due before the start of the event, another 25 percent at the time of the final while the final 50 percent was to be paid within the next 60 days.
Moreover, an additional time of 15 days could also be handed in any special case.
However, reports say that over the last two seasons of the T20 league, the PCB had allegedly asked for the full payment even before the conclusion of the event.
In 2020, the PCB had tried to encash the insurance guarantee, which was worth over one billion rupees. However, the media right holders took a stay order from the Lahore High Court.
Later, the board repeated the same thing as this time they claimed an amount more than the insurance guarantee by including surcharges. As per rules, an insurance company cannot process a claim which is more than the original amount.
This time, the media rights holders once again took a stay order from the court.
Even as the PCB was reluctant to take post-dated cheques from the rights holders however, it was forced to do so after being directed by the court.
The matter will now be resolved by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), whose judge will arrive in Pakistan on Monday to resolve the dispute.
Earlier, the second leg of the PSL 2021, which was held in Abu Dhabi due to the pandemic in Pakistan, did not bore desired revenue as the TV ratings were massively hit due to late night matches and lack of interest from sponsors.