Zee’s Subhash Chandra is playing a Kerry Packer. Chandra has announced a break-away cricket series in India called Indian Cricket League. Zee’s Essel Group will invest Rs 100 crore into the project, and this will run parallel to Board of Control for Cricket In India. ICL will have six teams with four international players in each team. At the end of the third year, there will be 16 teams in ICL.
Packer had launched a similar parallel cricket series called The World Series in 1977. Chandra had a run-in with BCCI since he could not win the broadcast bids last year. Chandra has partnered with IL&FS in the venture. Chandra said this initiative was not in conflict with BCCI. This would be complementary to BCCI, he said.
The league, to be held annually, would have its own contracted Indian and international players, apart from a paid selection committee. The league will start with the Twenty20 format, which is keeping in mind the World Cup of this new version in South Africa later this year.
This year’s league would start any time between July and August. Each team would comprise of two national, four international and eight budding players, who would be selected by the talent scouts. The matches will be played both in the ODI and Twenty20 formats with teams playing on a home and away basis.
ZeeNews.com has more details.

Main points
# 6 teams or clubs to play in opening year
# Talks on with BCCI for gaining access to stadiums
# Executive Board of the league under installation
# Pool of referees and umpires to be created
# Rules committee to form regulations for ICL
# Ombudsman to look into grievances of players
# League to begin with Twenty20 format and move to ODI format
# League to be a joint venture between Essel Group and IL&FS
# Each of the 6 teams to be coached by an ex-India player
# Each team would comprise four foreign, two Indian and eight budding players
# Each team to have a mentor, media manager, psychologist, physio
# Prize money for the winner- USD 1 million
# League teams to compete with teams internationally
# Number of teams to be increased from 6 to 16 in three years

Our question: What about the telecast rights for the ICL matches? Does Zee have a monopoly over the match rights?