Islamabad, Nov 29: A row between the state-owned and a private channel over telecasting rights deprived the cricket starved public of the country from watching the first one-day international cricket match between Pakistan and New Zealand at Lahore today. Millions of Pakistan's cricket fans were frustrated as both the channels, which advertised that they would show the match live, failed go on air and accused each other for blocking the telecast.
The private channel claimed to have bought the television rights for the five-match series from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for USD 5 million. However, the government-run channel did not provide it with the necessary uplinking facilities.
The state-owned channel, which has so far shown all the cricket matches played in Pakistan, contended that it would telecast the match as it has been given the rights to relay the signals by virtue of its monopoly over up-linking facilities. Bureau Report