BCCI willing to share archive footage with broadcasters

MUMBAI: For a couple of weeks now, ever since the outbreak of Covid-19, the Indian cricket board had been sitting on an unusual request from its broadcast partner Star India Pvt Ltd.
The broadcast giants, who've had to deal with an unfamiliar situation of not having any 'live cricket' to beam, had requested the BCCI to share access to its massive cricket archives considering there is no live sport being shown on television.
The BCCI has obliged, given the circumstances. Star will now have access to archive footage of some historic moments in Indian cricket which they will be able to telecast to their viewers until the end of this ongoing global lockdown.
An official letter to this effect will be sent to the broadcasters on Monday.

The BCCI, considering it produces all cricket in India, sits on a vast collection of archives.
"These are unusual times so I think they (Star) made this request. They've been partners with the BCCI for what? Nine years now? That's the least the BCCI could've done and it's great that they agreed to it," sources in the know told TOI.
Those who've dealt with the BCCI in the past for access to archives say, "that's one thing the Board is very particular about. It charges top dollar when it comes to sharing archived footage".
Given the longstanding association with Star, and overriding their own practices, the Board has made this decision as a one-off, say those in the know.
BCCI invokes 'Force Majeure' as contractual obligation
The BCCI, meanwhile, has sent a letter to Star India invoking the 'Force Majeure' clause should there be a suspension / delay in hosting the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
'Force Majeure' is a clause (in the contract) that refers to the occurrence of an event which is outside the reasonable control of a party and which prevents that party from performing its obligations under a contract. In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, such a clause has been deemed potentially relevant.
The letter is merely a contractual obligation, sent as a precautionary measure. The BCCI hasn't specified in its letter to Star about what lies in store for the IPL, "Should there be a suspension / delay" - is how BCCI mentions the immediate future of the tournament, thus leaving it to the industry to speculate that all efforts will be made to host the tournament this year, should the effects of the virus subside.
"Invoking the (Force Majeure) clause is just a precautionary measure. It's a contractual obligation. The more important thing is that hosting the IPL remains BCCI's top-priority, of course only if the current situation relents," sources say.