LAHORE, Sept 26: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to issue an Invitation to Tender (ITT) Letter for audio-visual rights of international cricket in Pakistan for the period 2009-2013.

“In essence, the rights on offer constitute television rights for international cricketing events to be held in Pakistan which are controlled by the PCB,” said a PCB press release on Friday.

“The ITT has been offered to leading broadcasters and agencies worldwide. The interested parties may acquire the ITT from the marketing and commercial division of PCB at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan, over next couple of weeks and the submission of bids is scheduled around the second week of November 2008. The PCB expects that the entire process will be completed by the end of Nov 2008,” it further stated.

The PCB management is being advised by Ehsan Mani, former president ICC, on this whole process. Upon being asked if this was an appropriate time to sell out the rights as many teams were reluctant to visit here due to their security concerns, PCB’s media director Ahsan Hameed Malik said that they were rather short of time as the Indian team was to visit Pakistan from Jan 4.

He differed with the notion that only one series against India could be signed and the remaining would be dealt with at a suitable time later.

“It is not a common practice now, since you have low-profile as well as high-profile series in five year plans. If we sign the series separately then it is quite possible that some low-profile series may not fetch a good amount,” he explained.

“But we are hopeful that all the series will be held during the period of 2009-2013 since the safety situation in Pakistan is improving,” he said.

In 2008, Australia refused to visit Pakistan in April, while England, South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies also turned down the ICC invitation to take part in the Champions Trophy which was to be held here in Sept this year.

However, the PCB due to the cooperation of the Asian countries including India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, managed to successfully host the Asia Cup in June-July.