According to Goolsarran, the agreement followed negotiations over the past week. While the GTV boss did not disclose any figures, he said the asking price is acceptable.

EchoStar had earlier reduced its original price from US$1M to SUS850 000 -- a figure, which the CMC said, was still too high for its member territories.

The first set of negotiations between CMC and EchoStar had broken down, prompting the Barbados-based company to advise regional stations to enter into their own negotiations with EchoStar.

After failing to reach agreement with EchoStar, the regional stations then mandated CMC to resume negotiations with the rights holders.

This led to another set of negotiations, which saw EchoStar further reducing its price.

Goolsarran had earlier indicated that GTV was going ahead with preparations for the coverage and was carrying out satellite tests and fine-tuning some technical aspects of its operations.

Yesterday, Goolsarran pointed out that the local broadcasts would be shared by WRHM Channel 7, RBS Channel 13, Little Rock in New Amsterdam and RCA in Essequibo. The costs will be shared among the five stations.

While saying that GTV was happy to have secured the coverage, Goolsarran said he’s looking forward for the support from the business community.

Meanwhile, a report out of Barbados last night said the CMC has also announced that the tournament would be broadcast live on radio and the agreement paved the way for all 54 matches for live and delayed television coverage.

All but one of the West Indies¹ matches will be broadcast live on radio from South Africa. For that match, against Canada, CMC has the option of bringing via on-screen commentary through a team set up at the Barbados studio.

The on-screen component could also be used in case of a technical hitch from South Africa.