Ready For WisdenCricInfo.com?

Tue, Feb 4, '03

 

wisden

Two of the most popular cricket portals -- Wisden.com and CricInfo.com -- are in advanced talks for a merger and those in the know say a deal for the sharing of information could come down the pike in a matter of days.

The URL "WisdenCricInfo.com" has already been registered by U.K.-based Wisden Online Limited, prompting widespread speculation that the merged entity will be rebranded with that name.

"We are in talks for a merger, said Wisden Online director Anthony Bouchier. "While we are strong in editorial content and bulletins, CricInfo has a rich database and coverage of matches. We are in discussions for sharing content as we wouldn?t have to waste time and energy doing the same things,? said Wisden Online India managing director Yajurvindra Singh Bilkha.

During the negotiations, being held in London, Wisden made it clear its interest was driven by CricInfo's domestic cricket coverage in many large cricket territories, particularly in cricket-crazy India.

CricInfo produces official sites for eight of the 10 Test-playing countries -- Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe -- and makes money mainly from online advertising.

The CricInfo site, which is owned by Indian Internet Service Provider SIFY, has dabbled with providing paid services for access to faster page loads but sources say it has struggled to make ends meet, making a sale to Wisden.com inevitable.

CricInfo also produces sites for several domestic first-class teams like English country Hampshire and Australia's Western Province.

Word of the merger (Wisden would be the acquirer) set tongues wagging that CricInfo's wildly-popular text-based ball-by-ball commentary would no longer be free.

Wisden.com already charges an annual subscription for access to most of its news stories and live net broadcasts of Test and One-Day matches have been hawked at exorbitant sums. Many believe that once the acquisition is complete, Wisden Online would push CricInfo's popular services behind the premium curtain.

Meanwhile, CaribbeanCricket.com is in the midst of testing its own live text-scoring software to provide live commentary of West Indies cricket games for free to cricket fans around the world. The text-based ball-by-ball commentary is expected to be launched later this year.