New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS): The Indian cricket board Monday terminated its telecast rights contract with Nimbus for covering international and domestic matches played at home.

Though an official confirmation is awaited, a couple of senior members coming out of the board's Working Committee meeting confirmed that it was indeed decided to scrap the contract as Nimbus has defaulted on its contractual obligations of payment to the board.

"They have defaulted, they have not made the 50 percent advance payment for both the England and the West Indies series and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had no choice but to terminate the deal," said Rajiv Shukla, chairman of the Indian Premier League.

Another member stated that Nimbus paid Rs.24 crore Monday morning but still owed an outstanding amount of Rs.85 crore to Rs.88 crore and the BCCI did not want to continue with a defaulter.

With no international cricket matches scheduled in India for the next eight months, the board has apparently felt it was the right time to terminate the contract and enter into a fresh deal.

The immediate offshoot of the decision is that there will be no telecast of domestic tournaments. A big casualty is the next round of Ranji Trophy matches which will not be telecast.

Nimbus has been the BCCI's broadcast partner for five years now. It first signed a four-year deal in 2005-06 and renewed the contract in 2009-10 after being offered first right of refusal. The present contract was to last till 2014.