There may be no live coverage of next month's World Cup cricket on local television.

Less than three weeks before the sport's showpiece begins, Bermuda is among member nations of the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) in a desperate bid to reach an agreement with the American rights holders for the event.

The crux of a saga that has played out in recent weeks between CMC and EchoStar Communications - the exclusive television, radio and Internet rights holders for the World Cup in the Americas and the Caribbean - is a US$1 million price tag which the latter is demanding for CMC to attain the rights.

The cost has been termed "very challenging" by CMC which broke off talks with EchoStar earlier this month and advised its members to seek individual deals with EchoStar.

Some regional broadcast stations tried unsuccessfully to do so. However, CMC was thrown back into the fray on Sunday as its membership urged it to resume negotiations with EchoStar following a meeting in Antigua, saying a united stance is the only possibility of securing the rights.

"The broadcasters agreed they will withdraw all bids entered individually so far and will only accept an agreement from CMC.

"The CMC has been given a clear and specific mandate by radio and television broadcasters to achieve an agreement in the shortest possible time, if they are to contemplate undertaking World Cup coverage," read a CMC statement following Sunday's meeting.

Though not disclosing the details of the mandate given to CMC at Sunday's meeting, the statement said issues on feasible cost, equitable payment terms, commentary arrangements for radio and television satellite feeds for all the region's cricket markets were addressed.

The CMC's membership also questioned why the World Cup rights for the Caribbean were awarded to a non-Caribbean entity when CMC had been negotiating for the same rights for over two years. It was agreed that a letter outlining the regional broadcasters' concerns on this matter should be written to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC).

It was also noted that the cost for the broadcast rights was double what was paid for those at the 1999 World Cup held in England.

Programme Director of the Bermuda Broadcasting Company (BBC) Darlene Ming confirmed yesterday that the BBC was among those regional entities which would benefit if CMC reached agreement with EchoStar.

"The countdown is on and we are continuing to work to secure the rights and get the cricket to Bermuda.

"It's about the cost. It's a significant cost but we understand the importance of getting World Cup cricket for Bermuda. That is not lost on us," she said, adding that she is being kept abreast of the situation by CMC officials.

In an interview with Caribbean media, spokesman for EchoStar, Mark Lumpkin, said that company was eager to provide the region with World Cup coverage.

"We would like to offer cricket in the Caribbean and we are pursuing discussions . . . we know there is a large audience there that would like to watch World Cup cricket and we are working as hard as we can to deliver that service to them."

The World Cup takes place from February 9 to March 23 in South Africa with a few matches also scheduled for Zimbabwe and Kenya.