The bidding for the television and digital rights to broadcast Indian cricket from 2018 to 2023 has entered a third day, with the highest bid at present amounting to INR 6111.70 crore (USD 939 million approx.), a huge increase from the INR 3851 crore (approximately USD 750 million at the time) paid for the previous cycle of rights between 2012 to 2018.
Once the e-auction restarted on Thursday morning, participants had 30 minutes to raise after every bid, unlike on Tuesday and Wednesday, when they had an hour after every bid to make a higher bid. The process will continue until the participants notify that they do not wish to bid higher.
The bidders had been narrowed down from six to three – Sony Pictures Network India, Star India and Reliance – after the BCCI’s legal team had carried out technical and feasibility checks before the e-auction began. There were three categories of rights on sale: the Indian television rights and rest of the world digital rights (GTVRD), digital rights for the Indian subcontinent alone (ID), and the global consolidated rights (GCR) comprising worldwide TV and digital rights.
The successful bidder will get to telecast 102 men’s international matches over the five-year period compared to 96 in the previous six-year cycle from 2012 to 2018. The 102 matches will be split among the home seasons as follows: 18 in 2018-19, 26 in 2019-20, 14 in 2020-21, 23 in 2021-22 and 21 in 2022-23. The rights will also include men’s domestic matches as well as the India women’s international matches.
The e-auction had begun at 2pm IST on Tuesday, and the process closed at 6pm that day with highest bid at INR highest bid at INR 4442 crores (USD 680 million approx.) The bidding resumed at 11am on Wednesday and ended at 6pm at INR 6032.50 crore (USD 925 million approx). The present highest bid of INR 6111.70 crore (USD 939 million approx.) was made around 12pm on Thursday.
In 2012, Star TV, then owned by Rupert Murdoch, had won the rights to broadcast Indian cricket until 2018. That deal, which also included internet and mobile rights, was valued at INR 3851 crore (approximately USD 750 million at the time). The other bidder that year – at INR 3700 crore (USD 727 million at the time) – was Multi-Screen Media (Sony).
The sale of these rights will mean a second huge payday for the BCCI in less than a year. In September 2017, the BCCI had sold the worldwide IPL television and digital rights for the period 2018-22 for INR 16,347.5 crore (US$ 2.55 billion) to Star India.
More to follow
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