The BCCI has bagged INR 16,347.5 crore (US$ 2.55 billion) for its IPL television and digital rights from a single bidder, Star India, which made a consolidated offer for rights worldwide. The rights are for a five-year period from 2018 to 2022.
A total of 24 companies had bought the tender document but only 14 made bids. There were seven categories: television in India, digital in India, and rights for the USA, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the rest of the world. For the five international markets, the bids included both television and digital rights. Star won them all by making one consolidated bid (INR 16,347.5 crore) – the only bidder to do so – that was larger than the sum of all the highest bids for each category (INR 15,819.51 crore)
The development in Mumbai on Monday marked a change in the rights holders for the Indian television market. In 2009, Sony had bought television rights for $1.63 billion for nine years from World Sports Group, which had bagged the rights for $918 million from the BCCI for a ten-year period. That cycle came to an end in 2017.Star were the previous holders of digital rights in India as well, having paid INR 303 crore for a three-year digital rights deal (2015-17).
Star and Sony Pictures Network India were the only two eligible bidders for IPL rights to the Indian television market after the bids were technically evaluated on Monday.
“We believe the IPL is a very powerful property, and we believe there is lots more value that can be created for fans of cricket on digital and TV,” Uday Shankar, chairman of Star India, said. “We would remain committed to ensure the growth of sports in this country continues to be driven by the power of cricket.”