The IPL media rights have been awarded to DisneyStar, while digital rights are handed over to Viacom

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• Jun 14, 2022 | Poonam Nath

The Board of Control for Cricket in India released the media rights tender invitation on March 29. Media rights estimation worth Rs 32,890 crore. 

Digital Desk: Viacom 18 has secured the digital rights for the Indian Premier League, while DisneyStar has secured the necessary TV rights for the next five years.

While the rights to Package A (TV Rights) were secured for a whopping Rs 23,575 crores, equating to Rs 57.5 crores per game, the rights to Package B (Digital Rights) were booked for Rs 20,500 crores, which equates to Rs 50 crores per match.

As a result of selling the two packages, the BCCI is now worth Rs 44,075 crores more.

Surprisingly, the reserve price for both categories was Rs. 49 crore and Rs. 33 crore, respectively. This sum is more than what Star channel paid in 2017: INR 16,347.5 crores (54.5 crores per match) for 60 games per year.

As previously reported, the second day saw no aggressive bidding, with only one more bid for TV rights, while the digital package saw no bids, despite Viacom-18 securing it for 49 crores per match on Sunday itself. 

Nonetheless, Star challenged the Reliance-backed media conglomerate's proposal, and they responded with a new bid worth 50 crores, sufficient to seal the deal.

The auction for Package C (Non-exclusive India digital rights) began Monday evening and will resume Tuesday at 11 a.m. IST, followed by an auction for Package D. (Rest of the World). The most recent bid for Package C was 18.5 crores per match, with a base price of 16 crores.

According to sources, Viacom 18 wants to acquire Package C to prevent advertising revenue leakage.

An anonymous BCCI official stated, "We are already approaching the USD 5.5 billion mark after selling two packages." 

However, the value of digital rights per match can reach Rs 50 crores. Incremental growth of 51% above the base price is phenomenal," 

He added, "The bidding ended today at 6 p.m., and we are now auctioning off package C, which includes 98 games for five years in the non-exclusive digital category." There are 18 in the first two seasons, 20 in the next two, and 24 in the final season. Package D, which includes overseas TV and digital rights, will follow."

According to the e-auction rules, the owners are given a secret code to bid. No BCCI officers or employees are aware of the bidding companies' code.

Package D, which has a base value of Rs 3 crores for overseas TV and digital rights, will have a strong competitor in Zee, led by former BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, at the auction.

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