The IPL media rights auction for 2023-2027 go live on April 28th, with the results likely to be confirmed by the time IPL 2022 concludes. To maximise its revenue, BCCI has decided to sell its media rights in four separate bundles: TV, digital, rest of the world and a new non-exclusive bundle of 18 matches.
Currently, Disney Star holds both TV and digital rights, but this is likely to be changed in the next edition. They paid a whopping Rs 16,347 crore in a composite bid, but, this year, the BCCI is aiming to get double that amount for both TV and digital rights.
Sony, Star and Reliance-backed TV-18 Viacom are the major contenders for the television rights, while Google, Amazon and Facebook have shown interest in digital rights. FanCode has also bought the IPL media rights tender for the digital domain.
The base price for television rights is Rs 49 crore per game, while for digital streaming it is set at Rs 33 crore per game. For a period of five years, the combined base price shoots up to Rs 30,340.
The third bundle entails non-exclusive rights for a limited number of matches, including playoffs and finals. The base price for each game is Rs 16 crore. This concept is borrowed from countries like the UK, where some Premier League matches are telecasted simultaneously at Sky Sports and BT Sports.
“The non-exclusive package is an intriguing one. This concept came from countries where there was the apprehension of competition regulator’s intervention, which currently is not the case in India. The fine print on this one will need to be read carefully,” Harish Thawani, the former CEO of Nimbus, told Cricbuzz.
The last package is the television and digital rights for the rest of the world, with a base price of Rs 3 crore per game. As per some estimates, the board is expecting around Rs 50,000 crore from the sale of various rights.
The date for the purchase of ITT has been extended by 10 days after Google also joined the fray.
“The BCCI received some queries and interest in the rights from some big industrialists as well as some global companies owning media assets. As they were still making up their mind and the board wants to expand the pool of bidders, it has decided to extend the date by 10 days,” a source was quoted as saying to Economic Times.
