IPL MEDIA RIGHTS ANNOUNCED

Star bags IPL media rights

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

From INR 8,200 Crores (in 2008) to INR 16,347.50 Crores (in 2017) - IPL Media Rights © Cricbuzz

Star has pipped Sony Pictures Network to acquire the IPL media rights, including both TV and digital rights for a period of five years (2018-2022), with a whopping global bid of INR 16,347.50 crores (USD 2.55 billion).

Bids were called for television and digital rights across categories that separate the Indian sub-continent from other regions, that include: USA, Europe, Middle East, Africa regions and the rest of the world. Bidders were provided the option of presenting a global bid with a breakdown of the sum of parts or a breakdown of bids based on the market they were targeting. This means, Star now hold the both TV and digital rights for IPL all over the world.

Among the individual bids for different sectors, Facebook had the highest for digital rights in the sub-continent (INR 3,900 Crores) and Sony had topped the TV rights in the sub-continent (INR 11,050 Crores). The sum total of the top bids for all sectors amounted to INR 15, 819.51 crores, falling well short of Star's global valuation.

"I'd just like to convey my delight at being finally able to bring the IPL to what we believe is the rightful home for cricket in this country and elsewhere. We would also like to thank BCCI for choosing us as their appropriate partners. We compliment BCCI for running such an immaculately transparent process," CEO of Star, Uday Shankar, said in a press conference on Monday (September 4).

"IPL is a very powerful property... We would remain very committed for the growth of sports in country and hope it would be driven by the power of cricket."

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"It was a conscious call to bid for global rights, we have presence on all forms, it made sense for us to win it for all the markets. Everyone picked up their strength and aspiration, and went for it."

As many as 24 companies had picked up the Invitation To Tender (ITT) to bid for the broadcast and digital rights in the Indian subcontinent and global markets for the next five years. ESPN Digital Media, Discovery, Gulf DTH, Sky Uk Ltd, Amazon, Media India, BTG Legal Services, Taj TV, BTPLC, Twitter, Group M - who were all part of the initial 24 - did not submit bids. For Indian television, Sony and Star were the only two eligible bidders after the eventual evaluation.

In 2008, with a bid of 8200 crore, Sony Pictures Network had won the IPL media rights for a duration of 10 years. The global digital rights of IPL was handed over to Novi Digital (three years) in 2015 for 302.2 crore.

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