IPL: 2 separate broadcasters bag media rights pegged at £4.6b

THE media rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) for five-year cycle starting 2023 was closely contested by some of the country’s top sports broadcasters and at the end, the television and digital rights were won separately by two broadcasters, Indian news sources reported.

They said that the prices of the television and digital rights were pegged at Rs 44,075 crore (£4.6 billion) and that put the valuation of each game in the cash-rich tournament at more than Rs 100 crore (£10.5 million), something which has not been seen in Indian sports before.

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Disney-Star retained the broadcasting rights for Rs 57.5 crore (£6 million) a match or Rs 23,575 crore (£2.4 billion). Reliance-backed Jio got the digital rights for Rs 50 crore (£5.2 million) a match.

Speculations were rife on Sony coming back as the official broadcaster of the tournament but Disney-Star has retained the rights. It pipped Sony Pictures Network.

If sources are to be believed, the current price of each game in the T20 tournament stands at just over Rs 107 crore (£11.2 million).

It was learnt that the deal was for 401 matches between 2023 and 2027. While the television rights were sold at Rs 23,575 crore, the digital rights went for Rs 20,500 crore (£2.1 billion).

Star India had edged out Sony Pictures to secure the IPL’s media rights for the 2017-2022 cycle with a bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore (£1.7 billion) in September 2017.

It meant the cost of an IPL match had become around Rs 55 crore (£5.7 million).

In 2008, Sony Pictures Network won the IPL media rights for 10 years with a bid of Rs 8,200 crore (£862.2 million).

The global digital rights of IPL were awarded to Novi Digital in 2015 for three years for Rs 302.2 crore (£31.7 million).