The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set for another cash windfall with new media rights. With the current deal with Disney-Star expiring in March, 2023, BCCI is in the process of floating the tender.
However, reports have suggested that BCCI is set to separate TV and digital rights after an overwhelming response from IPL media rights. The last time BCCI sold media rights, they bagged Rs 6138.10 Cr with Disney-Star bagging the rights.
This time, it is set to go up as BCCI has hired an external agency to finalize the process.
In the upcoming four years, India is set to play 20 Tests, 21 ODIs, and 31 T20s at home under the 2023-27 FTP and BCCI expects a great deal again.
A senior BCCI official believes the board can earn over Rs 12,000 Crore, double what the board earned from sales in 2018.
“The process is on. Yes, the idea is to separate TV and Digital which was bundled earlier. But a final decision will be taken in the next apex council meeting. We received a great response for IPL and that’s the way forward. The numbers show that the audience is moving towards digital than TV. Hence, it only makes sense to separate the two. We expect upward of 12,000 Crore this time,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.
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It is expected that big players like Sony and Zee who missed out on the IPL, WPL, and ICC media rights, might enter the fray. Disney-Star and Viacom18 are the two big players in Indian cricket’s home series digital rights.
Disney-Hotstar will be eager to get their hands on Indian cricket digital rights, especially with them no longer having the rights to IPL. On the other hand, Viacom18 currently has no Indian cricket in its portfolio and would want to get into that as well.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah had confirmed that the sale of media rights is already in process. The tender will be floated sometime in June with the entire process set to be completed in 45 days.
The board will also be looking for a temporary broadcaster for the ODI series against Afghanistan in June. India will play 3-match ODI series before flying to West Indies.
The new rights will kick in only from the home series against Australia in September.
