The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set for another big payday, with the auction of its media rights currently poised at a massive Rs 6,032 crore.
The three-way tussle for the rights between Star India, Reliance Jio, and Sony has continued since Tuesday, 3 April, where five rounds of bids took place. The process started on Wednesday at Rs 4,442 crore and by the close of the day, the bid stands at a massive Rs 6,032 crore, and is poised to continue.
As things stand, the Rs 6,032 crore for the right to broadcast India’s home games over the next five years puts the cost of each India game at Rs 59 crore, already a massive Rs 5 crore more than what Star currently pays for each IPL match.
What Was on Sale
Remember the Rs 16,347 crore windfall the BCCI had last September when they sold the IPL’s broadcast rights to Star India?
What is on sale this time is the media rights for all matches involving the Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams at home. This also includes the right to broadcast all of India’s domestic cricket matches and any international tri-series played in India.
The time period for which the rights are being sold is 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023, a five-year chunk in which the Future Tours Programme (FTP) says the Indian men’s cricket team will be playing a total of 102 matches – 18 outings between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019, 26 matches in the second cycle, 14 in the third chunk of 12 months, 23 in year four, and 21 games in the fifth cycle from April to March.
A total of 190 days of just international cricket.
Who All Bid for the Rights?
The bidding was open to all interested parties with just the tender document being sold for a pretty cool Rs 6.80 lakh.
The final day for submission of the bid was 10 am on 3 April.
While a total of six companies, including Facebook, Google, and YuppTV, bought the Invitation to Tender (ITT) document, a formal BCCI statement revealed that only Star India Private Ltd, Reliance Industries Limited, and Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited were found eligible to submit online financial bids.
However, the possibility of Facebook or Google working in collaboration with either Sony or Reliance is also a possibility.
BCCI official to PTISince Star has digital platform HotStar, they are unlikely to partner with Facebook or Google. But you never know if Sony would enter into a consortium with either of the two. Google has YouTube. But again, it is evident that cricket sells in India and despite not so favourable publicity at times, Indian cricket still rakes in the moolah.
What Happened On Day 1
Star India, Sony and Reliance Jio emerged as the three parties that bid for the Global Consolidated Media Rights (GCR) of India’s home matches for the 2018-2023 cycle.
Five rounds of bidding took place with the final number set at Rs 4,442 crore when the auction was put on hold, to continue on Wednesday. The amount was already a 15 percent jump from the Rs 3,851 crore the BCCI sold the previous media rights for the 2012-2018 cycle. Star India had bagged that auction in 2012.
On Tuesday, the auction started at BCCI’s Mumbai headquarter at Rs 4,176 crore and then went up to Rs 4,201.20 crore. Each of the three bidders were allowed a one-hour window to make their decision on raising the bar, with a Rs 25 crore jump needed in each fresh bid.
From Rs 4,201crore, the bid went up to Rs 4,244 crore and then Rs 4,328.25 crore before it finally stopped at Rs 4,442 crore. The bidding continues till two parties exit.
What is GCR?
The BCCI invited bids from interested parties in three categories – the global television rights and rest of the world digital rights package (GTVRD), Indian subcontinent digital rights package (ID) and global consolidated rights (GCR).
The global television rights and rest of the world digital rights package (GTVRD) comprised two things – one, the right to broadcast all of India’s home matches in India and across the world, and two, the right to all digital broadcast of the content across the world, except India.
The Indian subcontinent digital rights package (ID) would give the winning party only the digital rights for the matches in the Indian subcontinent, meaning India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
And then there was the global consolidated rights (GCR), which all the three parties bid for, which comprised basically of all rights – digital and broadcast – to India’s home games. The winner now has complete monopoly of web and television broadcast of any bilateral International cricket matches played in India. (The Quint)
