The BCCI recently auctioned off the television rights and the digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL rights) to interested parties. 24 interested companies bought the tender but only 14 made bids. Off the total rights, there were 7 categories, namely Television in India, Digital in India, and Rights for the USA, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the rest of the world. For the international markets, the rights include television and digital. However, Star India threw in one giant bid of Rs 16,347.5 crores for everything. Outgoing rights holder Sony had only bis Rs 11058 crores.
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IPL
With this development, the television rights will change hands from Sony to Star India. The IPL rights will stay with Star for a period of 5 years. Star India and Sony Pictures Network India were the only eligible bidders of the IPL rights for the Indian Market. “We believe the IPL is a very powerful property, and we believe there is lots more value that can be created for fans of cricket on digital and TV,” said Uday Shankar, Star India chairman. “We would remain committed to ensure the growth of sports in this country continues to be driven by the power of cricket.”
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Star India
As mentioned earlier, Star take over from Sony, who bought the rights in 2009 as part of a 9-year contract. The bidding process took place in Mumbai on September 4th and Star India came out on top by a country mile.
