There were jitters in certain quarters within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after global players Amazon and Google decided against bidding in the IPL media rights e-auction, scheduled for Sunday in Mumbai. Facebook didn’t purchase the Invitation To Tender (ITT) document.
A BCCI office-bearer The Telegraph spoke to put up a brave face, saying “anyone can pull out because of the transparent nature of the e-auction” and was hoping for a “good value”, but the shrinking of the field is being seen as a possible drop in estimated earnings.
Friday’s pullout has effectively reduced the TV rights to a three-horse race: Star India, now part of The Walt Disney Company, which held the rights for the last five years, the Reliance-owned Viacom 18 and Zee (Essel Group).
For the India digital rights, a fierce battle is expected between Jio and Hotstar.
Times Internet could also be a major player in this segment. The base price of television rights is Rs 49 crore per match and for digital, it is Rs 33 crore.
For the last few days there was a lot of talk in cricket circles about a direct fight between Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani and Jeff Bezos of Amazon but that has proved to be a non-starter now. The e-retail giant refused to comment on this development but sources told The Telegraph that they were more keen on participating in the International Cricket Council’s media rights which are due to be completed next month.
ICC chairman Greg Barclay and CEO Geoff Allardice met representatives of TV and digital players in Mumbai during their visit last month.
The ICC is due to sell the media rights for the 2024-31 cycle. The ITT document will be out immediately after the BCCI completes the sale of its media rights. It is believed that Amazon’s decision to pull out of the IPL could also impact the ICC media rights in a positive manner.
There have been signals from interested players in the IPL media rights to be conservative and not go over the top. “With the race now limited to Indian entities the total windfall is likely to be restricted between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000 crore,” someone in the know of things said.
There is speculation that Amazon isn’t happy with the 18-game package that the BCCI is offering for the Indian subcontinent since it takes away the exclusive element of the digital rights holder.
The BCCI has fixed a combined base price of Rs 32,890 crore for the four different categories it has put up for sale for the 2023-27 cycle. This is nearly double the Rs 16,347 crore that Star India shelled out for the last five years’ consolidated TV and digital bid, which ended with IPL 2022. Sony Pictures Networks India held the media rights for the first 10 years, for around Rs 8,200 crore.
