ICC media rights to go up for grabs on June 20

After BCCI revealed the winners of the bidding war for the next IPL cycle, it’s the turn of the International body ICC to invite bidders to the table. The highest governing cricket body has planned to release the first Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the media rights of ICC tournaments on Monday, 20th June.

ICC has revealed that it will release an ITT for six packages across TV and Media for the Indian market. First, the ICC will be accepting separate bids for the Men’s and Women’s tournaments. The Men’s package will consist of 16 events stretched across eight years; meanwhile, the Women’s tournament will see six events played across four years. The bidders can either bid for the first four years or eight years of the men’s events.

“International cricket consistently attracts huge audiences and that is driving significant interest from broadcasters for ICC events. We have more than one billion fans that passionately follow the game globally, and they will be looking forward to seeing the best players in the world competing for cricket’s most prestigious trophies,” ICC revealed in a statement.

Meanwhile, Disney Star continued its association with IPL for the next five years as it renewed its broadcasting rights for the cash reach league with a winning bid of INR 23,575 Crore. Viacom 18 bagged digital rights for the Indian subcontinent by forking out a sum of Rs 20,500 Crore.

There has been significant growth in interest in women’s cricket: ICC CEO

Meanwhile, ICC CEO Geoff Allardice is looking forward to the further growth of women’s cricket and hopes of finding a broadcaster who is excited to take part in this venture. He also said that the panel is hoping for the inclusion of more and more fans in the women’s division.

“There has been significant growth in interest in women’s cricket over the last five years, and we have made a long-term strategic commitment to accelerate that growth, and unbundling the rights for our women’s events will play a huge role in that. We are looking for a broadcast partner who is excited by the role they will play in growing the women’s game and ensuring more fans than ever before can enjoy it,” ICC CEO said.