IPL Media Rights sold to Star India, Viacom18 and Times Internet

The auctions for IPL Media Rights have finally ended and Disney+Star has renewed its partnership with the mega-event by winning the bid for Package A, the television rights. Disney Star won the coveted IPL Indian sub-continent TV rights for a whopping INR 23,575 crore and it will continue to telecast the games.

The Digital Rights for Indian Subcontinent (Package B), which was initially owned by Disney+Hotstar, has been grabbed by Reliance industries-owned Viacom18, who won the bid for INR Rs 20,500 crore at the media rights auction. Viacom18 also bagged Package C for Rs 3257.52 crore. In the non-exclusive digital category, Package C offers 18 selected games in each season for digital space.

Indian Premier League’s official Twitter handle made the announcement as they welcomed Star Sports India on board, again, and welcomed Viacom 18 and Times Internet for the new venture.

Even BCCI Secretary Jay Shah was thrilled to declare the result as he said:

“Since its inception, the IPL has been synonymous with growth & today is a red-letter day for India Cricket, with Brand IPL touching a new high with e-auction resulting in INR 48,390 cr value. IPL is now the 2nd most valued sporting league in the world in terms of per match value! I am thrilled to announce that STAR INDIA wins India TV rights with their bid of Rs 23,575 crores. The bid is a direct testimony to the BCCI’s organizational capabilities despite two pandemic years.”

The BCCI has received a whooping INR 48,390 crore value from the e-auctions of the media rights, which is almost triple than the the value of the 2018 auction, which was Rs 16,347 crore. The Indian Premier League has thus become the second richest league across the globe, as the US-based National Football League (NFL) tops the chart as it costs the broadcaster a whopping $36 million for just one match.

The BCCI had four packages at the e-auction this year:

Package A: TV Broadcasting rights for the Indian Subcontinent for 410 IPL matches

Package B: Digital rights for the Indian Subcontinent for 410 IPL matches

Package C: A non-exclusive digital rights deal

Package D: TV and Digital rights for overseas broadcasting