IPL: Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani served conflict of interest notice

Vineet Saran, the ethics officer of the BCCI, has asked Nita Ambani to respond to a conflict-of-interest notice against her. The owner of the Mumbai Indians franchise is also the director at Reliance Industries, whose subsidiary Viacom18 bought the digital rights to broadcast IPL from 2023 to 2027.

Former member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), Sanjeev Gupta, filed a complaint against Nita Ambani in this matter. He is the one who brought this into notice, which the BCCI now took over.

According to Gupta, Nita Ambani’s position as the owner of Mumbai Indians and also as a director of Reliance Industries represents a conflict of interest. Ambani has been given time till the September 2 to file a written response against this complaint.

“You are hereby informed that a complaint has been received by the Ethics Officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India under rule 39(b) of the rules and regulations of BCCI regarding certain acts allegedly constituting ‘conflict of interest’ on your part,” Saran wrote in his notice to Ambani. “You are directed to file your written response to the accompanying complaint on or before 2-9-2022”, the notice read.

Viacom18 bought IPL media rights for 23,758 crores

Viacom18 bought the rights to broadcast the Indian Premier League for the next five years. Competing with Star, Sony and various other companies, Viacom18 managed to buy the media rights for INR 23,758 crores. 

With that, the IPL became one of the most expensive sporting properties in the world. Not just the IPL, Viacom18 also bought the media rights of Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom and South Africa. They have both the television and digital rights for broadcasting games in these parts of the world.

After acquiring the rights, Viacom18 promised to help the game reach every citizen in the country. Viacom18 plans to expand their territory and already expressed their intention to challenge for ICC’s media rights in future.