Sony congratulates Star on winning the IPL media rights bid

Sony Pictures Network closely lost out to Star India in the bid to gain the IPL rights. Star India acquired the worldwide broadcasting rights for TV and digital media for a whopping ₹16,347.50 crores that too with a single bid. On the other hand, the second highest bid was made by Sony, who were willing to pay ₹ 11,050 crores, for the rights. However, Sony’s bid was only for broadcasting in India while Star’s bid was for global broadcast.

Previously, during the maiden IPL, Sony had bagged the media rights for 10 years with a bid of 8200 crores. With Sony failing to win the bid, this puts an end to their 10-year association with the IPL. It will also be interesting to see how Star India manages to hold the centre stage as they now own the rights for the IPL.

What Sony had to say

Sony took the big loss in their stride as they looked forward to entertaining the audience in other forms.

“Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has nurtured IPL since its inception and within a span of 10 years established it as one of the most popular sporting properties in the world. We would like to thank all those who supported us in curating the lineage and legacy of IPL. At the same time, we take this opportunity of wishing STAR India the best as they shape IPL over the next 5 years,” a statement from the company read.

They further said that the channel has rights of five cricketing boards across the world and provided assurances of continuing to entertain their viewers with cricketing action and more.

“With our recent acquisition of the Ten Sports network, the sports network of SPN India holds the broadcast rights to five cricket boards, guaranteeing that our channels will continue to offer a strong mix of programming for cricket fans,” the statement added.