BCCI set for another big payday as the online auction for Indian cricket media rights hots up

Sudhir Gupta 11:11 04/04/2018
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  • Indian cricket is set for another bonanza deal.

    The coffers of the BCCI are set to swell further after the online auction for the broadcast rights for Indian cricket for the next five years got underway on Tuesday.

    The world’s richest cricketing board put up three categories for sale on Tuesday. They were the Indian television rights and rest of the world digital rights (GTRVD), digital rights for the Indian subcontinent alone (ID) and the global consolidated rights (GCR) which included the worldwide television and digital rights.

    At the end of the first day of bidding, the BCCI had received a bid of US$683 million for its consolidated global rights (GCR) from an unidentified bidder.

    Six bidders, including Google and Facebook, had initially entered the fray for the media rights. They were then narrowed down to three competitors by the BCCI’s legal team ahead of the auctions after technical and feasibility checks.

    Sony India, Star India and Reliance Jio are the three bidders still in the hunt with the auction set to continue on Wednesday.

    “The online auction will now resume on Wednesday…from the same stage,” the BCCI said in a statement on Tuesday evening.

    The deal will cover the rights to 102 Team India matches in the five-year period ranging from June, 2018 to March, 2023. Only last year, the BCCI had sold the media rights to the IPL for a staggering US$2.52 billion.

    BCCI’s current incumbent deal for the media rights for Indian cricket stands at US$ 592 million approximately. The Indian cricketing body is expecting more than 50 per cent increase in that figure by the time the online auction comes to an end on Wednesday.

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