BCCI’s online auction for the broadcast rights to Indian cricket for the next five years finally came to an end on Thursday with Star India bagging the contract.
The winning bid by the broadcaster fell just shy of the billion-dollar mark at $945 million (Dh3.4 billion) approximately as the e-auction came to an end on its third day. Star India beat off aggressive competition from Sony India and Reliance Jio to clinch the deal.
This is a substantial jump from BCCI’s previous deal with the same broadcaster which stood at $750m (Dh2.7bn).
BCCI acting treasurer Anirudh Chaudhury took to Twitter and announced: “Congratulations @StarSportsIndia on bagging the BCCI Media Rights @ 6138.1 crores at an average of 60.1 crore per game.”
Congratulations @StarSportsIndia on bagging the BCCI Media Rights @ 6138.1 crores at an average of 60.1 crore per game.
— Anirudh Chaudhry (@AnirudhChaudhry) April 5, 2018
This is the second major windfall within a year for the world’s richest cricketing board after it sold the rights to the IPL for a whopping figure of $2.55 billion for a period of five-years to Star India itself in 2017.
The first of its kind online auction by the BCCI sees the value of the deal trump the IPL deal when it comes to the cost per match. The IPL deal values a single match at rupees 545 million (Dh30m) while value of each home match by India under the latest deal stands at 601 million (Dh34m).
The Indian cricket media rights are for a five-year cycle from June 2018 to March 2023 which covers 102 matches of the senior men’s team amongst others.
As things stand, Star India now rules the roost when it comes to Indian cricket, holding the rights to both the national team’s home matches as well as the lucrative IPL.
