Each Indian cricket match played in the country is now going to be worth Rs 60 crore for the BCCI.
Following three days of bidding for media rights, Star India has trumped Sony and Reliance Jio to bag the Global Consolidated Rights (GCR) for India’s home games for the next five years for a massive Rs 6,138.1 crore.
The deal runs from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023 during which India are slated to play 102 matches at home, putting the cost of each match at roughly Rs 60 crore.
With this major acquisition, Star India now hold the rights for a big chunk of Indian cricket broadcast in the country, having also bagged IPL media rights for the next 10 years for Rs 16,347 crore last November.
Interestingly though, the cost per match for an IPL game to Star is Rs 54 crore, Rs 6 crore less than every India match.
Star India had won the last auction for India’s home games back in 2012 as well, picking up the contract for 2012-2018 cycle for Rs 3,851 crore.
What Was on Sale?
On the auction block for the last three days were the media rights for all matches involving the Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams at home. This also included the right to broadcast all of India’s domestic cricket matches and any international tri-series played in India.
The time period for which the rights were sold was from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023, a five-year chunk in which the Future Tours Programme (FTP) says the Indian men’s cricket team will be playing a total of 102 matches – 18 outings between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019, 26 matches in the second cycle, 14 in the third chunk of 12 months, 23 in year four, and 21 games in the fifth cycle from April to March.
A total of 190 days of just international cricket.
Who Bid for the Rights?
The bidding was open to all interested parties with just the tender document being sold for a pretty cool Rs 6.80 lakh.
The final day for submission of the bid was 10 am on 3 April.
While a total of six companies, including Facebook, Google, and YuppTV, bought the Invitation to Tender (ITT) document, a formal BCCI statement revealed that only Star India Private Ltd, Reliance Industries Limited, and Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited were found eligible to submit online financial bids.
What Kind of Rights Were on Sale?
The BCCI invited bids from interested parties in three categories – the global television rights and rest of the world digital rights package (GTVRD), Indian subcontinent digital rights package (ID) and global consolidated rights (GCR).
The global television rights and rest of the world digital rights package (GTVRD) comprised two things – one, the right to broadcast all of India’s home matches in India and across the world, and two, the right to all digital broadcast of the content across the world, except India.
The Indian subcontinent digital rights package (ID) would give the winning party only the digital rights for the matches in the Indian subcontinent, meaning India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
And then there was the global consolidated rights (GCR), which all the three parties bid for, which comprised basically of all rights – digital and broadcast – to India’s home games. Star India, therefore, now have complete monopoly of web and television broadcast of any International cricket matches played in India, for the next five years.
What Happened In The Last Two Days?
Star India, Sony and Reliance Jio emerged as the three parties that bid for the Global Consolidated Media Rights (GCR) of India’s home matches for the 2018-2023 cycle.
Five rounds of bidding took place on Tuesday with the final number set at Rs 4,442 crore when the auction was put on hold, to continue on Wednesday. The amount was already a 15 percent jump from the Rs 3,851 crore the BCCI sold the previous media rights for the 2012-2018 cycle. Star India had bagged that auction in 2012.
Each of the three bidders were allowed a one-hour window to make their decision on raising the bar, with a Rs 25 crore jump needed in each fresh bid.
Day 2 started saw a continuation of the bidding war with no party electing to back out, the Rs 6,000 crore mark was breached at around 4:30 pm on Wednesday. By the end of Wednesday, the bid was lock-jammed at a massive Rs 6,032 crore from where it continued on Thursday.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)