IPL media rights: Viacom18 bags digital rights; DIsney-Star retains TV rights - Sources

The auction for the Indian Premier League's (IPL) digital and television rights was completed within an hour of the bidding process resuming on Monday, June 13, 2022. Viacom18 takes Package B, which covers digital rights for the Indian sub-continent for a reported bid of Rs 20,500 crore. As per sources, the TV rights for the India sub-continent, which form Package A has been won by Disney-Star with a winning bid of Rs 23,575 crore. As is known, Star India is the incumbent, which had won the digital and TV rights in the media rights auctions for the 2017-22 period with a winning bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore. 

According to those in the know, a decision was made after the bidding started at 11 a.m on Monday. According to reports, bidders agreed to end the auction for digital and TV rights (packages A and B) after a hard battle on Sunday, pushing the total value (of TV + digital) to Rs 44, 075 crore. 

This enhanced the rights' worth by more than two and a half times the previous rights value of Rs 16,347.5 crore paid by Disney-Star in 2017.

In addition, the IPL's per-match value has reached $13.5 million (or Rs 105 crore) when the bidding ended on Sunday at 6 p.m. Only the National Football League in America costs a broadcaster $17 million (Rs 132.26 crore) each game. Each match in the English Premier League costs $11 million (Rs 85.58 crore).

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While the e-auction technology does not enable participants to see who is bidding, reputable sources have stated that Disney-Star, Sony Pictures Networks India, and Viacom18 have set their eyes on the Indian subcontinent TV rights for all games (package A). Zee fought with Disney+ Hotstar and Jio, all of which are part of the Reliance-backed Viacom18 group, for digital rights in the Indian subcontinent (package B) 

At the end of day one of the e-auction, the TV rights are projected to have reached Rs 57 crore per match, which is more than the Rs 49 crore per match established by the BCCI as the basic price. Digital rights were valued at Rs 48 crore per match at the close of bidding on Sunday, according to sources. This is 45 percent more than the cricketing body's pre-e-auction price of Rs 33 crore per match.

To put things in perspective, Disney-Star purchased the IPL's combined digital and television rights in 2017 for Rs 16,347.50 crore. The average match cost Rs 54.5 crore, with the broadcaster spending Rs 3,269 crore every year.