Star retains Indian cricket rights for INR 6138 crore

The Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) on Thursday became INR 6138 crore ($944 million) richer after selling the rights to broadcast Indian cricket on television and digital platforms to Star India for a period of five years from 2018 to 2023.

New Delhi: The Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) on Thursday became INR 6138 crore ($944 million) richer after selling the rights to broadcast Indian cricket on television and digital platforms to Star India for a period of five years from 2018 to 2023.

The deal has helped BCCI to register a whopping increase of 59% from the previous cycle of rights which were sold for INR 3851 crore (USD 750 million at the time) for the period 2012-18.

The three-way battle between Sony Pictures Network India, Star India and Reliance that started on Tuesday finally ended on Thursday afternoon with Star India emerging out as the eventual winners.

Retaining the rights, Star India will now get to telecast 102 international matches over the span of five years, compared to 96 in the previous six-year cycle. Star will now get to broadcast 18 matches in 2018-19, 26 in 2019-20, 14 in 2020-21, 23 in 2021-22 and 21 in 2022-23. The rights will also include men's domestic matches as well as the India women's international matches.

Earlier in September, the board had sold the worldwide IPL television and digital rights for the period 2018-22 for INR 16,347.5 crore (US$ 2.55 billion) to Star India. The current deal thus means a second huge pay day for the board in a span of 7 months.

With the broadcast rights now sold, Star will pay about INR 60 cr per match, which is higher than the average cost per IPL game at INR 54.5 cr.

The marathon e-auction began at 2pm on Tuesday and the process closed at 6pm the same day with highest bid at INR 4442 crores. Resuming the battle at 11am on Wednesday the bidding stopped at 6pm at INR 6032.50 crores. On Thursday, the bids rose in smaller increments: INR 6061.05 cr, INR 6085.30 cr, INR 6111.70 cr, INR 6111.70 cr, and finally INR 6138 cr.