NEW DELHI, MUMBAI :Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd, a unit of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), secured the media rights for all bilateral cricket matches to be played in India during the next five years for ₹5,963 crore through the e-auction conducted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday.
The RIL-run broadcaster outbid Sony Pictures Networks India across digital and television, while the third bidder, Disney Star, placed just a couple of bids, according to two people familiar with the development.
The winning bid for digital and the rest of the world rights was at ₹3,101 crore, translating to ₹35.23 crore per match, far exceeding the base price of ₹25 crore. Linear TV rights were sold for ₹2,862 crore, or ₹32.52 crore per match, surpassing the per-match reserve price of ₹20 crore. Disney Star clinched the rights for the previous cycle at ₹60 crore per match for both digital and TV rights.
Only three firms—incumbent Disney Star, Viacom18 and Sony Pictures—opted to bid for the rights.
Following the auctions, BCCI secretary Jay Shah posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Congratulations, Viacom18, for winning the BCCI media rights for both linear and digital for the next five years. India cricket will continue to grow in both spaces after IPL (Indian Premier League) and WPLT20 (Women’s Premier League), and we extend the partnership with BCCI media rights as well. Together, we will continue to capture the imagination of Indian cricket fans. Also, a big thank you to Disney Star and Disney+ Hotstar for your support over the years. You played a key role in making India cricket reach its fans across the globe.”
A Disney Star executive, on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the company did not bid aggressively. “We were clear from the beginning that we would bid for the rights only to the extent that it made business sense. Viewership of the bilaterals has been on the decline over the last few years, and the non-availability of marquee Indian players has only further pulled the property down,” he said.
Following the auctions, N.P. Singh, the managing director and chief executive of Sony Pictures, said his company’s “disciplined bid” was grounded in market forecasts and a long-term growth strategy. “We remain committed to delivering top-tier sporting entertainment as we continue to see growing enthusiasm across various sports genres.”
Sony Pictures bid ₹2,762 crore for TV rights and around ₹3,000 crore for digital, the people said.
India will play 88 matches in the next five years, including 25 Tests, 27 one-day internationals, and 36 T20 matches.
Viacom18 appears to have gained the upper hand in terms of cricket broadcasting rights, as it already owns the digital rights of IPL. Sony Pictures, which is merging with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, will have to contend with the TV rights of the International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments, while Disney Star, which at one point in time had the rights to all three major cricket-related properties—BCCI, IPL and ICC—will offer IPL on TV and ICC tournaments on the digital platform for the next rights cycle.
A sports marketing expert said the bilateral format is broken and needs to be refreshed to draw viewers. “The excitement generated by bilateral cricket has ebbed. It was just the India tours of Australia and England that generated some viewership.”
For BCCI, the silver lining was that the rights were sold for more than the last rights value despite the drop in viewership.
Consulting firm E&Y was the strategic adviser for the media rights, and Argus Partners was the legal adviser for the draft of the tender documents. Mjunction Services Ltd provided the auction platform.
A sports marketing expert said the bilateral format is broken and needs to be refreshed to draw viewers. “The excitement generated by bilateral cricket has ebbed. It was just the India tours of Australia and England that generated some viewership,” he said.
The BCCI earned ₹7,606 crore in revenue in fiscal year 2022. The expenses incurred in that year were ₹3,064 crore, and it paid ₹1,159 crore in income tax. The board has reported a combined revenue of ₹27,411 crore in the five years to 2022.
