Star TV bags BCCI broadcast rights for Rs 3851 crore

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Global economic crisis, general market meltdowns and India’s recent on-field results had no bearing as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) managed to sell broadcast rights for matches in India (2012-2018) for a whopping Rs 3851 crore (approximately $750 million).

Star TV India, owned by Rupert Mudorch outbid Singapore based Multi Screen Media (Sony) who currently own rights for the Indian Premier League till 2017. MSM’s bid was Rs 3700 crore ($727 million).

The rights include internet, mobile and digital rights. It is reliably learnt that the internet and mobile rights were valued at Rs 1 crore. BCCI president N. Srinivasan said the tender process was transparent.

The rights cover all international cricket in India, and domestic competitions including the Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup; they do not include the IPL.

“This is a substantial improvement from the previous contract with Nimbus. The BCCI is happy that the media rights have been fully evaluated and fully paid,” said Srinivasan.

Under the current contract with Star TV, a total of 96 (minimum) international matches will be played. Nimbus roughly paid Rs 32.25 crore per match while under the new arrangement Star TV will shell out nearly Rs 40 crore.

The direct beneficiaries will be domestic cricketers as 13% of BCCI’s profit is paid to them. The pricing had two divisions. Rs 32.2 crore per match till 2014 and Rs 43.2 crore for the period 2014 to 2018.

Star TV’s chief executive, Uday Shankar confirmed that the rights will be shared with ESPN, Star Cricket and Star Sports. “We have three sports channels to broadcast cricket on. However, if required, we could explore the launch of new channels.” Star and ESS owns rights to all ICC events till 2015 apart from the Champions League and all international and domestic cricket in England and Australia for the Asian region.

BCCI also cancelled its production rights contract with Nimbus. The TV rights contract with Nimbus was terminated in December 2011 after they had defaulted on payments.

BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla noted that all major domestic matches will be covered by Star TV under the new contract and there was no change made to that clause from the contract the board had with Nimbus.

Four new venues will stage international matches viz., Dharamsala, Pune, Rajkot and Ranchi. Dharamsala has already been approved as an international venue.

New Zealand series
(Aug-Sep 2012)
* 2 Test Matches – Hyderabad and Bengaluru
* 2 T20 Internationals – Vizag and Chennai
England Series
(Nov 2012-Jan 2013)
* 4 Test Matches – Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Nagpur
* 2 T20 Internationals – Pune and Mumbai
* 5 ODIs – Rajkot, Dharamsala, Ranchi, Mohali and Kochi
Australia Series
(Feb 2013–Mar 2013)
* 4 Test Matches – Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur and Mohali