More than 20 bidders in race for IPL media rights

By SMCS - Aug 22, 2017 8:58 am

IPL is such an extravaganza in the world of cricket. Starting from its popularity and its viewership, no doubt it surpasses every other league that hits the television in India.

IPL media rights submission is scheduled for September 1 and thus more than 20 bidders have already bought the Invitation To Tender (ITT). Though the submission earlier was scheduled for 28th August, it had to be postponed due to the taxation problems ongoing.

BCCI will soon submit the list of bidders in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. MP Subramanian Swamy will voice his choice for an e-auction to make the process more transparent and trustworthy.

Though Supreme Court’s words are still on hold, TOI has revealed the name of a few media houses that are in the top race to fight in the 20 bidders list. Star India Pvt Ltd, Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd, AmazonSeller Services Pvt Ltd and Reliance Jio Digital are the front runners.

Others include Follow on Interactive Media, Times Internet Ltd, Gulf DTH, SuperSport International, GroupM Media India, Being IP, Econet Media Group, Sky UK, ESPN Digital Media, BTG Legal Service, BT Sport, Twitter, Facebook, Discovery, Airtel, and DAZN Perform Group. Yahoo is a new addition to the group.

“A separate bid for digital will force the rights-owner to do a deferred live of matches whereas if one party owns digital and broadcast both, then there’s no restriction. Where’s the logic in this?

Why not have a paywall instead? This is like suppressing a market that hasn’t even woken up yet,” says an industry executive.Though Star and Sony will keep no stones unturned to get the media rights, BCCI must be looking for bids for revenue maximization and also opening gates or various other unique digital innovations for the cash-rich league.

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