Star India makes staggering bid for 5-year IPL global media rights; BCCI to earn more from one league game than India tie
There was a sense of anticipation when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released the Invitation to Tender for companies to apply to bid for the TV Broadcast and Digital Rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The bidding was expected to be fiercely competitive.
As it turned out, there was hardly a contest between the bidders. And yet, the numbers that came out shattered all the previous records.
Star India bagged the overall global rights – broadcast as well as digital – for the most popular cricket league with a record deal, a whopping Rs 16,347.50 crore for five years. No other company – 14 in all – could match up to the amount of the channel. Not even Sony, which held the rights for the last ten years.
"I would like to convey my delight at finally being able to bring the IPL to what we believe is the rightful home of cricket in this country and elsewhere," Star India CEO Uday Shankar told reporters after bagging the rights at a five-star hotel here on Monday.
"I would also like to thank the BCCI for finding us the appropriate partner and trusting us with the IPL rights. We believe that IPL is a very powerful property, and we believe that a lot more value can be created for the fans and the viewers of the IPL on digital as well as on TV," he said.
While Star may have won the overall bidding battle hands down, its competition with Sony for the Broadcasting Rights was lost.
If Star had not submitted the Global Bid of Rs 16,347.50 and applied just for the Individual Bids for Indian Subcontinent TV Rights with Rs 6,196.94 crore, it would have been beaten by Sony, who bid Rs 11,050 crore solely for the TV broadcast rights.
Sony's overall bidding came to Rs 11,050 crore, much higher compared to Star's offer of Rs 7,882.47 crore that included TV rights of the Indian subcontinent plus other regions as well as the digital rights.
The total of all Individual Bids came up to Rs 15,819.51 crore, which was Rs 527.99 crore lesser than Star's Global Bid offer of Rs 16,347.50 crore.
And hence, Star bagged the rights in the end.
"Even if it was slightly less, we would have not got the rights and that should tell you that this is the right figure," Shankar said. "When one person or one company bids very highly, then you can ask that question but you see that in every category, it was so competitive. There are three digital rights that have gone over Rs 3,000 crore and digital did not even exist 10 years ago.
"In television, you have seen it was very aggressively tendered too and equally for the rest of the world, and this should tell you that cricket continues to be very strong, continues to be very attractive in this country. Whoever put in that money, they put in that money because they believe in the fans of the sport. The universe of cricket fans continues to be healthy and continues to grow," he added.
Asked if the bid amount was too high, Shankar said: "(After) What was paid in 2008, India, cricket and IPL have changed dramatically in the last 10 years. It is a reflection of that," Shankar said
Explaining the strategy of going for the Global Bid that clinched the deal for Star, Shankar said the idea was to create a complete experience for fans. "It is a matter of bidding strategy. It is also a matter of how each company evaluates each segment of the rights. Our view was that we would be able to create a complete experience for the cricket fans if we had both TV and digital. That is why we felt we were going to make an attempt to get both TV and digital, otherwise we have lived without IPL and we were happy to live without IPL."
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