Star bags IPL global media rights for 5 years; bid at Rs 16,347.5 cr

Star India will be home to Indian Premier League (IPL) for the next five years (2018-2022). The broadcaster has bagged the global media rights for the T-20 cricket tournament with a consolidated bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore. 

Sony Pictures Networks lost out the bid with an amount of Rs 11,050 crore. 

Facebook, which was the highest bidder for the Indian digital rights of IPL with Rs 3,900 crore, also lost out to Star’s consolidated bid amount. 

Though there were 24 companies initially that had picked up the bid documents, only 14 turned up with their bids at the auction held today (September 4, 2017). After technical evaluation of the bids, Star India and Sony were considered as the two eligible candidates for the TV rights for IPL. For the digital media rights, the eligible candidates were Facebook, Times Internet, Reliance Jio, and Airtel.

Reacting to the development, Vinit Karnik, Business Head, ESP Properties, said, “Firstly, many congratulations and kudos to the entire team at Star Network. This is a historic moment for the Indian sports industry as BCCI has demonstrated highest media rights sales in the history of world cricket. These media rights numbers are now comparable to the best of sports around the world. IPL once again proves to be the best sporting League that built exponential value for all stakeholders.”

Here are the final figures for IPL Media Rights for the period from 2018-2022. #IPLMediaRights pic.twitter.com/2y1m0X4701

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 4, 2017