Viacom18 bags both TV and digital rights for Indian cricket team's home matches for 5 years

BCCI media rights: Entertainment network Viacom 18 has bagged the bilateral cricket media rights for the next five years. Viacom will broadcast the Team India home matches, IPL (digital), Women IPL, Olympics 2024, SA home matches 2024, T10 League, Road Safety World Series, SA20, NBA, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue1, and Diamond League. The media firm has bagged the rights for a total amount of around Rs. 6000 crore, news reports said.

Sports18 will telecast the matches, international and domestic on TV, while it will be live streamed on JioCinema as OTT (over the top) platform.

The broadcast cycle begins from September 2023 and will be on till March 2028. The new cycle will start with the India vs Australia series scheduled later in September.

A total of 88 bilateral matches (could go up to 102 matches) involving India will be broadcast. The matches break up is 25 Tests, 27 ODIs and 36 T20Is.

Congratulating Viacom18, BCCI secretary Jay Shah posted: "Congratulations @viacom18 for winning the @BCCI Media Rights for both linear and digital for the next 5 years. India Cricket will continue to grow in both spaces as after @IPL, and @wplt20, we extend the partnership @BCCI Media Rights as well. Together we will continue to capture the imagination of cricket fans."

"Also, a big thank you to Star India and Disney Plus HS for your support over the years. You played a key role in making India Cricket reach its fans across the globe," Shah added.

Broadcast and Digital packages sold separately, priced at Rs 20 crore and Rs 25 crore per match, respectively. Viacom 18 purchased both TV and Digital Rights. Viacom18 have bagged the rights at Rs 67.8 crore per game.

Three players — Disney-Star, Sony Sports, and Viacom 18 — were in the fray for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) bilateral cricket media rights. The media rights were auctioned online on Thursday.

The rights were sold in two packages — Package A includes India subcontinent TV while Package B has India subcontinent digital plus world TV and digital. The base price for Package A is Rs 20 crore and Package B Rs 25 crore, making it a combined base price of Rs 45 crore per game for a total of 88 matches.

Disney Star had won the rights last time in the last cycle, 2018 to 2023, picking up the combined media rights for Rs 60 crore per game.

Disney+ Hotstar had earlier announced that the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be made available as free-to-view to all mobile phone users accessing Disney+ Hotstar. The free offering is aimed to reach 540 million smartphone users, Disney said.

Sony Sports Network now holds the TV rights for the ICC World Cup for the next four years starting 2024, secured through its merger with Zee.

Viacom18 is backed by billionaire Mukesh Ambani. Uday Shankar and James Murdoch-promoted Bodhi Tree Systems also has a stake in it. On August 23, Uday Shankar and James Murdoch-promoted Bodhi Tree Systems paid Rs 953.23 crore to purchase an additional 2.89 per cent stake in Viacom18. The company bought the additional stake from Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the majority shareholder in the company, a report in The Economic Times said.

The transaction, which was concluded recently, valued Viacom18 at Rs 32,983 crore. Bodhi Tree's holding in Viacom18 has increased to 15.97 per cent after the latest stake acquisition.

Following the transaction, Reliance now holds a 57.48 per cent stake in Viacom18, while Bodhi Tree, Paramount, and TV18 own 15.97 per cent, 13.01 per cent, and 13.54 per cent, respectively. Reliance-promoted Network18 has a 51.17 per cent stake in TV18.

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