Viacom18 Bags BCCI Media Rights For Next 5 Years - Reports

Viacom18 has secured the media rights of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). According to reports, three parties – Viacom18, Sony, and Disney Star – were involved in a three-way battle for the rights. And Viacom 18 has pipped the other two interested parties to secure the deal for India’s home international games.

Earlier this month, the BCCI had released the tender for the media rights for a period of five years from 2023 to 2028. The auction for the media rights took place on Thursday (August 31). The media rights to broadcast the matches on television as well as stream the same on digital platforms were up for grabs.

The BCCI had reportedly wanted to lure global technology giants Amazon and Google too but they refused to bid for the rights. In order to earn a lucrative deal, the BCCI had also implemented a ‘free for all’ rule according to which the bidding process was to continue till only one participant remained on the table. The BCCI had also allowed consortiums to enter the bidding process.

The BCCI was selling the media rights in two different packages. Package A was for TV rights and had a base price of Rs. 20 crore. On the other hand, Package B was for digital rights and had the base price set at Rs. 25 crore.

And Viacom18 has bagged both the rights for Team India’s home games for the next five years. They have agreed to shell out a price of INR 67.8 crore per game. Viacom18 broadcast the matches on Sports 18 television channel and livestream them on Jio Cinema.

Disney Star previously held the media rights for both the TV as well as digital platform. They had won the media rights for for Rs. 6,138 crore in 2018.

Viacom bags both TV and digital rights for India's home games for next 5 years.#BCCI

— Kushan Sarkar (@kushansarkar) August 31, 2023

Last year, Viacom18 had also secured the digital rights for IPL while Disney Star had managed to retain the TV rights.