In a move that will help it unseat rival Sony Pictures Network and command the lion’s share of India-relevant cricket broadcast, Star India has won the global media rights for the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament, Indian Premier League (IPL), for Rs 16,347 crore.
The company already has both broadcasting and digital rights for the International Cricket Council (ICC) matches (World Cup and the World T20). The addition of IPL rights increases Star India’s control of the spectrum of cricket matches that most interest Indian viewers – IPL, ICC, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) matches, and Team India’s foreign tours.
At this point, winning the media rights for IPL is a key victory for Star India, especially as it has very little of India-relevant cricket coming up in 2018 and the 2019 World Cup. Star India’s contract for rights to broadcast India’s tours of England and Australia will come up for bidding this year. Also, its rights to broadcast BCCI home matches – where the Indian team play touring foreign teams in India – ends in March next year. So, it is left with only the matches that India plays in Bangladesh. As a result, Star would have only 13 cricket matches in 2018; that is a third of what it had in the 2017 calendar year.
However, with 60 days of extra cricket coming to Star India’s kitty along in the form of IPL rights, the company will in 2018 control 73 days of cricket, or over 70 per cent of the overall cricket inventory. In 2019, when the ICC World Cup is held, it will have over 130 days of cricket under its control.
Sony, which had bet big on cricket with its Rs 2,600-crore acquisition of TEN Sports this year, will now have to concede the top position in cricket broadcast. Also, it will see a dramatic drop in the amount of India-relevant cricket in its inventory. In 2017, for instance, it controlled over 90 matches, or about 70 per cent of all India-focused cricket inventory – way ahead of Star India. Apart from rights to IPL matches, Sony, through its acquisition of TEN, had also got rights to broadcast Team India’s matches played in West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. For 2018, meanwhile, its inventory will fall dramatically as the IPL rights are gone, and only 12 matches in South Africa have been announced so far. Accordingly, the company’s share of India-relevant cricket broadcast will also get trimmed.
In terms of business, Star India could additionally make advertising revenues of up to Rs 1,300 crore in IPL matches; that is how much Sony had earned from advertising in the previous edition. In 2017, it is hoping for an advertising revenue of Rs 600-700 crore from ICC matches.
That said, Sony still has the opportunity to bid and win rights to some valuable India-relevant cricket that are yet to go under the hammer. These include the Indian team’s BCCI matches in the country and broadcast rights for Australia and England.