PremiumNEW DELHI: Viacom18, owned billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd., has picked up media rights for the Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) for ₹951 crore for the next five years. The company will pay a per match value of ₹7.09 crore during 2023-27, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Monday.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah, in a tweet, congratulated the broadcaster and said it was a "massive win for women's cricket".
It is expected that the five teams for the first edition of WIPL will be revealed on 25 January.
Reliance owned-Mumbai Indians along with franchise owners of Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans have shown interest in bidding for the teams and its inaugural season is likely to begin early March.
This was the first time when the BCCI decided to auction the media rights first, as it will allow the potential team owners to figure out their business model, basis on projected revenues from the media rights deal. The BCCI will share 80% of the revenues from the media rights as well as the ground sponsorships among the five teams equally.
Its invitation to tender (ITT) was available upon a payment of a non-refundable fee of about ₹5 lakh, excluding taxes. The procedure to procure the ITT was available for purchase till the end of 2022 and it had said only those satisfying its eligibility criteria set out in the ITT and other terms and conditions would be eligible to bid. It added that merely purchasing this ITT did not entitle any person to bid.