Star which holds the right for Indian cricket till March 2018, has planned to go the full distance to get it back when the BCCI opens the bid next year.
“The biggest challenge for Star was to win the IPL rights and it was also the top focus for the network, now that the lucrative IPL rights are in the bag, the company wants to go all out for the India Cricket rights too as that would establish monopoly and ensure competitors (Sony) don’t have any prime cricket property,” a source in Star Sports was as quoted by Cricketnext.
The details
The source also said the top brass in Star was not willing to budge from the IPL media rights since they were well aware what was at stake and thus they adopted this boom or bust strategy which paid dividends for them as they bagged the rights from Sony.
Also, according to Uday Shankar, chairman and chief executive officer, STAR India, there was a sense of caution within the camp as the Indian cricket deal will expire next year and thus Star did not want to leave anything to chance in the current context of Indian cricket when everything is very competitive. Hence, they wanted to safe with the IPL in its corner.
Apart from the television rights, Star also got the digital media rights and there is a sense of excitement since their progress with Hotstar as the digital platform over the past few years has garnered tremendous positivity.
In case you didn’t know…
The Indian Premier League media rights for the next five years were sold to Star India for a whopping Rs 16,347.50 crore.
This makes the BCCI earn around Rs 55 crore from every IPL match as compared to the Rs 43 crore they earn per International match.
What’s next?
The BCCI is currently working on a draft of its constitution which it will present to the Committee of Administrators (COA). Following this, the BCCI is expected to open the media rights bid for India Cricket.
Author’s Take
With the BCCI getting such a colossal amount in its kitty, brand IPL is expected to grow which will in order see an upward trend in revenues for the different franchises and state associations.
As far as Indian cricket is concerned, Star has made its presence felt over this last cycle and in many ways, people have started identifying the brand to be synonymous with Indian cricket which can only bode well for them come the next bid.
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