Television entertainment network Viacom18 has won the media rights for bilateral cricket for the next five years which will enable it to broadcast the home matches of the Indian team. With that, Viacom now boasts of broadcasting IPL (digital), Women’s IPL, Olympics 2024, SA home matches 2024, T10 League, Road Safety World Series, SA20, NBA, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1, and Diamond League.
According to media reports, the media network has bagged the rights in a deal worth a total amount of around Rs 6,000 crores.
The matches, both international and domestic, will be telecast on the Sports18 channel, while the live stream will be available on JioCinema as over-the-top (OTT) platform.
The broadcast cycle is set to begin from September 2023 and will be valid till March 2028. The new cycle will start with the India vs Australia series scheduled later in September. There will be a total of 88 bilateral matches, rising up to 102 matches, involving India will be broadcast over the period. There will be 25 Tests, 27 ODIs and 36 T20Is to be telecast by the network.
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah took to X to congratulate Viacom18. He wrote, “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,” added Jay Shah.
It may be noted that broadcast and digital rights sold separately, priced at Rs 20 crore and Rs 25 crore per match, respectively. Both the digital and TV rights were purchased by Viacom18 which bagged the rights at Rs 67.8 crore per game.
There were three major media networks in the fray – Disney-Star, Sony Sports, and Viacom18 for the BCCI bilateral cricket media rights. The rights were auctioned online on Thursday and were sold in two packages.
Package A includes India subcontinent TV while Package B contains India subcontinent digital plus world TV and digital. The base price for Package A was Rs 20 crore and Package B was Rs 25 crore, making the combined base price of Rs 45 crore per game for a total of 88 matches.
Previously, Disney-Star had won the media rights in the last cycle, that is, 2018 to 2023, after purchasing the combined media rights for Rs 60 crore per game.
