It’s a done deal. The much-debated closed bidding option has been rejected by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has instead launched an online auction for its bilateral media rights. Additionally, it has divided the digital and television bundles without allowing for a combined offer, as was to be expected. These modifications have been under discussion and were the main causes of the lengthy delay in the publication of the media rights tender.
The released Invitation To Tender (ITT), which goes on sale this Thursday, August 3, offers important details about two different packages. Package B includes India Subcontinent digital rights as well as Rest of the World TV and digital rights combined, whereas Package A only includes India Subcontinent television rights.
Notably, Package B has a basic price of Rs. 25 crore and is of greater importance. In contrast, the base cost of Package A is Rs 20 crores. The base cost for both packages together is Rs 45 crore. It is crucial to remember that the BCCI has attached a few restrictions to these packages. The BCCI has stated that it reserves the right to call off the entire process if the total cost of both packages is less than Rs 60 crore.
The deadline for interested parties to access the ITT is August 25. They must pay a non-refundable charge of Rs 15 lakh (plus GST) in order to do so. The bidding date is set for August 31. Contrary to common assumption, there will be 88 games in the following cycle, which runs from September 1, 2023, to March 2028. There will be 25 Tests, 27 ODIs, and 36 Twenty20 Internationals.
It is clear that the board was encouraged to choose the online method of selling by Ernst & Young, the company the BCCI hired. In comparison to the closed system, this tactical choice is anticipated to produce larger returns. It is important to note, though, that a one-shot bidding strategy has advantages of its own.
Following the BCCI’s extensive experience with the IPL rights sale, it is not surprising that the division of digital and linear rights is in accordance with expectations. At the time, the value of digital rights exceeded the value of television rights, and the overall sum for five years was $ 6.2 billion, or Rs 48,390 crore.
Companies with a net worth of Rs 1000 crore, according to the BCCI, are permitted to bid. It targets a minimum price of Rs. 60 crore from the auction, thus it seems to have low hopes. This is the price of the last cycle, which ran from 2018 to 23. During that time, Disney Star India paid Rs 60.1 crore across formats to purchase global rights, bringing the total price to Rs 6138.1 crore.
