Winning Bizness Desk

Mumbai. The auction process for the media rights of the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) for the next five years was held on Thursday. Viacom 18, a Reliance Group company, has now acquired the rights for all the home matches of Team India. BCCI's media rights from September 2023 to March 2028 were auctioned in a packed audience. According to reports, Viacom 18 has bagged the media rights, beating everyone else. Disney Hotstar, Sony Pictures Network also bid, but eventually Viacom 18 won getting rights to broadcast 88 international matches on India's home soil over the next five years. For this, Viacom 18 will pay Rs 5966.4 crore to BCCI. ZEE/Sony has got the TV rights for all ICC tournaments from 2024 to 2027. Hotstar has got the digital rights. The TV rights of IPL from 2023 to 2028 are held by Star Sports while the digital rights are held by Jio Cinemas.

BCCI media rights package

Package A : TV Rights - Rs 20 crore per match (Indian Subcontinent)

Package B : Digital Rights - Rs 25 crore per match (India and other countries)

Company were not so much interested

In 2018, Disney Hotstar acquired the media rights for Rs 60 crore per match. But this time the price per match was reduced as the companies did not show interest in the tender. This year the fee was 45 crores per match. BCCI was hoping for a big bid given the high profile matches with England, Australia. India will play 39 matches against Australia and England in the next five years. In the auction, Reliance Company's Viacom has won. Viacom 18 has acquired both the rights for Team India's home matches. So for the next few years, India's matches can be watched on Viacom 18's Sports 18 TV channel. The match can also be enjoyed on the Jio Cinema app. Over the past few years, Hotstar has established its dominance in cricket.