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  • Star bids highest for BCCI’s IPL media & digital rights and is the winner

    Star bids highest for BCCI’s IPL media & digital rights and is the winner

    MUMBAI: Star India has been investing heavily in Indian sport. And that investment – and promise to invest more – got the vote of confidence from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) when its  offer of Rs 16,3475 million or Rs 16347.5 crore or approximately $ 2.55 billion proved high enough for it to snare the five year global consolidated (telecast & digital) rights for the most lucrative and prized cricket league in the world – the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

    Star India’s offer was about Rs 5000 million more than the consolidated highest individual bid total which stood at Rs 15,8195.1 million.  The bidding rules had made it clear that the global rights  (Rs 16,347.50 crore) bid would get precedence over the individual bids if the latters’ sum total (Rs 15,8195.1 million) was lower than the former.  For viewers, what this means is that they will be watching IPL action on Star India’s sports channel bouquet and VOD platform Hotstar for the next five seasons of the IPL (2018 to 2022).

    Though 24 companies picked up the offer documents, only 14 turned up for the bidding process early this morning, from which BAM Tech was disqualified. Those who took part included:  beIN, Star India., Followon Interactive Media, Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) , Times Internet, Supersport International, Reliance Jio, Gulf DTH, Econet Media, Facebook, DAZN / Perform Group, Yupp TV, Airtel and BAM Tech.

    Star India and SPN India were the only two bidders for the Indian subcontinent TV rights and the latter’s  bid  of Rs 11,0500 million was much higher than Star India’s Rs 6,1969. million.  Facebook India was the highest bidder for digital Indian subcontinent rights with its offer of Rs 3,9000 million. It beat back telcos Jio, which bid Rs 3,0757.2 million, and  Airtel’s offer of Rs 3,2800 million, and even Star India that had bid Rs 1,4430 million. The Rest of World A (Austrailia, New Zealand & rest of world) telecast rights saw a bid of Rs 700.1 million by Followon emerging as the highest offer, ahead of Times Internet Ltd’s  (TIL’s) Rs 533 million and Star at 178.8 million. 

    The beIN bid of Rs 3900 million for the Rest of World B (Middle East) rights  was much higher than OSN’s Rs 2112.5 million, YuppTV’s Rs 1001. million and Star India’s Rs 650 million.

    Supersport came out tops on the Rest of World C (South Africa) rights with its bid  of Rs 1202.5 million as against Econet’s Rs 845 million and Star India’s Rs 617.5 million. The Rest of the World D (UK) rights  had only one bidder: Star India with its offer of Rs 487.5 million, the only territory for which it emerged as the highest  individual bidder.

    The Perform group led the race for the Rest of the World E (US) rights by bidding Rs 2405million leaving YuppTV (Rs 2346.5 million), TIL (Rs 1852.5 million) and Star India (Rs 491.6 million) far behind.  The consolidated figure for the highest bids for each individual right thus worked out Rs 15,8195.1 million.

    Almost all the cricket ecosystem players were cock-a-hoop with delight about the successful global bid placed by Star India.

    Said BCCI acting president CK Khanna in a press release:  “We are happy to announce Star India as our new global media and digital partner. We thank all the bidders that participated in the process. We have ensured that transparency of the highest form was maintained throughout the process. I would like to thank cricketers and franchises for making the league one of the eminent sporting leagues in the world. I would also like to thank all the fans for showing their continuous support for the VIVO IPL for the last 10 years.”  

    Added BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary:  “We welcome Star India on board as our broadcast and digital partner. Cricket as a sport has evolved over the years, and today’s bids were a reiteration of VIVO IPL’s growing global popularity.”

    Star India chairman & CEO Uday Shankar too expressed his excitement about his company’s successful bid. Said he:  “We are honoured to be selected as IPL’s global media rights partner and we thank BCCI for conducting such a transparent process. The VIVO Indian Premier League is undoubtedly one of the most exciting sporting leagues in the world and this acquisition of media rights reaffirms our commitment to serve cricket fans and make cricket even bigger than it is. We are delighted that in Star, IPL has found its natural home. We look forward to bringing this exciting format to our audiences across the world in a quality that all our viewers are accustomed to both on television as well as on digital on Hotstar.”

    Shankar further added, “At Star India, we believe that Indian sports have barely scratched the surface of its potential. Both the viewership of sports and more importantly participation in sports is something that we would like to grow substantially over the next few years. The acquisition of these rights is symbolic of our commitment to not just cricket but to the growth of a wider sports culture in the country.” Not to let go of a chance like this, Shankar also added that Star would have to come up with solid business proposal to monetise the IPL property over a period of five years as pay TV revenues — read tariffs — were highly regulated in India.

    BCCI CEO Rahul Johri expressed:  “We are grateful to the Supreme Court, the Committee of Administrators and the office bearers of BCCI. We are also thankful to Deloitte and our legal partners Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas for their support in carrying out a fair and transparent bidding process efficiently. We would like to welcome Star India on board as our IPL global media and digital partner.  We believe this is a global benchmark and all the stakeholders of IPL will significantly benefit from this association with Star India.”

    Sportingly, SPNI congratulated and wished Star India all the best in its endeavor to shape the  IPL over the next five  years.  Said the previous rights holder in a press note:  “SPNI  has nurtured the IPL since its inception and within a span of 10 years established it as one of the most popular sporting properties in the world. We would like to thank all those who supported us in curating the lineage and legacy of IPL.  At the same time, we take this opportunity of wishing STAR India the best as they shape IPL over the next five years. With our recent acquisition of the Ten Sports network, the sports network of SPNI holds the broadcast rights to five cricket boards, guaranteeing that our channels will continue to offer a strong mix of programming for cricket fans.”

    Also Read:

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  • IPL chief Shukla recuses from ‘live-streaming’ media rights auction

    IPL chief Shukla recuses from ‘live-streaming’ media rights auction

    MUMBAI: The BCCI has planned to live-stream the bidding process for awarding media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights on 4 September. Although an appeal by Rajya Sabha MP Subramanium Swamy’s for e-auction was struck down by the Supreme Court, this seems to be ‘transparent’ part of the process, which will bring in Rs 200 billion for BCCI in a five-year deal — a growth of 455  per cent from the last deal.

    Efforts are reportedly afoot to live-stream the auction either on iplt20.com or bcci.tv or both.

    Meanwhile, IPL chairman (Congress leader and a television channel co-owner) Rajeev Shukla, who faces allegations of conflict of interest despite getting a clean chit from former BCCI ombudsman retired justice AP Shah, has recused himself from the auction of the T20 League to be held in Mumbai. Shukla has refuted allegations that BAG Films, which is owned by his wife, had an understanding with the potential bidder Star Sports.

    Considering recent entries of Yahoo, Airtel, BAMTech and DAZN/Perform Group, the list of bidders has reportedly gone up to 24 including Star India, Followon Interactive Media, Taj TV India, Amazon Seller Services, Sony Pictures Networks, Times Internet, Supersport International, Gulf DTH FZ LLC, Reliance Jio Digital, GroupM Media, beIN, Econet Media, SKY UK, BTG Legal Services, ESPN Digital Media, BT PLC, Twitter and Facebook Inc.

    Two significant changes can be seen in this time’s auction. The rights would now be auctioned for a five-year period up to 2022), and rights for seven territories are being auctioned as opposed to 2008’s two sections — India and international rights. Television rights in India are believed to see a neck-and-neck race. Conditions stated in the tender make it compulsory for the digital partners to delay the live-streaming by five minutes and allocate 80 per cent of the bidding amount to broadcast rights, eventually making the equation favourable for Star India and Sony Pictures.

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  • SC show cause to BCCI: Why Lodha panel recommendations not implemented

    SC show cause to BCCI: Why Lodha panel recommendations not implemented

    MUMBAI: The Supreme Court has issued a show-cause notice to BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary to explain as to why its order on the Justice R M Lodha committee recommendations has not yet been implemented. 

    A three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra was told by the apex court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) that none of the Lodha panel recommendations or the court’s directions have been implemented. 

    Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, assisting the court as amicus curiae, said that three BCCI office-bearers — C K Khanna, Amitabh Chaudhary and Anirudh Chaudhary, were the persons responsible for implementing the recommendations and the court’s directions. The trio has been asked to personally appear in the court on 19 September.

    Taking into account the court’s order dated 2 January that ousted Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke from their board positions, the CoA requested the bench for the removal of Choudhary, Chaudhry and Khanna.

    In the absence of a working committee, the CoA noted, administrators and not the office-bearers were needed to be given the authority to manage the board’s affairs. 

    In a landmark judgment on 18 July, 2016, the apex court had approved majority of the recommendations put forth by the committee led by retired chief justice RM Lodha. The BCCI was given a deadline of six months to implement the accepted reforms.

    Also Read:

    IPL: Discovery & YuppTV in fray, CoA-BCCI discuss conflict of interest & pay today

    IPL: BCCI tells SC rights bidding process under way, hearing on 22 Aug

    IPL tendering process to commence 17 July; bidding to be fierce

  • IPL: Discovery & YuppTV in fray, CoA-BCCI discuss conflict of interest & pay today

    MUMBAI: YuppTv and Discovery are the latest two companies to have reportedly purchased bid documents for the upcoming media rights auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 cricket tournament. Both, Discovery and YuppTV’s spokespersons have confirmed the purchase of the documents.

    The last date for purchase of bid documents is 24 August. The bidding process will conclude on 28 August and results are scheduled to be announced the same day. Times Internet Ltd, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, GroupM, Twitter, Amazon India, Facebook had bought the documents earlier.

    The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) had in September 2016 invited bids to award media rights for IPL for 2018 and up to 2022. The process was however indefinitely postponed since the apex court-appointed Lodha panel had not responded to BCCI’s queries regarding the tenders.

    IPL and domestic cricket’s pay structure will meanwhile come up for discussions when the Committee of Administrators (CoA) meets BCCI on Wednesday. In July, the BCCI had approved the re-entry of Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) into the IPL after serving a ban for betting, while the future of Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant is yet to be confirmed.

    Cricket’s possible inclusion into the Olympic 2024 programme will be another topic for discussion at the meet where the CoA is expected to also take note of the Deloitte presentation related to the audit report that it has prepared. Another key issue that may be discussed is conflict of interest.

    The BCCI has objected to multiple clauses relating to this matter, and the BCCI officials will be waiting to let known their disagreements to the COA.

  • IPL: BCCI tells SC rights bidding process under way, hearing on 22 Aug

    IPL: BCCI tells SC rights bidding process under way, hearing on 22 Aug

    MUMBAI: The Supreme Court sent a legal notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)  enquiring why the IPL media rights auction has not taken place online. And, BCCI told the court that e-auction of rights was not possible and that the court should not intervene as the bidding process was already under way.

    The auction process for IPL media rights is in progress up to 28 August, and the rights would operate for a period of five years. BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had, on 11 July, filed a petition before the apex court asking why broadcast rights for cricket matches would not be sold through e-auction. He had mentioned that the BCCI should have gone for e-auction since a huge amount of Rs 300 billion was at stake.

    The court had directed the board to respond in two weeks.

    The bench, comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dipak Misra, has asked the Committee of Administrators (CoA), appointed by it, to assist the apex court in deciding the issue. The next hearing is now scheduled for 22 August.

    IPL’s TV broadcast rights were held by Sony Pictures Networks till the 10th edition which concluded in June. The Internet and mobile rights were awarded to Novi Digital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd (Hotstar), a unit of Star India, for a period of three years to 2017.

    Singapore-based World Sport Group pocketed the IPL broadcasting rights for 10 years in 2008 by investing US$ 918 million. A year later, the contract was replaced when Sony Group (through Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd) paid US$ 1.63 billion for the nine-year broadcasting rights. The auction process was delayed last year on the Supreme Court’s directive to first comply with the Lodha panel reforms.

    Facebook, Reliance Jio, Twitter, Sony Pictures Network India and Star India were some of the major companies who picked up the tender document. While the television broadcast rights for the Indian subcontinent is for 10 seasons (up to 2027), the digital rights are valid for five seasons and the international media rights also are for five seasons.

     

    Also Read: IPL: Media rights race hots up after IMG renews events deal

    Swamy seeks transparency in IPL media rights through SC

    IPL tendering process to commence 17 July; bidding to be fierce

  • BCCI elevates Hemang Amin as COO

    MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Hemang Amin as the chief operating officer (COO) of the Vivo Indian Premier League.

    Amin was most recently assistant general manager – finance, commercial and events at BCCI and was recognized for successfully handling the management and operations of world’s premier T20 league – VIVO IPL. He has been with BCCI for the last 7 years.

    Amin will continue to report to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri.

    BCCI acting president CK Khanna said, “ Amin has been instrumental during a pivotal transition period for the IPL. His leadership over the past 7 years has shaped IPL’s strategy, laying a strong foundation for future course, improvements and success.”

    Acting Secretary Amitabh Choudhary said, “Amin’s experience, strong leadership and inclusive management style will further elevate the Indian Premier League and grow engagement among fans around the world.”

    IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla said, “ Hemang Amin is a wonderful executive with an incredible breadth of experience and relationships across a variety of markets and our stakeholders. Having worked with him firsthand, I know he will be a fine leader for the IPL and will bring unmatched innovation, passion, and vision to the role.”

  • IPL: Media rights race hots up after IMG renews events deal

    MUMBAI: IPL events rights holder – the International Management Group (IMG) has reportedly renewed its partnership with the Indian Premier League (IPL) for another five years. For the last 10 years, the UK-based organisation is the primary controller of the main events related to the IPL.

    IPL media rights’ race too seems to be getting intense with Amazon, Facebook, Discovery, Jio and Twitter in the fray

    IMG had been the official events rights holders since 2008 outliving bidders such as Rhiti Sports, Wizcraft, and Group of 4, with a Rs 270 million per year deal. The deal value in 2009 was escalated to Rs 330 million.

    Expecting another windfall, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has meanwhile invited tender for media rights to the IPL for the five-year period from 2018 wherein television and digital media rights both would be auctioned. The deadline for buying tender documents is 24 August and the auction process will close on 28 August with results being announced the same day.

    Eighteen top guns from across the globe purchased tender documents last year. Sony Pictures Network (SPN) holds the television rights (2008-2017) whereas Star India holds the digital rights.

    The new race seems to be getting hotter by the day. According to the new process, digital and television rights both will be for a period of five years period. The bids will be classified into three categories — subcontinent digital rights, subcontinent television rights, and Rest of the World media rights — and five territories.

    While it is anticipated that Star India and SPN may fight for the television rights in the subcontinent region, Discovery reportedly stated it will join the auction for the sake of DSport. The digital rights war too is anticipated to be neck-and-neck as video-streaming portals will be seeking to tap the huge potential in India.

    With Hotstar by its side, while Star has done a worthy job in the last two seasons, Jio which has seen a phenomenal growth in its customer base is eventually among the frontrunners for the rights. Twitter and Facebook depend on tremendous subscriber growth and deep pockets to pocket the new IPL deal.

    Also Read :

    Swamy seeks transparency in IPL media rights through SC

    Sports channels ratings dive in week 26

    Vivo wins IPL title rights for Rs 21.9 bn

  • IPL media rights invitation to tender timeline released

    MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced the timeline for Indian Premier League Media Rights ITT (2018-2022), BCCI’s acting honorary secretary Amitabh Choudhary stated in a release.

    The timeline for the ITT is as under:

    Date

    Milestones

    21-Jul-17

    Release of ITT

    05-Aug-17

    Last date for seeking clarifications

    24-Aug-17

    Last date for purchase of ITT

    28-Aug-17

    Bid Submissions

    The IPL Governing Council at its meeting held on July 11, 2017 evaluated the IPL Media Rights ITT and reconfirmed that the existing BCCI tender process is the best approach, both in terms of absolute transparency and a free and fair price discovery, for the IPL Media Rights.

    The entities that had purchased the tender documents of the IPL Media Rights, which was earlier scheduled to be held on 25 October, 2016, will be provided the tender documents of present IPL Media Rights on its release without any additional cost/charges.

    Also Read :

    Swamy seeks transparency in IPL media rights through SC

    Vivo wins IPL title rights for Rs 21.9 bn

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  • BCCI appoints Shastri as head coach, Zaheer & Dravid as consultants till World Cup ’19

    MUMBAI: The BCCI has announced the appointment of Ravi Shastri as the head coach, Zaheer Khan as the bowling consultant and Rahul Dravid will be the overseas batting consultant (test cricket) for the Indian cricket team.

    As part of the process for selecting the head coach, the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman conducted the interviews and recommended these appointments in the best interest of the Indian cricket. The term of the appointments will be till the World Cup 2019.

    Shastri has been the Team Director in the past, and brings with him a wealth of experience, both as player and as coach.

    Khan is a contemporary cricketer who assumed the mentoring role to a young fast bowling unit even during his playing days with India. His inputs will be of immense value to our young fast bowlers, who have shown tremendous potential in the last couple of years.

    As the Indian team is to play Test cricket overseas in the next two years, Rahul Dravid’s expertise as batting consultant will be immensely helpful for youngsters.

    The Board appreciates the contribution of the Cricket Advisory Committee – Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman for recommending these appointments which will take Indian Cricket to greater heights.

  • Swamy seeks transparency in IPL media rights through SC

    Swamy seeks transparency in IPL media rights through SC

    NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League, which saw a brief lull in controversy with Lalit Modi preferring to remain overseas, appears to be in for another storm, this time over broadcast rights.

    Bharatiya Janata Party member and Rajya Sabha MP Subramaniam Swamy has moved the Supreme Court seeking a transparent mechanism for auction of telecast rights of IPL cricket matches for the next five years. The auction is slated for 17 July 2017.

    Swamy told indiantelevision.com that his petition for e-auctioning of IPL media rights was expected to come up for hearing on Friday this week or Monday next week. He said that there is a requirement of non-discriminatory and transparent method, with the best international practices, to be adopted for distribution of the valuable media rights so as to ensure the maximum revenue in the larger national interest.

    The petition questioned the manner in which the rights worth Rs 250 billion to Rs 300 billion were being distributed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

    Seeking a stay of the present system, he said the huge investments make it mandatory to have the auction process robust, completely transparent in order to maximise the revenue and prevent vested interest from making undue gains.

    Swamy mentioned the matter before the bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar for early hearing of the matter as the BCCI next week.

    A lawyer himself, Swamy cited various orders of the apex court after finding irregularities committed by country’s apex cricket body. He said that as the BCCI was found having irregularities, illegalities, misappropriation and asymmetries in the functioning, the Supreme formed the Mudgal Committee as an investigator and then the Justice R M Lodha Committee was formed on 22 January 2015 by the Supreme Court.

    The Supreme Court on 30 January 2017 appointed a four-member committee of administrators headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai to run the affairs of the BCCI and implement court-approved recommendations of the Lodha panel on reforms.

    Also Read :

    Vivo wins IPL title rights for Rs 21.9 bn

    IPL ’18 media rights decision likely in July, player recruitment norms to be tweaked

    Sports channels ratings dive in week 26

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