The Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI has brought in a new policy to purchase media rights for big conglomerates.
From the upcoming cycle, the board is allowing consortiums to place bids on television and digital media rights.
Moreover, in the previous cycle, the BCCI didn’t allow two media houses to come together and place a bid but now they have decided to do so.
For example, Sony Pictures Network and Essel Group (Zee Network) can form a consortium and bid for the rights.
Already, Disney Star and Viacom18 are deciding to pay heavy prices in order to get the rights for themselves.
But, if this third party enters the picture, then things can change massively for the other two and the bidding amount may also see an increase.
However, one thing is still under wraps as to whether Sony and Essel Group will come together or not.
While they have expressed the desire to come and be together as one consortium, things haven’t materialized in that direction.
Because of some legal issues, the merger is at a standstill for both parties. Meanwhile, 1st October is the tentative date at which these two can form their final merger.
But, if they want to purchase the television and digital media rights, then they will have to act fast because the auction is on the 31st of this month.
Additionally, all the technical assessment bids must be submitted to the board by the 28th of August.
BCCI hoping that either of the three consortiums will pay them a good price
Meanwhile, the Roger Binny-led BCCI is expecting that all three parties will pay them handsome sums of money in order to purchase the rights.
For example, it will make the board very happy if the parties bid 50 lakhs for television and then another 50 lakhs for digital media rights.
However, if the company chooses to bid on only one package, then it must pay a total of INR 1 crore.
Moreover, the winner of this bid will get to broadcast 88 games on its channels and streaming platforms.
This cycle will start next month and the base price for television rights is INR 20 crores while that of digital media is INR 25 crores.
On the other hand, the BCCI has clearly stated that whichever company or companies wins the bid for both packages A and B, must broadcast the game in a minimum of five languages, with English and Hindi being the primary ones.
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