Sport
Sony won the IPL TV Broadcast Rights for 2022-27 for a record 23,575 crores.
Viacom 18 Group entitled to Digital OTT Rights for 20,500 Crores. Joint IPL broadcasters for the first time.
Shobhit Chandola – Mumbai Uncensored, 14th June 2022
On March 29, the BCCI made an announcement to release a tender for the Media Rights Cycle of the Indian Premier League ( IPL ). Therefore, On June 13, 2022 commenced the high octane battle for the IPL Media rights between big giants. The E-Auction comprised primarily the Linear & Digital Rights for the IPL for a 5 year cycle which meant that the broadcasting giants would 20be holding the rights reserved from 2022 to 2027.
As per the Sports marketing analysts, the Day 1 saw the bidding valuation surpassing over 43,000 crore landmark, also making the 100 crore rights ( Digital + Television ) surpassed in a record move. What was special about Day 1 was a record 1.2 x jump over the final bidding at the end of the Day of 43,000 crores against the base price set by the BCCI at Rs 32,890 crores and was almost twice the 5 years Cycle Valuation made by the Star India Group from 2017- 2022 at 16,438 crores.
However it was on Day 2 when the biggest T20 League in the world got its purchaser with none other than Sony Entertainment Television ( SET ). With the tough competition from the potential giants such as Star Group, Viacom 18, Essel Zee Group, it was the SET group who fetched the TV rights for the record amount of Rs 23,575 crore whereas it was Viacom 18 backed by the Reliance Entertainment that secured the Digital Streaming rights for a whopping amount of Rs 20,500 Crores. Thus, bringing up the combined TV & streaming rights per match to Rs 107.5 crore. As part of the deal, Sony Group will receive Rs 57.5 crore per game whereas the remaining 50 crores will be secured by Reliance Entertainment.
Not only it has surprised the expectations but also has broken the record by overtaking the biggest football league in the world- EPL ( 84 crores ) sitting just behind the NBA league valuation / match.
It also has made the BCCI, the biggest Cricket governing body in the world who now is set to enjoy the perk of earning from the biggest league in the Indian subcontinent. All thanks to the leadership which Sourav Ganguly has shown throughout the auction.
Now what it means to the subscribers and dear audiences is that the glory days of the IPL are said to be back. Remember the time when IPL used to have a great blend of audience, glamorous cheerleaders, divas like Archana Vijay, Karishma Kotak interviewing the big names, the Danny Morrison’s humor as the pitch curator preceded by the Official annual slogan be it ‘Ek India Happy wala’, ‘Dil Jumping Japang’ or ‘Come on Bulawa Aaya hai’, the on-mic conversation of the on-field fielder with the sports commentator, the Siddhu & Aakash Chopra’s mic skills and what not.
Well, the list will never end. The IPL is set to regain its glory since the Sony group will be aware of the majors of the IPL which outplayed the Big Bash , Caribbean premier league in its prime. How successful Sony will be in its 2nd Inning of IPL, only time will tell. But let us just tell our viewers that the Media rights purchase means that the official broadcaster in the TV will be Sony making Set Max, Sony Six & Ten Sports to be eligible for the broadcast ( excluding Sony Liv )
whereas the Live match broadcast in the OTT platform will be streamed on the VOOT ( Viacom 18 group ) app. Therefore, the premium subscription of the Voot will be required to stream your matches digitally or possibly the JIO TV shall allow the access of the matches to the jio customers.