IPL Media Rights: Amazon pulls out of race; Reliance, Disney top contenders
Xtra Time Web Desk: The much-anticipated tussle between Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani for IPL Media Rights will not happen as OTT giants Amazon on Friday pulled out of IPL Media Rights bidding. With Amazon pulling out, it now leaves Reliance and Disney as the two top contenders.
“Yes, Amazon is out of the race. They didn’t join the technical bidding process today. As far as Google (YouTube) is concerned, they had picked up the bid document but didn’t submit it. As of now, 10 companies (TV and streaming) are in fray,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
There are four specific packages in which e-auction will be conducted for 74 games per season for a five-year period from 2023-2027 with a provision of increasing the number of matches to 94 in the final two years.
Package A has Indian sub-continent exclusive TV (broadcast) rights while Package B covers digital rights for Indian sub-continent. Package C is for 18 selected games in each season for digital space while Package D (all games) will be for combined TV and digital rights for overseas markets.
Viacom 18 JV (Joint Venture), Walt Disney (Star), Zee and Sony are the four contenders for the packages. Some of the other contenders, primarily for digital space are: Times Internet, FunAsia, Dream11, FanCode while Sky Sports (UK) and Supersport (South Africa) will be vying for overseas TV and digital rights.
The last time, Star India bought rights for both TV and digital with a composite bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore but this time the composite base price is more than Rs 32,000 crore.
All bidders will have to make separate bids for each package, this time.
