XtraTime Web Desk: Star India has pocketed the lucrative television and digital rights of Indian cricket for a whopping amount of INR 6138 crore (US $ 944 million) for the period 2018-23. Star now hold two most valuable broadcast rights in cricket in India. They had earlier bought the IPL rights for INR 16,347.5 crore (US $ 2.55 billion) in September last year for the period 2018-22.
BCCI coffers will be richer by 59% from the previous cricket rights, which were sold for INR 3851 crore (US $ 750 million) for the period 2012-18. The previous media rights were also with Star. The rights cycle will commence from April 15 this year until March 31, 2023.
The average cost per match for the Indian cricket rights sold on Thursday was about INR 60 cr (USD 9.2 million approx.), which is higher than the average cost per IPL game for the 2018-22 period – INR 54.5 cr (USD 8.4 million approx.).
The rights to Indian cricket were sold via an e-auction – the first of its kind in sport – that spanned three days. Star India, Sony Pictures Network India, and Reliance were the competitors when the e-auction began at 2pm on Tuesday, after the BCCI’s legal team had carried out technical and feasibility checks on the bidders.