[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The company already has broadcast rights of all ICC events and Asia Cups until 2033 and 2023 respectively

Establishing its practical monopoly on airing all major cricket tournaments in India and select global markets, STAR India elbowed out Sony pictures, on Monday, to win the media rights for television and digital broadcast of the Indian Premier League (IPL) till 2022 with its staggering consolidated bid of Rs.16,347.50 crore.

With media rights for the IPL broadcast now in its pocket, STAR India will be the platform for broadcast of all major cricketing events as it already has global media rights for all ICC events and the Asia Cup till 2033 and 2023 respectively. The cash-rich IPL was the lone major cricketing event not to be aired by STAR India until now. The STAR India broadcast deal will come into effect in 2018 when the previous 10-year-bid won by Sony in 2008 for Rs 8200 crore ends its course.

The TV and digital broadcast rights won by STAR India are for various segments – India, Middle East, Africa, Europe and America. It is expected that STAR India’s digital vertical HotStar would be used for live streaming of IPL matches in India.

The bidding of various media rights of the lucrative T20 cricketing event was held in Mumbai. The final figures of the bid were released on IPL’s official twitter handle.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Soon after being declared the winner STAR India chairman Uday Shankar said: “We believe the IPL is a very powerful property, and we believe there is lots more value that can be created for fans of cricket on digital and TV… We would remain committed to ensure that the growth of sports in this country continues to be driven by the power of cricket.”

A total of 24 companies, including Sony, STAR India, Airtel, Amazon, Times Internet, Facebook and Twitter, had picked up the Invitation to Tender (ITT) to bid for the media rights in the Indian subcontinent and global markets for the next five years. However, 10 of the 24 companies did not turn up for the bidding process. The ones to back out included the likes of Amazon, Twitter and Yahoo.

BCCI had shortlisted STAR India and Sony for broadcasting rights while Reliance Jio, Airtel, Times Internet and Facebook were to bid for digital rights. However, it was later declared that STAR had won both television and digital broadcast rights through a single consolidated bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore.

Interestingly, Sony’s individual bid for broadcast (TV rights) was pegged at Rs 11,050 crore, substantially higher that STAR’s quote of Rs 6,196 crore. However, bidding rules allowed for companies to form a consortium and if its consolidated global bid happened to be greater than the sum total parts of every individual bid then the consortium stood to emerge as the winner – something that happened in the case of STAR India.

With STAR India now gaining TV and digital broadcast rights of all major cricketing events, it is now certain that its competitors in the media industry would raise the monopoly bogey to attack the network. Only a week ago, DTH operator Dish TV had written a letter to the Union government seeking its intervention to stall the participation of STAR India in the IPL bidding process. In the letter, Dish TV CMD had said that an “absolute monopoly” would be created if STAR India were to win.

“The acquisition of the IPL telecast rights by STAR would lead to a situation where there will be an absolute monopoly thereby leading to dominance by STAR in the field of cricketing telecast rights…,” Dish TV had argued, adding that if such a situation were to emerge then STAR would compel TV channel distributers and ultimately the consumers to shell more money from their pockets.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]