Viacom-18, a broadcasting company owned by Reliance Industries, has bought the media rights of BCCI for domestic and international matches played in India. On Thursday, Viacom-18 acquired the media rights for both television and digital platforms. The media firm has signed a contract with BCCI for 5 years i.e. till 2028.
BCCI Secretary Jai Shah has given this information by tweeting. The BCCI has not yet officially announced the amount of rights sold.
Media rights were sold in two packages. Package A in this is for TV. Whereas, Package B is for digital and world broadcasting rights. The broadcast cycle will start from September 2023 till March 2028. There will be around 88 international matches during this period.
The Indian team will play 88 matches in the 2023 to 2028 cycle. Of these, there will be 21 matches against Australia and 18 against England.
Indian Board conducted e-auction for media rights. Viacom-18 faced competition from Disney Plus and Sony Sports during the e-auction. The board had also conducted an e-auction for IPL media rights last year. Whereas in 2018, offline auctions were held for BCCI rights. In which Star India won.
In the last auction, the Indian board had auctioned its media rights to Star India for $944 million (INR 6138 crore).
About a year ago, BCCI had sold the media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) from 2023 to 2027 for Rs 48,390.52 crore. Disney Star bought the TV rights of the Indian continent for Rs 23,575 crore. Viacom-18 had purchased the digital rights of the Indian continent for Rs 20,500 crore and the non-exclusive digital rights of selected 98 matches for Rs 3,258 crore.
