BCCI Media Rights: Viacom 18 bags TV and digital rights to broadcast India's international games at home

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sold the media rights for the international games, which will be held in India, to Viacom18. It has pipped Star Sports Network - who have been the official broadcaster of BCCI for more than a decade.

As per a Cricbuzz report, Viacom 18, which is a newcomer in the industry, has won the broadcast rights for both digital and television from the BCCI.

As per reports, Viacom 18 is set to pay nearly INR 6000 crore for the next five-year cycle to broadcast all the international matches (bilateral series T20I, ODIs and Tests) that will be played in India.

After the deal, all the international matches will be telecasted on Sport 18 and Sports 18 Khel while the live streaming of the matches will be available on JioCinema - which has the digital rights for IPL.

It was a three-way fight between Disney Star, Sony Sports and ViaCom18 to earn the lucrative BCCI media rights deal when the auction started on August 31. But Viacom 18 - which is a joint venture between Network18 Group - a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, and Paramount Global - has pipped the other two big media companies.

"Congratulations Viacom 18 for winning the BCCI Media Rights for both linear and digital for the next 5 years. India Cricket will continue to grow in both spaces as after IPL, and WPLT 20, we extend the partnership BCCI Media Rights as well. Together we will continue to capture the imagination of Indian cricket fans.

"Also a big thank you to Star India Disney Plus Hotstar for your support over the years. You played a key role in making India Cricket reach its fans across the globe," wrote BCCI secretary Jay Shah on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The board is selling the media rights for a five-year period between 2023 and 2028. The Indian Cricket Board sold the bilateral cricket media rights through an e-auction process.

BCCI was supposed to sell the media rights in two different packages i.e. India Subcontinent TV and India Subcontinent and World Digital. Package A, which is for TV, had a base price of INR 20 crore/match, while Package B (digital and rest of the world) had a base price set at INR 25 crore/match.

The initial number of matches for the upcoming media right cycle (2023-2028) is 88 but the number of games is expected to increase. Disney Star currently holds the media rights for both the TV and digital platforms for broadcasting the Indian cricket team's home games. The company bagged the rights in 2018 with a whopping INR 6,138 crore bid.