DisneyStar and Viacom18 winners of IPL rights auction with fee more than doubling

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen its rights valuation more than double, with DisneyStar and Viacom18 set to be revealed as the winners of a competitive rights tender.

While the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) is yet to officially reveal the results, multiple reports from the country have said that DisneyStar, the incumbent overall rights holder, has secured the TV broadcast rights, with Viacom18 picking up the digital rights.

Both deals combined are set to be worth INR44,075 crore (US$5.64 billion). DisneyStar will reportedly pay INR23,575 crore (US$3.01 billion), based on a fee of INR57.5 crore (US$7.36 million) per match. 

The fee for the digital rights is more than 10% higher than what Star paid for the overall rights in 2017. Viacom18 will pay INR20,500 crore (US$2.62 billion) in total, based on INR50 crore (US$6.41 million) per match. 

The BCCI will also sell an additional package of domestic rights and overseas rights by June 14, but the total is already more than double the INR16,347.5 crore (US$2.55 billion) that Star paid in 2017.

The IPL, one of the world’s most-watched sports competitions, has become something of a king-maker in the Indian market, with Disney’s ownership of the rights serving as a major boost to the launch of Disney+ Hotstar in April 2020. The likes of Amazon and Zee Entertainment were also interested in the rights

Viacom18 meanwhile is in the midst of a merger that will see James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree, Paramount Global, TV18 and Reliance split ownership of the business to create “one of the largest TV and digital streaming companies in India.”