A three-way battle between Disney Star, Sony Sports and Viacom 18 is reportedly on the cards for the India bilateral media rights bid, whose cycle will run between September 2023 to March 2027.
According to a report in Cricbuzz, the media rights auction is slated to be held on August 31 however, other parties like Zee and FanCode along with two other multinational companies, Google and Amazon, did not participate in the technical rights bid held on Monday.
“Monday was the designated day for the submission of technical bids, during which the regulator evaluates whether the participants satisfied the criteria outlined in the Invitation To Tender (ITT). Therefore, the technical bid serves as the first step towards participation in the forthcoming online auction,” said the report.
The India media rights broadcast cycle, which also includes the domestic calendar, will begin with the eight matches against Australia — three ODIs in September and five T20Is in November this year. The ODIs are before the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup starting from October 5, while the five T20Is will be held after the showpiece event, which will end on November 19.
The report added that Zee’s absence means it could be in a partnership with Sony Sports in the bidding process.
“A joint bid by Sony-Zee also remains a possibility, given that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is permitting consortium bids — a provision absent in the previous media rights auctions, notably in the IPL rights auction last year,” it added.
Earlier in April 2018, Star India had retained the television broadcast and digital rights for all India bilateral and domestic matches for the next five years at a whopping amount of Rs 6,138.1 crores, outbidding Sony Sports and Viacom 18.