IPL Media Rights: Amazon pulls out; Star, Viacom18, Sony, Zee in 4-way race

Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani for acquisition of one of world's costliest sporting properties won't materialise now as OTT giants Amazon on Friday pulled out of IPL media rights bidding, scheduled to start on Sunday. Reliance Industries Limited owned Viacom18 is considered to be one of the strongest contenders both in TV and digital space. Bezos-funded Amazon was expected to be one of the biggest bidders in digital space but pulled out of the race without revealing the reason.

Read AlsoAmazon to pull out of high-stakes bidding battle for Indian Premier League media rights

US tech behemoth Amazon will not bid for rights to telecast India's premier league cricket, projected to be worth more than 500 billion rupees ($6.4 billion), a source with knowledge of the company's plans said on Friday. The decision comes just two days ahead of the bidding for the television and

"Yes, Amazon is out of the race. They didn't join the technical bidding process today. As far as Google (YouTube) is concerned, they had picked up the bid document but didn't submit it. As of now, 10 companies (TV and streaming) are in fray," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity. A four-way battleThere are four specific packages in which e-auction will be conducted for 74 games per season for a five-year period from 2023-2027 with a provision of increasing the number of matches to 94 in the final two years. Package A has Indian sub-continent exclusive TV (broadcast) rights while Package B covers digital rights for Indian sub-continent. The Package C is for 18 selected games in each season for digital space while Package D (all games) will be for combined TV and digital rights for overseas markets. "Let's make it clear, the Viacom 18 JV