IPL media rights: Big boys on board

TV18-Viacom, Amazon, Disney, Sony, Zee buy ITT; Apple could joinMUMBAI: Less than a week of BCCI coming out with the Invitation-To-Tender (ITT) to sell the media rights for Indian Premier League's (IPL) 2023-27 broadcast cycle, all the big players - TV18-Viacom , Disney, Sony, Zee, Amazon and another unnamed company - have bought the document. BCCI sources on Monday told TOI, American tech giant Apple is also expected to pick the ITT next week.

The BCCI is expecting to raise revenues to the tune of US$7.2b when the e-auction for these media rights are held in the second week of June. The deadline to purchase the ITT ends on May 10 after which, the next 30 days will be spent in exchange of clarifications sought on the tender document.

"Transparency will be the key and the revenues coming from sale or rights will be directed to India's domestic structure, better infrastructure and welfare of the cricketing fraternity," BCCI secretary Jay Shah has said. Four separate bucketsThe rights will be sold in four separate buckets and the Board, for the first time, has said that it will not allow consortiums or consolidated bids (a sum of all parts) to be put in.

Each bidding party, should it clear the eligibility criteria, will have to separately bid for each package. The packages have been divided into the following categories: A) Television rights for India subcontinent; B) Digital rights; C) A cluster of 18 matches (season opener, four playoffs and evening matches of the double-headers on weekends); D) Rest of the world.

The overall base-price of the entire rights package has been kept at Rs 32,890 crore. The final figure has been arrived at after BCCI kept the per-match base price of television rights at Rs 49 crore, digital