IPL media rightrs attracts more than 20 bidders
More than 20 companies have bought the Invitation To Tender (ITT) for the high profile media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which have now been scheduled for September 1,2017.
The submissions were earlier scheduled to take place on August 28, and had to be postponed by four days because of matters related to taxation and impending bank holidays. In the first round of clarifications on the ITT sent out last Friday, the Indian cricket board had informed potential bidders about the same.
The list of bidders has been submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday (22nd Augurst,2017) while the petition submitted by MP Subramanian Swamy for e-auction of IPL rights will be taken up.
The BCCI has however stated that cricket is not coal and e-auction of rights will not help discover the best value.
Star India Pvt Ltd, Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd, Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd and Reliance Jio Digital lead the list of 20-odd companies that have picked up the tender, with internet giant Yahoo joining the race. Other companies in the mix include Times Internet Ltd, Gulf DTH, GroupM Media India, Sky UK, ESPN Digital Media, Twitter, Facebook, Discovery and Airtel.
The BCCI has kept all options open in terms of inviting the bids and it remains to be seen if it will be a level-playing field. While the cricket board's logic is that keeping all options open allows it to look at revenue maximization, the digital market is clearly bigger industry going further, which BCCI is unwilling to explore keeping broadcaster interests in mind.
