CHENNAI: “Risk everything or lose everything” is how Star India looked at the IPL broadcast rights for the period between 2018-2022. It might sound too much of a risk, but considering the competition, Star had everything to throw at it including the kitchen sink, especially with its TV rights for bilateral series in India coming up for renewal in 2018.
When 24 companies picked up tender papers, Star had one objective: bid for all categories — TV in India, India digital, overseas TV and digital. But this was easier said than done in a market where players like YouTube, Facebook and Reliance Jio were showing interest.
In the end, when the bids were opened in Mumbai, Star’s bids for Indian television, Indian digital, and global rights was nowhere close to the other competitors. But where they staged a coup was in the global category. Their was the only bid in this category and eventually, Rs 16,347.50 crore was not only a winner, but a record in cricket.
Is it worth all the money? The figure sounds insane, but considering how brand IPL has grown despite controversies, it also suggests that the market is independent of such factors. Star believed, with the ever-growing fandom of franchises like Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, getting an event like IPL featuring leading global cricketers was a risk worth taking. Some risk it was, throwing everything at the global bid, like a punter committing everything in Las Vegas!
Though there is this notion of Star creating a monopoly, insiders point out how they were facing the risk of losing out on ad rates to channels beaming the truly global sports stars. SonyESPN holds the rights for the FIFA World Cup, while the 2020 Olympics is still up for grabs.
“By holding rights of La Liga and Serie A, SonyESPN has Ronaldo and Messi in their air space. Star has only Premier League, which too is limited to HD channels. So in terms of reaching out to the common man, there was nothing apart from Indian cricket and IPL gives Star a much balanced look,” an insider points out.
With this latest deal, Star now has broadcast rights for all cricket events in India, ICC events and matches in Bangladesh. Its contract with Cricket Australia ended last March and there is a strong possibility that SonyESPN might bag the rights this time. And remove the rights for matches in England, which concludes after their series against the West Indies, Star now has to rely on Indian cricket. No wonder they took the all or nothing approach.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com
We felt we are the only bidders, who have a presence in TV broadcasting and also robust presence on digital platform (via Hotstar). We have a good distribution of channels internationally and want to roll out Hotstar globally. We thought IPL could be a device for that.-Uday Shankar, Star India CEO
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