The Int'l Cricket Council announced cricket’s biggest-ever global broadcast partnership by jointly awarding its audio-visual rights for ICC events from '15 to '23 to Star India and Star Middle East. The decision was made by the ICC Business Corp. Board, the ICC’s commercial arm, during a meeting at the ICC headquarters in Dubai on Sunday. While the final value of the rights fee agreed "will not be disclosed, it is significantly in excess of the ICC’s previous commercial deals." Included in the new eight-year period are 18 ICC tournaments, including two ICC Cricket World Cups ('19 and '23), two ICC Champions Trophy tournaments ('17 and '21) and two ICC World Twenty20 tournaments ('16 and '20) (ICC). TELEVISION POST reported while the value of the deal is not disclosed, a source said it is in the region of $2B. The ICC had received $1.1B "for the earlier eight-year cycle of the rights from 2007." By renewing ICC rights, Star "warded off competition from Sony Six and Ten Sports." The renewal "will help Star to cement its sway over sports broadcasting in India." In cricket, the broadcaster has rights to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the England & Wales Cricket Board, Cricket Australia and Champions League T20 (TELEVISION POST, 10/13).
