The Board of Control for Cricket in India is "poised for a windfall with the media rights auction of its most prized property," the Indian Premier League, according to Gaurav Laghate of the TIMES OF INDIA. The India subcontinent TV rights for the IPL "are up for grabs for 10 IPL seasons" ('18-27) and experts believe that "there will be a very high competition among the bidders," led by Star India and current rights holder Sony Pictures Networks India. The digital and global rights "will be sold for five years each." Experts feel that the India TV rights alone "could fetch" between Rs 20,000 crore ($3B) and Rs 27,000 crore ($4B) or "even higher if it gets more competitive." Out of 16 tenders picked up so far, "there are the usual suspects like Star India and SPN," which everyone believes will be the "only fighters for the Indian TV rights." ESP Properties Business Head Vinit Karnik said, "The Indian subcontinent TV rights seem to be a play between Sony and Star. But the digital rights have attracted a lot of attention and are expected to be fiercely competitive." Other players who have picked up the tender document include Amazon India, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Times Internet, "which are expected to bid aggressively for the digital rights." ESPN is "likely to bid" for the U.S. region, while Sky and BT Group "are likely to fight for Europe." The BCCI, in fact, "is expecting" about Rs 30,000 crore ($4.5B) from the IPL in the next 10 years, according to internal sources. Kwan Entertainment & Marketing Solutions COO Indranil Das Blah said, "I don't think it will be surprising to see a huge spike in the media rights value. Whether it will be a fair value is something only time will tell" (TIMES OF INDIA, 10/10). TELEVISION POST reported indications are that Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm "will bid for the digital rights and may not look at the TV rights." Ambani has a presence in the TV business through TV18 Broadcast while "his ambitious project Reliance Jio has crossed 16 million customers within a month of its launch" on Sept. 5. Incidentally, Reliance Jio has "purchased the IPL tender document." Amazon is "also expected to make a serious bid for the digital rights of the IPL." Though Times Internet has picked up the tender document, "it is not clear whether it will bid aggressively." The documents for IPL are priced at $10,000 (TELEVISION POST, 10/10).
