The Board of Control for Cricket in India "opened the tender process" for the TV and digital rights to the Indian Premier League, according to the FINANCIAL EXPRESS. The previous 10-year deal with Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) is set to expire at the end of the '17 season and the new deal will cover the "next 10 seasons." Currently, the digital rights of the league are with Star India, which also possesses the overseas media rights except for the U.S. and U.K. The BCCI will accept bids until Oct. 25. The TV rights will be given until '27 while digital rights will be given until '22. The new execs at BCCI want to "be patient about the process unlike their predecessors who were in a hurry to sign the deal." A source said, "The former BCCI bosses were in terrible hurry to do the IPL deal, which was rightly stopped by the Lodha Committee as the office-bearers weren’t eligible to do so. But the current working style of BCCI is to do everything without rushing." The IPL has "grown immensely" in the last decade. It is "now the most viewed cricketing league in the world" and this will help the BCCI acquire a "bigger deal," with the estimated amount to fall between Rs 18,000 crore and Rs 30,000 crore ($2.7B-$4.5B) (FINANCIAL EXPRESS, 2/12).
