Disney Star, Sony Sports, and Viacom 18 in a three-way battle for bilateral media rights: Report

New Delhi: Disney Star, Sony Sports and Viacom 18 are going to be in a three-way battle for the India bilateral media rights bid, whose cycle runs from September 2023 to March 2027.

As per a report in Cricbuzz, the media rights auction is set to take place on August 31. It added that other entities such as Zee and FanCode along with two other multinational companies, Google and Amazon, did not participate in the technical rights bid held on Monday.

“Monday was the designated day for the submission of technical bids, during which the regulator evaluates whether the participants satisfied the criteria outlined in the Invitation To Tender (ITT). Therefore, the technical bid serves as the first step towards participation in the forthcoming online auction,” added the report.

The India media rights broadcast cycle, also including the domestic calendar, commences with eight matches against Australia — three ODIs in September and five T20Is in November this year.

The three ODIs are before the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup starting from October 5, while the five T20Is will happen after the mega event concludes on November 19.

The report added that Zee’s absence means it could be in a partnership with Sony Sports in the bidding process.

“A joint bid by Sony-Zee also remains a possibility, given that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is permitting consortium bids — a provision absent in the previous media rights auctions, notably in the IPL rights auction last year,” it added.

In April 2018, Star India retained the television broadcast and digital rights for all India bilateral and domestic matches for the next five years at a whopping amount of INR 6,138.1 crores, outbidding Sony Sports and Viacom 18.

–IANS