FB, Google eye BCCI media rights

New Delhi: Six companies, including conglomerates such as Star, Sony and Jio along with digital majors Facebook and Google, will bid for media rights for India’s bilateral cricket series at home as the BCCI is set to conduct its first-ever e-auction on Tuesday in Mumbai.

The bidding process will be a marked departure from BCCI’s conventional closed bid auction model (sealed envelope process) after the Committee of Administrators (CoA) felt that the online bidding is a far more transparent method for competitive price discovery.

The media rights will be for a period of five years from April 2018 to March 2023. The BCCI is selling media rights for three specific categories — (i) the Global TV Rights plus Rest of World (ROW) Digitals Rights package, (ii) Indian sub-continent Digital Rights package and (iii) Global Consolidated Rights package.

For 2018-19 season, the per match value for the global TV and ROW Digital Rights is Rs 35 crore, Rs 8 crore for Indian sub-continent while Rs 43 crore will be the starting bid for the Global Consolidated Rights.

From the period between 2019 and 2023, the per match value package is Rs 33 crore for ROW, Rs 7 crore for Indian sub-continent and Rs 40 crore for the Global Consolidated Rights. India are expected to play 22 Tests, 42 ODIs and 38 Twenty20 Internationals at home in the next five-year cycle.

Star, Sony and Jio are expected to compete hard for the TV broadcast rights along with Yupp TV while Facebook and Google will battle for the Digital Rights Package.