Viacom 18, Disney Star among firms shortlisted for IPL TV, digital rights

The highly-awaited media rights auction for the Indian Premier League is likely to see four bidders including Viacom18, Disney Star, Zee and Sony. The successful bidders will have the rights to broadcast the matches. The e-auction for the media rights from 2023 to 2027 will be held on June 12.

"Four firms have been shortlisted for bidding as they filed their final bids and soon we will reveal the name of winner. The four shortlisted are Viacom 18, Disney Star, Sony and Zee," a source told ANI.

There are four specific packages in which e-auction will be conducted or 74 games per season for a five-year period from 2023-2027 with a provision of increasing the number of matches to 94 in the final two years.

The process has been divided into a total of four packages (A, B, C and D). The package A is exclusive for TV for the Indian subcontinent while package B is for digital only grouping for the same region.

Amazon had pulled out of the Indian Premier League media rights auction race, leaving the field to its rivals which include Walt Disney Co. that owns Disney-Star and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd. through Viacom18/Reliance.

Many big names in the entertainment industry came forward to grab the media rights of the mega event, but according to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sources, an ace industrial house of the country could win the bid as they have shown keen interest in the league for a long time and are also part of the league.

With the league becoming bigger and adding value every year, the media rights for the current cycle are expected to end with some big numbers. The current bidders will win the rights to broadcast the league for a five-year cycle, which will start with the 16th edition of the tournament in 2023 till 2027.