Viacom18 wants closed-envelope bids for media rights junked, ICC disagrees

Indian broadcaster Viacom18 has asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to "safeguard the sanctity" of media rights auction for some 700 matches and cancel bids made in closed envelopes.

The ICC is auctioning media rights for its international tournaments for an eight-year cycle, from 2024 to 2031. Apart from Viacom18, three other broadcasters – Disney Star, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, and Sony Pictures Networks India – have submitted technical bids for the e-auction. These bids were submitted till August 22. The final bids will be handed over on August 26, Friday.

In a letter to the ICC on Thursday, Viacom18 complained about closed-envelope bids and the exit of consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as the process auditor. “We are again requesting the IBC/ICC to take strong steps to safeguard the sanctity of the entire process. Specifically, in the interests of complete transparency and fairness, we request IBC (the commercial arm of the ICC) to immediately cancel the currently envisaged closed-bidding process for the first stage and adopt an e-auction process in its entirety,” said Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj’s letter.

"…in the absence of such transparency as requested, we may be forced to revisit our participation in the process. We strongly urge IBC/ICC to consider the above and adopt e-auction as the sole process for the current bid,” said the letter marked to Anurag Dahiya, ICC’s chief commercial officer.

Viacom18 said PwC’s exit as process auditor raised doubts about the auction process. It accused ICC of not being clear in informing bidders about changes in the auction process made after PWC’s exit. “We would request ICC to immediately confirm if PwC will be involved in the process going forward. If not, (which is) the firm that will replace PwC. We also request ICC to provide the reasons that led to this development.”

Cricbuzz.com quoted ICC as confirming PwC’s exit. “Recent clarifications to bidders confirmed that bids can be submitted and opened simultaneously, meaning PWC’s services were no longer required to securely hold financial bids. PwC will continue to support the process in other respects," ICC reportedly said.

Experts have said the ICC believes its international media rights could fetch more money than those for the Indian Premiere League (IPL), and it has adopted a two-round process to make the auction stringent. In the first round, the ICC received bids in close envelopes. The bidding will go into the second round if the difference between the highest bid and the second highest bid is less than 10 per cent. The second round will be conducted via e-auction.

E-auctioning was used to allot IPL media rights which fetched the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Rs 48,390 crore. Most broadcasters have insisted that e-auction should be the only process to allot media rights. The ICC is selling women’s cricket rights separately for the first time ever. Given the crowds for women cricket, it is seen as a big boost for the ICC’s revenue generation.