ICC media rights: Winner for 2023-31 cycle to be announced on Saturday

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will announce the winner of the sale of media rights for the 2023-31 cycle on Saturday, following a closed-loop bid process in Dubai on Friday. Here, closed loop means that the bid submission was in sealed envelopes.

Broadcasters Disney-Star, Sony, Zee and Viacom18 have submitted their bids, it is reliably learnt, after protesting about the lack of transparency in a closed-loop exercise. Amazon, while initially showing interest to bid for the rights, was not part of the process on Friday.

At stake is media rights for multiple events including sixteen men’s events (for eight years) and six women’s events (for four years), whose combined valued is estimated at over $4 billion, according to media industry experts. The package also includes Under-19 matches and digital rights to make it attractive for over-the-top (OTT) players.

Concerns had heightened over the last few days after PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) stepped down as auditors in the run up to the auction on Friday. Despite the drama, all four broadcasters made strong bid presentations in Dubai on Friday evening, it is reliably learnt.

The difference between the two highest bidders is more than 10 per cent, persons in the know said, which, according to the ICC tender document, will not trigger a second round. The need for a second round would have arisen, if there was a tie between two players.

The ICC will now consult its board, before making the final announcement on Saturday, informed sources said. Unlike the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights auction, which was conducted via an e-auction, the ICC has been at the receiving end from the start for conducting a closed-loop bidding exercise.

An e-auction would have happened in case the bid process went into a second round. However, broadcasters such as Disney-Star and Viacom18 had written to the ICC recently, asking for an e-auction process throughout the bidding process.

“We strongly urge ICC to consider and adopt e-auction as the sole process for the current bid,” the letter by Viacom18 to ICC said.