The International Cricket Council (ICC) will begin its tender for media rights on Monday, following the BCCI’s windfall of Rs 48,000 crore in IPL media rights. According to sources, the ICC is set to launch a media rights bidding for the Indian Subcontinent on June 20th.
The ITT is exclusively offered in India, with up to six packages available in TV solely, digital only, or a mix of the two.
Men’s and women’s rights will be purchased individually for the first time. Bids are accepted for 16 Men’s events (over 8 years) and six Women’s events (over 4 years), for a total of 362* and 103* matches, respectively. For the first four years of men’s events, interested parties must submit a bid. They do, however, have the opportunity to bid for an eight-year agreement.
The Chief Executive of ICC, Geoff Allardice said-
“International cricket consistently attracts huge audiences and that is driving significant interest from broadcasters for ICC events. There has been significant growth in interest in women’s cricket over the last five years and we have made a long-term strategic commitment to accelerate that growth and unbundling the rights for our women’s events will play a huge role in that. We are looking for a broadcast partner who is excited by the role they will play in growing the women’s game and ensuring more fans than ever before can enjoy it.”
The ITT will be issued on June 20th, and interested parties should send an email to iccmediarights2024-2031@icc-cricket.com to request access to the tender materials.
The ICC Board will make a decision in September 2022. Following that, the ITTs for more markets will be available.
Following the conclusion of the IPL Tender Process, ICC Chairman Greg Barclay stated that the organisation will conduct its own tender.
“Well, from an expectation point of view, I am quite excited that there is interest in the rights. I think there are some very, very credible parties, parties that I think the ICC will be able to work with and they all will be able to contribute positively to the growth of cricket. Our process is not the same as the BCCI’s. We have got the process that we have got strong capability internally, we have taken external advice as well, so I am comfortable that the way we are approaching the tendering of media rights is probably the best process for the ICC at the moment.“- said Barclay
The ICC postponed its distribution until the IPL media rights auction, which ended on June 14th, was completed. The Indian subcontinent TV rights went to Disney Star India, while the Indian subcontinent digital rights and worldwide media rights went to Viacom18.
Times Internet also won international media rights for the United States and the Middle East and North Africa.
For men’s cricket, the next ICC cycle will contain four T20 World Cups and two Cricket World Cups. Two Champions Trophy tournaments and four Global Test Championship (WTC) Finals will alternate with the world cups.
There will be four T20 World Cups, two Cricket World Cups, and two T20 Champions Trophy competitions in the women’s cricket cycle.
Disney Star has paid $2 billion for the ICC media rights for an eight-year period from 2015 to 2023.
The purchase was nearly double the $1.1 billion paid by ESPN Star Sports, a former Disney-Fox joint venture, for the 2007-14 cycle.
All of the usual suspects, including incumbent Disney Star, Sony Network, and Viacom18, are anticipated to bid for the rights in the upcoming cycle.
