Supersport, Sky pick Ind T20 League Tender

UK’s Sky Sports and Supersport of South Africa are among the notable names to who have shown interest in the media rights of the Indian T20 League, the sale of which is highly anticipated in the global cricket market. Sources within the Indian Cricket Board have confirmed the purchase of Invitation to Tender (ITT) document by the UK and South Africa broadcast stations, who are expected to place bid for the Bouquet D- world rights, of the Ind T20 League

Star India Pvt Ltd, Viacom 18 Media Private Limited, Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited, Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, Sporta Technologies Pvt Ltd (Dream 11), Supersport International Pty Ltd and Sky UK Ltd are the significant parties who have bought the ITT document, the cost of which is non refundable INR 25 LAKH. The ITT will be made available for purchase till  May 10. 

There are talks around that Netflix, Facebook, Apple and Airtel evincing interest too, but there hasn’t been any confirmation on this as of yet.  The Indian Cricket Board officials are confident that the price of the rights will hit the roof even as a Sony functionary sounded circumspect about the high pricing of the rights. The Indian Cricket Board has fixed Rs 32,890 crores as the combined base price for the four packages which will go for sale on June 12.

Meanwhile the Indian Cricket Board shut the deadline for clarifications, sought by the interested parties, on April 30. The clarifications are dew in a couple of weeks which should sort out the concerns raised by prospective bidders. The ITT has not put out a final word on the number of matches in a season; the Indian Cricket Board has only declared that it will charge the broadcasters on a pro-rata basis if the current cap fixed at 74 is increased. 

There were also apprehensions over the 5 percent increment stated in the ITT which seemingly is the figure to be imposed on the parties that want to challenge another bouquet. 

However, the Indian cricket board has not provided clarity on the value of increments in the e-auction of each category of rights.