Google, FB, OTTs, Jio and others to tussle for BCCI digital rights

Social network platform Facebook and search behemoth Google are all set to witness a fierce competition from OTT players and telecom companies such as Reliance Jio, Airtel, Amazon Prime, and Hotstar for the digital rights of Indian cricket for the next five years.

The online auction of the broadcast and digital rights of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) international and domestic matches between April 2018 to March 2023, which is expected to be held on March 27, will now float on April 3.

BCCI – the governing body of cricket in the country – which once had to pay the state-run broadcaster Doordarshan for the telecast of matches, will witness a battle among broadcasters to grab rights to broadcast matches.

BCCI has divided the invitation to tender (ITT) process into several packages which include global television rights plus rest-of-world digital rights package, Indian-subcontinent digital rights package, and a global consolidated rights package.

The cricket governing body has set a basic price for the digital rights at Rs 8 crore for the first year. For the next four years, the board has fixed Rs 7 crore per match. Meanwhile, the base price for the television rights for the first year is Rs 35 crore per match and Rs 33 crore per match for the remaining tenure.

Last year, social giant Facebook had made a massive bid amount of Rs 3,900 crore for the Indian Premier League (IPL) digital rights, but it lost to Star India which had made Rs 16,347.5 crore winning bid.

Despite making headlines for the recent data breach controversy, Facebook is looking to make a mark with its Facebook TV while Google has been reaping benefits through its 12 years old acquisition -- YouTube.

Lately, Mukesh Ambani led Jio has launched an interactive cricket channel on their JioTV App platform. South Asia focused content provider Yupp TV also has been placing its bet for the upcoming auction.

The news was first reported by ET.