Reliance and Disney bid to stream Indian Premier League cricket

The cost you’ll incur to stream Indian Premier League cricket tripled to about $6.2 billion, or around 480 billion rupees. This made acquiring media rights to this Indian based cricket tournament more expensive than getting rights to stream the English Premier League. However, this hasn’t stopped global corporations from looking for more subscribers on the subcontinent.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and Paramount Global have a joint venture named ViacomI8 Media Pvt that won a bid to acquire media streaming rights for around 238 billion rupees. Board of Control for Cricket in India’s secretary, Jay Shah, announced this on Tuesday via their official Twitter handle. Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), on the other hand got the television rights for around 236 billion rupees.

Are you looking for fast-news, hot-tips and market analysis?

Sign-up for the Invezz newsletter, today.

About the IPL media rights

Indian media recently reported that the billing rights value of an IPL match beat that of on English Premier League which stands at around $11.6 million. The combined worth of the IPL media rights was nearly double the 2018-2022 agreement.

Star India, which is wholly owned by Walt Disney, retained the television broadcast rights for the two-month tournament that happens every year for about $3 billion, half the total sum. They’ll have the right to broadcast from 2023 season all the way up to 2027.

How does management feel?

Walt Disney Company’s Chairperson of the International Content and Operations, Rebecca Campbell said:

“IPL is an important component of our portfolio of television channels in India, providing an incredible opportunity for us to showcase The Walt Disney Company’s powerful global brands and iconic storytelling, as well as Disney Star’s impressive collection of local original content, to millions of viewers in India.”