Newly-elected Board of Control for Cricket in India president Anurag Thakur has said future broadcast contracts for Twenty20 competition the Indian Premier League will have the current right of first refusal clause removed from them.
The BCCI is set to commence negotiations over the IPL’s next broadcast rights contract on May 29, with Thakur (pictured) stating the board expects a “handsome” and “manifold jump” in revenues.
Sony Pictures Networks India currently holds the IPL’s broadcast rights under a 10-season deal that commenced with the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2008 and is set to run through to the end of next year’s event.
Indian newspaper the Economic Times has reported that Sony currently has right of first refusal for the next round of negotiations.
Thakur told the Economic Times: “(In) future contracts, we will make sure that no such thing is there… and in the last 15 months also, we have not given anyone this kind of incentive or opportunity. We will make sure that in future agreements also, such a clause will not be there.”
The newspaper added that the BCCI is unlikely to award its next set of rights for another 10-season period, stating that shorter term deals will be sought with the IPL now firmly established as one of sport’s major properties.