New Indian pay-television channel DSport is set to compete in the forthcoming tender process for rights to Twenty20 cricket competition the Indian Premier League.
DSport, a partnership between Discovery Communications and Indian broadcast executive RC Venkateish, launched in India earlier this month. Its backing by Discovery could make it a serious player for the lucrative rights to the IPL.
Concerning the IPL rights auction, Venkateish told the Mumbai Mirror newspaper: “That is obviously the plan. I am the advisor of the channel and I will advise them to bid for it.”
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is set to open a new tender process for television and digital rights to the IPL following the 2017 season of the tournament, which will run from April 5 to May 21.
The tender will reportedly run along similar lines to the one that had commenced last year, before ultimately being cancelled in October. The BCCI was forced to apologise to bidders in the tender process for the next set of rights to the IPL after electing to postpone the scheduled auction for the competition. Uncertainty had been caused in the wake of an order from the Supreme Court over matters relating to the wide-ranging overhaul of the governance of the BCCI.
The initial tender was launched on September 19, with the BCCI accepting bids for the rights through to October 25. The packages on offer included television rights in the Indian subcontinent for 10 years, from 2018 to 2027, digital rights in the Indian subcontinent over five years, from 2018 to 2022, and television and digital rights for the same five-year period for the rest of the world.
The BCCI had informed the IPL’s current rights-holder, Sony Pictures Networks India, that it would launch an open tender process in an effort to demonstrate transparency in its operations, with the governing body under substantial pressure to implement major reforms in its governance.
Pay-television broadcaster Star India holds the IPL’s digital and overseas rights, except in the UK and the US. The contracts are due to expire following the forthcoming 2017 IPL season.
The 18 companies that picked up the initial ITT were: Star India, Amazon, Followon Interactive Media, Taj TV, Sony Pictures Networks, Times Internet, SuperSport International, Reliance Jio Digital Services, Gulf DTH, GroupM Media India, beIN, Econet Media, Sky UK, ESPN Digital Media (India), BTG Legal Services, BT, Twitter and Facebook.