IPL operators prepare digital rights auction

The operators of the Indian Premier League will put digital rights for the Twenty20 cricket tournament on the market next month, according to the Live Mint news website.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, which organises the competition, will offer the rights over four years, from 2015 to 2018, the report said. The rights will cover internet and mobile platforms.

Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India media group, had the rights for four years, from 2011 to 2014.

The league’s chairman, Ranjib Biswal, said that the rights auction would take place in the first week of February.

Broadcast rights in “specific territories outside India” will also be put on the market, the report added.

Media company Multi Screen Media and pay-television broadcaster Star India, which acquired digital rights for the 2014 edition of the tournament in a sublicensing deal with Times Internet, have both expressed an interest in the rights.