The award of the next set of media rights for Twenty20 cricket competition the Indian Premier League has been hit by a further delay, with a total of 24 companies now said to be in contention for the contracts on offer.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has been forced to abort the tender process on a number of occasions but released a fresh invitation to tender on July 21. Bid submissions were due on August 28, with the results of the tender expected to be announced on the same day.
This deadline was moved to September 1 and has now been rescheduled for September 4. The rights tender is set to cover five editions of the IPL, from 2018 to 2022, and includes both broadcast and digital rights.
It was reported earlier this month that international media and entertainment company Discovery Communications and OTT operator YuppTV had entered into contention and the Press Trust of India news agency said a further four companies have now stepped forward.
“Yes, Airtel and Yahoo have bought bid documents,” a BCCI official told PTI on condition of anonymity. “Along with them the other two new companies are BAMTech and DAZN/Perform Group, who also have bought documents. Both BAMTech and DAZN/Perform group are working in the digital space.”
Companies that had purchased bidding documents for last year’s tender, which was scheduled to conclude on October 25, have been provided the new tender documents without any additional charge.
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.
In other news, India’s Supreme Court yesterday (Monday) refused a request for the BCCI to conduct e-auctioning for the IPL rights tender. Bharatiya Janata Party member Subramanian Swamy has called for an e-auctioning process in order to gain maximum value from the tender and ensure its transparency.
However, the PTI said a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chadrachud turned down Swamy’s plea that the tendering process be postponed and e-auctioning introduced.
However, Swamy said he wanted to file an interim application highlighting alleged collusion and conflict of interest on behalf of a BCCI official who also runs a news channel. The PTI said this plea was allowed by the top court.