IPL rights cycle to cover five years

The next cycle of media rights for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament will run for five years, rather than 10 years as originally planned.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India will issue an invitation to tender on May 21, immediately after the 2017 edition of the tournament, according to the Times of India newspaper.

An original ITT was issued in September for rights covering 10 years for broadcast rights, from 2018 to 2027, and five years for digital rights, from 2018 to 2022.

However, the sales process stalled due to a legal challenge by the Supreme Court into the governance of the BCCI which led to Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke being removed as the board’s president and secretary after failing to implement a series of reforms.

There will be a 45-day window to submit bids and Deloitte will carry out due diligence on the interested parties, the report added.