For the first time, the rights to broadcast IPL matches on TV and to stream them online will be sold separately in the upcoming IPL media rights auction in June 2022, as per a report in Bloomberg. The guidelines regarding this were unveiled recently, and they seem designed to raise both bids and tensions.
While this auction has opened the door for Amazon and its Prime video service to attempt at grabbing this opportunity, it seems like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is poised to battle it out with Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani over the rights to telecast IPL cricket matches.
The auction event, which starts on June 12th 2022, could see bets of $7 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter, who didn¡¯t want to be quoted discussing sensitive information.?
The auction will reportedly take place live online over the course of two days, which means proxies for the two men will have to make minute-by-minute bids and counterbids in real-time.??
The BCCI, too, has recently tweeted to release detailed terms and conditions in its ¡°Invitation to Tender.¡± According to the board, the document will be available to purchase in the coming weeks to those who pay a non-refundable fee of ?2.5 million plus taxes.
At stake are the rights to show IPL matches between 2023 and 2027, with separate auctions to decide the winners for live streaming and broadcasting in different regions.
Though Amazon and Reliance seem to be the most ambitious bidders, they join a horde of competitors, including the Walt Disney Co-owned Star India and its Disney Hotstar streaming service. Also in the mix is a newly-created media behemoth that combines Sony Pictures and India¡¯s Zee Entertainment Enterprises, people familiar with the matter said, as per Bloomberg.
Others, including Meta Platforms Inc.¡¯s Facebook and Alphabet Inc.¡¯s YouTube, are still considering whether to place bids, multiple people reportedly said.?
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