IPL 2023-27 Media Rights, Amazon Pulls Out, race between Viacom, Sony, Star, Voot: The most anticipated duel between Jeff Bezos’ Amazon and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance for the acquisition of the IPL 2023-27 media rights for the next five-year cycle couldn’t start as the former party decided not to show up for the Technical evaluation round held by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday. Amazon, which was expected to bid aggressively for the world’s best cricket league’s media rights, has already backed out of the contest after purchasing the Invitation to Tender (ITT) document.
If the reports are to be believed, Amazon hasn’t revealed the actual reason for pulling out of the bidding contest for the digital space.
Meanwhile, Reliance-backed Viacom 18 is considered one of the toughest contenders for both digital and TV rights along with Star, Sony and Voot.
“Yes, Amazon is out of the race. They didn’t join the technical bidding process today. As far as Google (YouTube) is concerned, they had picked up the bid document but didn’t submit it. As of now, 10 companies (TV and streaming) are in fray,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
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IPL 2023-27 Media Rights – Four-way battle:
The BCCI has released four specific packages for the IPL 2023-27 media rights (digital and TV) for the next five years. The first package includes exclusive TV broadcasting rights in the sub-continent region while the second package will have the digital rights for the sub-continent region.
Package three will cover 18 selected matches of the tournament for digital space while the last package will have all games (digital and TV) for the overseas audiences.
As per the BCCI, 74 matches will be held in the first two IPL seasons of the cycle, the number will be elevated to 84 in the next two seasons and the total matches will go up to 94 in the last season of the IPL 2023-27 cycle.
“Let’s make it clear, the Viacom 18 JV (Joint Venture), current rights holder Walt Disney (Star), Zee and Sony are the four contenders for the packages with solid footprints in both TV and digital market,” the official said.
The bidding for the TV and digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held on Sunday and Monday, 12 & 13 June 2022. The rights will be valid for next five years period from 2023-2027.
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