International Cricket Council (ICC) is planning for its own rollout shortly after the auction of Indian Premier League (IPL) broadcast rights, which is set for June.
Sources confirmed that a few ICC top officials were in Mumbai earlier this week for three days, attempting to pique the attention of Indian broadcasters, who will be the primary funders of international cricket for the next eight years, beginning in 2023.
After IPL rights auction on June 12, the sale is expected to be completed in about a month.
Sunil Manoharan, ICC’s vice-president for broadcast rights, and Anurag Dahia, the global body’s top commercial officer in Dubai, presented presentations to current and possible future clients.
Executives from Disney Hotstar, Sony Pictures Network, Network 18, which recently launched its sports channel Sports 18, and FanCode, among others, were interviewed by the two ICC officials.
Officials from ICC are said to have considered the possibility of selling the rights for four years rather than the full eight years that the world body usually offers.
“They appear to be more interested in four-year contracts, but bidders will have the option of opting for eight years as well.”
“They have their own procedures for calculating appreciation over a period of eight years” according to an industry executive who attended the discussions with ICC authorities.
ICC has previously stated that it will auction the India package — both broadcast and digital — first, and unlike the BCCI, it will allow parties to bid for both television and digital rights in one bid.
BCCI has separated the two packages, requiring two separate bids to purchase IPL’s television and internet rights.
Another major decision that ICC appears to have made recently is that the final victor will be required to broadcast the matches on television, a stipulation that it had hoped to avoid.
ICC considered providing winning team the option of just showing the matches on OTT platforms if they so desired.
The current worth of ICC rights is USD 1.9 billion for eight years, but considering that global competition will be held every year, the overall value is expected to rise.
Indian broadcasters have expressed worries about the schedule of matches in the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies and the United States, where the time zones differ from India’s.
ICC has informed the Indian teams that all of their games will take place at prime time in India.
Another source of concern is the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan, where Indian participation is uncertain due to diplomatic difficulties between the two countries.
Officials from the ICC are said to have allayed those concerns as well. Starting with the announcement of the tender, the procedure should be completed by the end of July.
