As the Asia Cup 2023 and ODI World Cup 2023 season is currently upon us, Disney+ Hotstar ended up winning big when it came to the digital rights of streaming the cricket tournament, in a major setback for JioCinema. However, Mukesh Ambani’s company is now on a stellar comeback with a new deal with BCCI.
Read More: Punjab National Bank launches PNB GST Sahay app for instant digital loans based on GST invoices
Surpassing both Disney+ Hotstar and Sony in a three-way bidding war, Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema and Viacom18 bagged the TV and digital rights for Indian cricket team’s home matches for five years, PTI reported, in a whopping deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Currently, Disney+ Hotstar and Star hold both the TV and digital rights of all cricket matches. The firm had won the BCCI rights through a bid of Rs 6,138 crore (Rs 60 crore per match) in the last auction. However, Viacom18 ended up surpassing this amount.
Read More: Gold and silver prices on September 3: Check latest rates in your city
The new deal signed between BCCI and Viacom18 means that all of Team India’s domestic and international matches will be streamed on JioCinema and Sports18 for the next five years (2023 to 2028), for a whopping price of Rs 67.8 crore per match.
This proves to be a major feat for Mukesh Ambani’s streaming platform JioCinema, which is expected to crush Disney+ Hotstar through its new cricket rights.
Read More: Walmart invests $3.5 billion in Flipkart, ups stake to 80.5%
Taking to social media, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said, “Congratulations Viacom18 for winning the BCCI media rights for both linear and digital for the next 5 years. India Cricket will continue to grow in both spaces as after IPL, and WPLT20, we extend the partnership of BCCI media rights as well. Together we will continue to capture the imagination of Indian cricket fans.”
Previously, Viacom18 had bagged the digital rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a whopping Rs 48,940 crore for four years, 2023 to 2027. Now, this new five year deal guarantees 88 matches involving Team India, with the home matches of the women’s cricket team also in the package.
