BCCI turns Starry-eyed

Mumbai: Star India beat stiff competition from Sony and Reliance to bag the media rights for the next five years of Indian cricket for a whopping Rs. 6138.1 crore here on Wednesday.

The e-auction of television and digital rights, a first in cricket, was finally settled on the third day with Star India Private Ltd, Reliance Industries Limited, and Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited in the fray for the media rights for India's bilateral series at home for the next five year cycle from 2018 to 2023.

However, Star India emerged the winner at the end, paying around Rs. 18 crore per match more than what they did in the previous cycle."Congratulations @StarSportsIndia on bagging the BCCI Media Rights @ 6138.1 crores at an average of 60.1 crore per game," BCCI acting treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary tweeted.

With this successful bid, Star hold the rights for both -- the IPL and India's matches at home -- for the next five years, paying around Rs. 60.1 crore per match for the next five years. They had bagged the IPL media rights for Rs. 16,347.50 crore. 

The BCCI had secured its position as the world's richest cricket board in September with the game's biggest TV deal when it sold Indian Premier League's (IPL) global media rights to Star India for a staggering $2.52 billion.

The Global Consolidated Rights (which includes broadcast as well as digital rights for India and Rest of the World) bid has already witnessed a quantum jump from the 2012 Star India bid of Rs 3851 crore.