8 months and Rs 22,500 crore later, Star India becomes the apple of BCCI's eye

Star India on Thursday retained media rights for all bilateral cricket matches in India for Rs 6,138.10 crore, for a period of five years.

Star India, which retained the rights, will be paying around Rs 60.17 crore per match to the BCCI.

The media rights include both — television and digital media rights — for all international matches played by the Indian cricket team at home from April 2018 to March 2023.

Star India will now have the rights to broadcast a total of 102 matches, as part of the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) in the next five year.

Star had in September 2017, clinched the 'Global Media Rights' of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a period of five years (2018-2023), for a whopping sum of Rs 16,347.50 crore.

The broadcasting giant has now spent a total of Rs 22,485.6 crore on the two Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) properties in less than nine months.

With the latest round of rights win, Star India has now created a near-monopoly in cricket broadcasting, in the country.

Star India now holds three major cricket properties — IPL, Indian cricket and International Cricket Council (ICC) broadcast rights.

Besides the fresh BCCI media rights awarded on Thursday, the IPL and ICC events, Star currently holds media rights for Asian Cricket Council’s events, cricket in New Zealand and Bangladesh, along with regional Twenty20 tournaments such as Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) and Karnataka Premier League (KPL).

However, Star’s rival Sony Pictures Network (SPN) has rights to seven cricket boards — Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, England, Australia, Zimbabwe and Pakistan — along with media rights to popular T20 tournaments like Australia’s Big Bash League and the Caribbean Premier league.