Viacom18 wins the TV and digital rights for the Indian Cricket Team’s home games

BCCI announced Sports18 and JioCinema as the official broadcasters (Image via BCCI)

Mukesh Ambani backed Viacom18 just won the TV and Digital rights for all BCCI matches. Jay Shah confirmed that Viacom18 will hold the rights for the next 5 years, with their term starting from September 2023. Their TV channel, Sports 18, will broadcast their matches whereas their OTT platform, JioCinema will stream the matches.

Viacom18 currently hold the rights for the Indian Cricket Team home matches, Men (digital) and Women’s IPL, T10 League, SAT20 and the Road Safety World Series. They hold the rights of leagues apart from cricket, such as La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1, 2024 Olympics and the NBA.

Along with the rights for the home games, Viacom18 will also be broadcasting the domestic leagues like Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, etc. The term will start with India playing Australia in September, before the World Cup begins.

Viacom18 will be paying Rs. 67.8 crore per game, with the overall package costing Rs. 5996 Crores. They will hold the rights till 2028, Disney-Star, Viacom18 and Sony Sports were the major contenders for the rights. Here is the BCCI statement.

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 @BCCI Media Rights as well. Together we will continue to…
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) August 31, 2023

Disney-Star and BCCI end decade long relationship

IMG COM 20230831 1841 41 3351 — Star Sports and Hotstar had the 2nd highest bid, but lost out to Viacom18 (image via Hotstar)

Star TV and Disney used to hold the rights for all BCCI matches for over a decade. They won the rights in 2012, paying Rs. 3851 crores for the 6 years they had the rights. Later in 2018, Star-Disney won again, this time paying Rs. 6138 Crores.

Star later bought the broadcasting rights of the IPL in 2017, broadcasting the tournament on their TV channels and on their OTT platform, Disney+Hotstar.

Currently Star TV and Disney hold the rights for all ICC competitions, but will move to Zee Entertainment in 2024. They have the rights of South African Cricket as well, but soon they will move to Viacom18 in 20244. The rights for Australia home matches and various T20 leagues are still held by Star. They also still hold the TV rights for the IPL, but that will last till 2027.

Jay Shah thanked Star TV and Disney, saying they had a key role in making Indian cricket reach it’s fans.

Also a big thank you to @starindia @DisneyPlusHS for your support over the years. You played a key role in making India Cricket reach its fans across the globe. 2/2
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) August 31, 2023

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Lakshya Chopra

(2701 Articles Published)

Lakshya Chopra handles day-to-day operations at FirstSportz and is a seasoned writer who has covered various sports in the last few years. An engineer by profession, his passion for sports has driven him closer to the media industry. He has been working with FirstSportz for over four years. He initially led the tennis team for two years before switching to NFL. Having written over 2500 articles for the organization, he currently leads the Business Development and Growth team. From Rafael Nadal's prime to Novak Djokovic's rise to Patrick Mahomes' dominance- he has seen it all.

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Viacom18 wins the TV and digital rights for the Indian Cricket Team’s home games

Disney-Star and BCCI end decade long relationship

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