The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced cricket’s biggest-ever global broadcast partnership by jointly awarding its audio-visual rights for ICC Events from 2015 to 2023 to Star India and Star Middle East.
The decision was made by the ICC Business Corporation (IBC) Board, ICC’s commercial arm, during a meeting at the ICC headquarters in Dubai on Sunday. The decision followed a robust tender, bidding and evaluation process, which started in July 2014.
During the process, which involved two rounds of bidding, the ICC received 17 competitive bids from various broadcasters across different territories for its audio-visual rights.
While the final value of the rights fee agreed will not be disclosed, it is significantly in excess of the ICC’s previous commercial deals.
The current cycle has seen ESPN Star Sports hold the audio-visual rights until the contract expires at the end of next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Included in the new eight-year period are 18 ICC tournaments*, including two ICC Cricket World Cups (2019 and 2023), two ICC Champions Trophy tournaments (2017 and 2021) and two ICC World Twenty20 tournaments (2016 and 2020).
Commenting on the decision to name Star India and Star Middle East as its successful bidders, ICC Chairman Mr N. Srinivasan said: “We are delighted that our partnership with the Star group has extended to the next cycle of ICC Events. This illustrates the strong relationship we have built in the current cycle and the value we have delivered since 2007.”
