IPL 2018: Star India retains cricket broadcast rights from BCCI for a whopping amount that will make your head roll

The Board of control for cricket in India on Thursday acquired a sum of Rs 6138 crore after selling the rights to broadcast Indian cricket on television and other digital platforms to star India for a period of 5 years, starting from 2018 and ending in 2023.

The deal has helped BCCI raise a whopping sum of Rs 6138 crore which happens to be 59% more than the last deal. BCCI received Rs 3851 crore for the 2012-18.

The triangular battle between Sony Pictures Network India, Star India and Reliance that started on Tuesday came to an end on Thursday afternoon with Star India emerging out as the eventual winners.

Having retained the rights, Star India will now get to telecast 102 international matches over the span of five years, which is more when compared to 96 in the previous six-year cycle. Star networks will now get to broadcast 18 matches in 2018-19, 26 in 2019-20, 14 in 2020-21, 23 in 2021-22 and 21 in 2022-23.

Additionally, Star has also got the rights to broadcast all men domestic matches as well as women's international cricket matches.

Earlier in September, last year, the board sold the worldwide IPL television and digital rights for the period of 2018-22 for INR 16,347.5 crore (US$ 2.55 billion) to Star India. The current deal thus means a second huge pay day for the board in a span of 7 months. Star India has been successful in winning both the bids.

With the broadcast rights now sold, Star India will be paying around INR 60 cr per match, which is higher than the average cost per IPL game at INR 54.5 cr.