Sony and Star to fight it out for IPL TV rights

Media rights for the cash-rich IPL will be awarded today for the 2018-22 period. The bids are up for global rights as well as individual territories.

The fight for the India TV rights to the next five years of the Indian Premier League (IPL) continues to be between Star India and Sony Pictures Network India, the two broadcasters have passed the technical bid criteria. 

Star India and Sony also qualify for India digital rights. Other eligible candidates for the India digital streaming rights are Reliance Jio, Airtel, Facebook, and Times Internet. 

In the rest of the world category, the eligible companies are Econet, Supersport, YuppTV, and OSN. Follow On Interactive, BeIn Sports and DAZN (Perform Group) experienced stumbling blocks in terms of clarifications, but have been given the green light after the required emails were provided. 

US-based company BAM Tech has been found ineligible to bid for the IPL media rights since it failed to provide proper documentation for the process. 

The evaluation of the financial bid is currently underway.