The 16th edition of IPL is going to start after 3 months, and a mini-auction for the season is going to be held in Kochi on December 23. After COVID-19, the league will be organised in the old home-away format. Every team will play one game at home and one away against each opponent.
Last season, two new teams were included in the league, but the number of matches was the same as in previous seasons because of old broadcasting contracts. This time the number of matches will be more as compared to last season because of the increase in the number of teams and the new broadcasting contract.
Who won the battle for broadcasting rights?
The struggle of broadcasting the IPL for the next five years (2023-2027) has been won by Disney Star. They retained the TV rights but failed to win the digital rights for broadcasting the league. In the sub-continent, Disney Star will broadcast the IPL from 2023-2027 on TV.
This deal was closed at INR 23,575 crore (INR 57.5 crore/game). SONY served as the league’s primary broadcaster for its first ten seasons, and it only gave the BCCI INR 8200 crore in exchange for the TV rights. After 2017, Star network successfully negotiated a five-year contract at a total of INR 16,347 crore. Compared to the previous two cycles, the current TV rights contract is much more costly.
Where to watch IPL 2023?
As we discussed earlier, Disney Star bought the TV rights of IPL 2023-27 for five years. The 16th season of the league will be broadcasted on Star Sports like the previous season. Star Sports will show the league only in the sub-continent region.
For other countries or regions following channels will broadcast the league for 5 next years. The IPL 2023 will be televised in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, and Kannada on the Star India Network in the Indian subcontinent.
The live coverage of the Indian Premier League 2023 will be offered on various channels in different countries. The country-wise list of channels is following:
- Star Sports: India and Sub-continent
- Fox Sports: Australia
- Sky Sports Cricket: The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
- SuperSport: South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa
- Times Internet: USA, Canada
- Sky Sport NZ: New Zealand
- Geo Super: Pakistan
- Flow Sports: Caribbean
- Gazi TV: Bangladesh
- Radio Television Afghanistan: Afghanistan
- Fox Networks Group: South East Asia
- Digicel: Pacific Islands
- Yupp TV: Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Japan, Bhutan, Maldives, Central Asia, Continental Europe, Central & South America, and Southeast Asia (except Malaysia and Singapore)
- StarHub TV+: Singapore, Malaysia & Hong Kong
Separation of TV and Digital Media Rights
It’s the first time in the history of IPL that TV and digital media rights for the league are won by two different companies. The IPL 2023-27 media rights have earned a total of INR 48,390 crores, including both TV and digital rights. In this cycle, a total of 410 matches will be played, and the cost of one match is INR 118 crores.
The digital media rights are bagged by Viacom18 in a total of INR 23,578 crores. The deal is almost the same as TV rights. BCCI is in a good profit with this separation of TV and digital media rights for the coming cycle of the league.
Conclusion
The IPL 2023 will be broadcast on Star Sports in the sub-continent region, whereas in other regions, it will be broadcast on different channels. This time, the broadcasting rights for TV and digital platforms are not the same. The digital media rights are bagged by the Viacom18 network for the cycle 2023-2027.
FAQs:
1. Is Star Sports broadcasting IPL 2023 in India?
Ans: Yes! Star Sports network will telecast the 16th edition of IPL in India.
2. Why is SONY MAX not broadcasting the IPL now?
Ans: SONY’s contract with BCCI to broadcast the league was terminated after IPL 2017. They failed to retain the broadcasting rights for the next cycle.
3. Can we see IPL 2023 on Netflix?
Ans: No! IPL 2023 digital media rights are bought by Viacom 18 network. The league will be telecast on the Voot app, not Netflix or any other digital media platform like – Hotstar, Amazon Prime, etc.
