Amazon likely to pull out of $7.7 billion IPL media rights race - Report

IPL media rights will be up for grabs when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) conduct the much-awaited e-auction on Sunday (June 12). A number of big companies are in the fray to secure the IPL media rights for the next five-year cycle from 2023 to 2027. Disney/Star held the IPL media rights for the 2018-2022 cycle and will be looking to do all they could to ensure they can retain the broadcasting rights of one of the biggest sporting events in the world at present.

While a number of big names are set to battle it out for the broadcasting rights of the IPL for the 2023-27 cycle, Amazon INC is likely to pull out of the race. As per a report in Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos' Amazon is planning to withdraw from the race which is also set to involve arch-rival Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd among other big players.

The report claims that Amazon has already invested more than 6 billion USD in the country and is not looking to spend a huge sum to acquire the IPL streaming rights for the next five years. Amazon has reportedly thrown the towel and will not engage in a bidding war for the IPL media rights which is set to fetch BCCI a staggering 7.7 million USD.

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As per the report, Amazon was initially interested in taking on the likes of Reliance and Disney to bag the IPL media rights for the next five years having identified the Indian T20 league as one of the half-dozen global sporting events they were interested in. However, they have now decided to not take part in the e-auction to be held on Sunday.

Star had bought the IPL media rights in 2017 for a sum of $2.55 billion. However, the amount is expected to rise around threetimes this year with the IPL growing into a ten-team tournament now. This will be the first time that the BCCI will sell the media rights of the biggest T20 league in the world through an e-auction.

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The IPL media rights have been divided into four packages - A, B, C, and D. While package A will consist of TV rights for the Indian subcontinent only, package B will havethe digital rights for the Indian subcontinent only. package C will have digital rights for a special set of matches for the Indian subcontinent while package D will have TV and digital rights for the rest of the world.

As per ESPN Cricinfo, the base price of package A is around Rs 18,130 crore (USD 2.33 billion), package B is around Rs 12,210 crore (USD 1.57 billion) and package D will be INR 1,110 crore (USD 142.8 million) respectively.