T20 format attracts another $1B media investment
We are extremely encouraged by recent $1 billion-plus investments in cricket broadcasting rights and media plays, spurred by the tremendous success of the inaugural season of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) and the exciting Twenty20 (T20) format, cricket’s shortest, newest and fastest growing format.
In the latest mega investment in T20 cricket, ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) network, owned jointly by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Walt Disney, agreed to pay $975 million for the 10-year global telecast rights to cricket's Champions League Twenty20 competition. The Champions League is an annual 10-day event that begins in December in India and features eight teams from India, South Africa, Australia, Pakistan and England. This deal takes ESS's investment in cricket to the $2 billion mark. Additionally, on September 7, 2008, Indian telecom and media conglomerate Reliance ADA Group acquired a 70 percent stake in Willow.tv, a cricket webcasting site based in Sunnyvale, CA for a reported $60 million to $70 million. Earlier this year, Sony Entertainment Television and World Sport Group bought the 10-year broadcasting rights of the IPL for $1.03 billion.
Live Current, in partnership with netlinkblue, has secured the 10-year digital media content, live streaming and mobile rights for the IPL and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and these recent transaction further validate the strategic and economic value of these rights.
