Disney Star Scores ICC India Cricket Rights Through 2027
Naman Ramachandran Disney Star has won Indian TV and digital rights to both men’s and women’s global events conducted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) from 2024 through 2027. While the ICC did not disclose a value to the deal, it said that the “incredibly competitive” process “yielded a significant uplift to the rights fee from the previous cycle continuing the impressive growth and reach of cricket.” The rights to the previous cycle, valued at approximately $2.1 billion, were won by Star, then a Fox network, but those were for eight years and for worldwide rights, rather than India alone. The Indian market has grown exponentially since then. Winning the ICC rights is a coup for Disney Star, who recently ceded digital rights to the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament to a Viacom18 group backed by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, which paid some $3 billion. Disney Star paid $3.01 billion for broadcast rights.