Disney has won the broadcast television rights to the Indian Premier League for the next five years.
The broadcaster paid $3 billion in the rights auction, seen as crucial to its Indian portfolio, but missed the separate lot of online rights that went to Viacom 18, who are reputed to have paid $2.6 billion.
Viacom 18 is a joint venture between between Reliance Industries, Paramount and an investment group led by James Murdoch.
A sub package representing about 18 of the 74 matches (20%) in the competition is still to be sold. Although non exclusive it would allow Disney to maintain a foothold in the streaming of the competition.
The auction for international rights will be held next Tuesday. Sky currently holds the rights in the UK.
Disney first came to own the IPL rights when it acquired Star TV and its streaming service Hotstar in 2019 as part of the News Corp takeover. The new auction represents a significant uplift on 2015 when the then Murdoch-owned Star paid $2.6 billion for the global rights.
The role of Hotstar is seen as crucial in reaching the 2024 230-260 million subscriber target declared by Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek. However, Disney will have also placed limits on its transaction because of the lower subscriber fees paid in India.
