ICC auction: Indian sports broadcasters raise red flags

While Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) is learnt to have written a letter to the governing body of world cricket, other potential bidders have also raised red flags on four issues, said highly placed sources. The ICC is auctioning Indian media rights separately from global media rights – India is by far the largest market for cricket. .

The top four broadcasters – DisneyStar, SPN,

, and Viacom18 – who have bought the tender document, have criticised the use of sealed envelope bidding rather than e-auction.

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They have also flagged the three-week gap between bid submission and announcement of winner; lack of clarity on the multiplier formula for four-year rights versus eight-year rights; and the demand for a 5% upfront deposit. Executives of all four companies spoke to ET on condition of anonymity.

The broadcasters are of the view that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already shown the way to do transparent e-auctions, and the ICC can learn from them.

“In today’s age, it is unheard of to do a sealed bid auction and then wait for three weeks. Why should my financial bid be with them for three weeks,” said a top executive of one of the leading broadcasting networks.

He added that the ICC could get all the directors in the room and open the bids. “Instead, they are waiting for three weeks. Is it for re-negotiating?” he asked.

An ICC official told ET that the governing body was looking at the third week of August for the submission of the bid and the first week of September to review the bids and formulate recommendations to the board for final approval.

A senior source close to the ICC Board said they are open to go for a second round in case the bids are not up to the mark, or if there is room for improvement. “We are keeping it as a flexible process,” he said. “In the first round when people are putting in their bids, if we find that the number that we have got is not good enough as far as our evaluations go, or we feel that it should be more, or if there are two or three bidders who are very close to each other and we think that they can bid a bit more, or we can get more out of them, then we might have another round,” he said.