As the International Cricket Council (ICC) Board continues to deliberate on the venue of the upcoming Champions Trophy, a key note from the broadcaster Disney Star has come into the spotlight. While the tournament is set to take place in Pakistan in February, India has made it clear that it will not visit the neighbouring country for the tournament. On its part, Pakistan Cricket Board has opposed alternative solutions such as a hybrid model. The ICC Board was set to meet in Dubai on Thursday to break the deadlock, however the meeting is reported to have been postponed to December 7.
Meanwhile, a note from the broadcaster to the governing body, written a couple of months ago, helps put things in perspective. According to a TOI report, Disney Star, which owns the ICC TV and digital rights for a four-year period until 2027, had written to the ICC about the impact of India’s exit from the Champion’s Trophy.
For the first time in history, the ICC chose to sell media rights for the Indian market separately. As a result, the Indian market accounted for 90% of the ICC's global revenue share of US$750m. So if India is to pull out of the tournament, ICC will have to lose 90% of the total revenue to be gained from this tournament. However, if Pakistan pulls out, members will have to forgo a negligible percentage (less than 10%). The ICC Board will have to keep these numbers in perspective when it decides the final venue for the tournament.
In 2022, Disney Star bagged the TV and digital rights to broadcast all ICC men's and women's events on a four-year deal from 2024 to 2027 for the Indian market. The media rights is reported to be for $3 billion. In the financial year ending March 31, 2024, Star India incurred a net loss of Rs 12,548 crore. The company attributed its poor financial performance to a provision of Rs 12,319 crore for an "onerous contract" tied to the ICC media rights deal.
In a regulatory filing, Star India said, "The company has estimated the contract with ICC, to be onerous as the expected revenue from customers relating to this right as and when the related event is broadcasted/ streamed is likely to be less than the cost involved in broadcasting and streaming these events and hence has estimated a loss from future events relating to these media rights to be Rs 12,319.31 crore as of March 31 2024."
Disney Star sub-licensed the TV rights to Zee Entertainment, which eventually withdrew from the agreement following the collapse of its merger pact with Sony Group Corp's India units in January 2024.