Star India seeks Rs 180 crore discount from BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) held an Apex Council meeting on January 9th, 2023 to discuss the value of Star Sports rights. The other major point of discussion of the meeting was ed-tech platform BYJU's request to exit from sponsoring the Indian team's jersey.

As per media reports, while the final decisions on both these issues are delayed till further notice, the board may come to some concensus with the two stakeholders.

The Star deal is valued to be over Rs 180 crores in the fee structure for international games, with the regulator (the BCCI) and broadcaster (Star) differing over applicability of the original Media Rights Agreement (MRA). Additionally, it is about a postponed series against South Africa in which the BCCI wants the application of the current rate while Star insists that the old rates be applied.

As per the five-year MRA signed in 2018, the overall value of an international game was about Rs 60 crore per match on an average but in the fine print Star was required to pay Rs 46 crore per game in the first year, Rs 47 crore in the second year, Rs 46.5 crore in the third year, Rs 77.4 crore in the fourth year and INR 78.9 crore in the fifth and final year.