: Star sensible, smartest bidder; digital bid by Viacom18 over-exuberant: Harish Thawani #IndiaNEWS #Cricket By Niharika RainaMumbai, June 16 | It was a big payday for the Board of Control for Cricket

Star sensible, smartest bidder; digital bid by Viacom18 over-exuberant: Harish Thawani #IndiaNEWS #Cricket
By Niharika RainaMumbai, June 16 | It was a big payday for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the e-auction of IPL Media Rights for the 2023-2027 cycle, earning INR 48,390. 32 crore overall from the three-day event to decide who will broadcast the T20 extravaganza in India and around the world.
While Star India retained TV Rights in the Indian subcontinent for INR 23,575 crore, Viacom18 shelled out INR 23,758 crore to claim digital rights (packages B C) for the same region. Viacome18 further won the Australia, South Africa, and United Kingdom rights while Times Internet bagged MENA (the Middle East and North America) USA rights.
Former Nimbus CEO Harish Thawani spoke to IANS about what he thought of the media rights auction, the spending on TV and digital rights as well as the overseas market. Excerpts:-
Q: Star India retained the TV rights, but let go of the digital ones. How do you see this?
Thawani: Star has been the most sensible and the smartest bidder. They have the incumbent knowledge and knew that TV is where the money is. They retained the TV, drove the price for digital and then told Viacom18, acha bhai, aap le jaao. Ab mehanga ho gaya zyada (Okay brother, you take it. The price has gone very high).
I think Stars TV rights bid in the circumstances of such competitive bidding, is measured and calculated. I believe that if they execute their plans well, it will be at least break even and maybe somewhat profitable for them on the TV rights in India.
Q: The biggest talking point from the auction was digital rights for the Indian subcontinent going for a very high price and eventually taken by Viacom18. How do you assess this trend of going big on digital rights?
A: On Viacom18, who bid for digital, I think it is over-exuberant and definitely, they will struggle to reach break-even. In my view, they could end up picking up a significant loss on profit and loss. Maybe there is a strategic view on taking up with a long-term interest in mind. From a pure PL point of view, they could lose as much as five to seven thousand crore.
They (Viacom18) have overbid like its an over-exuberant offer. Its a miscalculation; its wrong and incorrect, they should not have extended it so much. Some experts I heard on TV and other places say its an egoistic and irrational bid. I can see why its getting reactions like that.
In my view, its a bid that does not make any sense. When people say digital has grown, no. The foolishness in digital bidding is dominating. Of course, digital has grown, nobody is denying it. But is digital bigger than TV in India? Its nonsense. Any industry participant will tell you that is not correct.

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