Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani joins $5 billion IPL fight, taking on Amazon, Disney, for jewel in cricket’s crown
- Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani driving consortium to challenge for rights to Indian Premier League
- Disney, Amazon and Sony all rumoured to be preparing bids with result expected by early April
Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate is bringing together a consortium aiming to outbid entertainment giants Amazon, Disney and Sony for the telecast rights to the Indian Premier League – a prize that could be worth $5 billion or more in the cricket-crazy nation of almost 1.4 billion people.
Helmed by Asia’s richest man, who has a net worth of US$91.7 billion according to Forbes magazine, Reliance Industries Ltd and its television partner Viacom Inc are in talks to include James Murdoch-founded Lupa Systems LLC as well as Comcast Corp in the consortium, according to people familiar with the development, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. Bids are expected to exceed 400 billion rupees ($5.3 billion), the people said.
Amazon will join the bidding war as it looks to spruce up its sports offerings for Amazon Prime, two of the people said. Disney, which acquired the event’s telecast rights through 2022 with the acquisition of Star, will be in the fray while Sony is expected to bid with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd pending regulatory clearances on their proposed merger, two other people said.
Deliberations are ongoing and details may change. The bids will be submitted to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which will allocate the rights for five years starting 2023. A winner is likely to be announced around the end of next month or early April.
Sony “will evaluate bidding for both broadcast and digital rights for the upcoming IPL,” said a spokesman for its Indian unit. Zee declined to comment. Representatives for Reliance, Comcast, Lupa, Amazon and Disney did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Reuters reported on Sunday that Reliance and Amazon were among those looking to bid for the broadcast rights.
The fight for the Indian Premier League spotlights the jostle among streaming platforms to win eyeballs in the largest consumer market that’s open to foreign firms. Last year’s edition of the IPL brought in 380 million viewers and whoever wins telecast rights is likely to win millions of new subscribers in a highly competitive market that’s seen the likes of Netflix struggle.
Disney kicked off its Disney+ OTT service in India in March 2020 at the start of the IPL season, seeing it as an “opportune moment” to launch. Retaining the IPL rights are crucial to consolidate its market share in India.