BCCI lowers base price for new media rights in fresh tender

MUMBAI: Finding no takers for the mobile and Internet rights, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has floated a new tender with a lower base price.

Cricket?s richest body has fixed the floor price for these rights at Rs 20 million per match, down from the earlier Rs 30 million.

The BCCI?s decision follows a tepid response from its earlier tender. There was just one party that had submitted a bid but the price was below Rs 30 million that the BCCI was seeking.

The last date for submitting the new bids is 26 September.

There are 17 Test matches, 29 one day internationals, and two Twenty20 games.

A sports marketing executive says that there needs to be some understanding on the part of the board in terms of what these rights are worth. New media is still at a nascent stage and has not grown like in some of the developed countries.

This is the first time that the BCCI is selling mobile and Internet rights to domestic and international matches as a standalone property.

The new media rights were previously held by Nimbus, along with the television rights, way back in 2006. Nimbus had forked out $612 million for the combined rights for four years.