Viacom18 picks up rights of ISL for 2 years at base price
premier football league, for both digital and traditional TV platforms for the upcoming two seasons. The 10th season of the ISL is set to begin on 21 September, featuring a match between Kerala Blasters FC and Bengaluru FC in Kochi, marking the league's transition from its previous broadcaster, Disney Star. Mint had reported on 21 July that Disney Star opted out of renewing its media rights due to sustained losses and falling viewership.
Football Sports Development Ltd. (FSDL), the organization behind ISL, has itself been grappling with losses over the past few years, which rose to ₹46 crore for 2021-22 from ₹13 crore in 2020-21, and ₹27 crore in 2019-2020. When Disney Star's decade-long media rights deal concluded this year, it prompted FSDL to auction the rights.
With Reliance Industries holding a 65% stake in FSDL (Disney Star owns the remaining 35%), industry sources had anticipated the rights would go to Viacom18. To formalize the auction, FSDL engaged global sports agency Octagon and set a base price of ₹275 crore per year for the two-year rights, open to a three-year extension. Later, FSDL roped in global sports agency Octagon to oversee the auction process.
It also kept ₹275 crore as the base price per year ( ₹550 crore for the two-year rights), with an understanding of extension by up to three more years. It is learned that only two bids were received for the rights and were awarded at the base price, although financial details have not been disclosed. ISL has proven to be a “driving force" behind the overall development of football in India both on and off the field, Viacom18 said in a statement.
Read more on livemint.com
