The International Cricket Council, the apex global cricket body, which is expecting over $4 billion for media rights to all its cricket events for the next eight years, seems to be struggling to get broadcasters on board for the auction. have to do. Friday, in particular, after process editor PwC exited at the last minute. However, as of now, there is no word from the ICC on postponing the auction, with India’s major broadcasters hoping that with their earlier protests about the lack of transparency in the closed bid auctions and the PwC’s now dropping, The auction can be extended.
As things currently stand, the auction is scheduled to take place on Friday at 12 noon Dubai time. For over a month, the big broadcasters – Viacom18, Disney Star, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and Sony Pictures Networks India – who have been in the fray for cricket rights – have been raising concerns about the frequent closed bidding auctions. They have, in the past, requested the ICC to adopt the e-auction method employed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the IPL auction in June this year.
In the closed bidding process, companies have to submit their bids in sealed envelopes which are then opened and compared to declare the winner.
The block has ICC matches from 2023 to 2031 including Men’s Cricket, Women’s Cricket, World Cup, Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup. Bids have been invited for a period of four years and eight years. The ICC will consider bids for both the terms and has worked out its multiplier formula to select the winner.
Interestingly, after the broadcasters insisted on greater transparency, the ICC has also agreed to a second round through e-auction, but only if the second best bid is within 10% of the best bid. “Bringing e-auction in phase two is a strange thing. Why can’t this be an e-auction,” said a broadcasting company executive on condition of anonymity. “For now, the situation is fluid. Although we haven’t heard from the ICC on the change in the auction date, there is a slim chance that there could be just one e-auction on Monday,” the person said.
On Wednesday, Anil Jayaraj, CEO, Viacom18, Sports, in a letter to ICC’s Chief Commercial Officer Anurag Dahiya, expressed surprise at PwC stepping down as ‘Process Auditor’ for the ICC media rights process and asked whether Will any other firm replace it? That a “global event that has attracted the attention of so many sport-loving people, be auctioned in a fair and transparent manner.”
The PwC opting out of the bidding process at this final stage only reaffirms the material concerns that we had on the auction process and has taken up this with the ICC on several occasions over the past few days. These developments are casting a cloud over the entire bidding process, which should be avoided, the letter said.
In the interest of protecting the sanctity of the entire process, Jayaraj requested IBC (ICC Business Corporation) to “immediately cancel the closed bidding process currently envisaged for the first phase and completely switch over to the e-auction process.”
The company said the lack of transparency may compel the broadcaster to reconsider its participation in the bids.
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