Aside from Star, SPN, and Times Internet, the others have never bid for sports rights in India in the past, resulting in speculation about their levels of interest.In 2015, Star India acquired the 2015-2017 India digital rights, along with the international TV+digital rights, for a cumulative value of about Rs Rs 101 crore per year. Star then sold the international rights to Techfront, an international rights company, for about Rs 40 crore per year, meaning the India digital rights were purchased in 2015 for about Rs 60 crore per year.While the IPL digital rights have always attracted interest, rights holders Times Internet and Hotstar have historically lost money against monetising the rights, said people familiar with the matter. However, they have used these rights to launch new properties.Hotstar, Star’s online video platform, fos instance, has benefited from access to exclusive access to the ICC, IPL, and other cricket content, since it launched in 2015.Facebook and Twitter have explored standalone digital rights on their platforms in overseas markets, such as Twitter putting the National Football League (NFL) Thursday Night games live on Twitter. And with new bidders with aggressive plans, the numbers could go higher. “With Amazon and Reliance Jio committed to the Indian consumer market, offering IPL as a value-add to their customers would make strategic sense for aggressive bidding,”said one media consultant.

Source: Economic Times October 19, 2016 18:22 UTC