DAZN’s five-year Indian Premier League international rights deal is close to being terminated after just one year, SportBusiness understands.
It is thought that discussions between DAZN, the subscription sports broadcaster and media group, and the rights-holder, Indian media group Viacom18, are continuing, but sources say there are a “number of material disputes” between the two parties.
Last year, DAZN secured the rights from 2023 to 2027 in all international territories outside of the Indian subcontinent, excluding the US and the Middle East and North Africa, as exclusively reported by SportBusiness at the time. The deal marked its first move into cricket.
DAZN acquired the rights from Viacom18, which paid a total of INR 594.5 crore (then €65.8m/$72.8m) for IPL international rights excluding the US and Mena, also in a five-year deal, at the IPL media rights auction.
Having acquired the rights, DAZN weighed up whether to directly broadcast the IPL in the markets involved or sell on to other broadcasters via its Global Rights Partnerships division. A combination of both was also considered.
In the event, DAZN subsequently sealed a five-year deal for IPL rights with pay-television broadcaster Foxtel in Australia, from 2023 to 2027.
It struck one-year deals with pay-television broadcasters Sky in the UK (where DAZN shared coverage during the 2023 IPL), SuperSport in sub-Saharan African, and Sky New Zealand. If the contract is terminated, as expected, Viacom18 will have to seal new deals in these key markets, as well as smaller cricket markets such as Continental Europe.
It is understood that DAZN had subcontracted Spring Media to facilitate its IPL international deals from 2024 onwards as part of its wider rights sales work with the agency.
At the 2022 IPL e-auction, Viacom18 secured rights in the UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, sub-Saharan Africa, Ireland, Continental Europe, Singapore and the Caribbean, while digital group Times Internet secured the rights in Mena and the US. See SportBusiness Media feature for more details.
The IPL’s media rights sold for a total of INR 48,390 crore (then €5.9bn/$6.2bn) over five years, from 2023 to 2027.
The rights were sold on a per-match basis on the understanding that the IPL would have 74 matches in 2023 and 2024, rising to 84 in 2025 and 2026, and 94 in 2027. Media group Disney Star retained its domestic linear rights in the Indian subcontinent for INR 23,575 crore. Viacom18 secured digital rights in the Indian subcontinent for INR 23,758 crore.