India’s Supreme Court has said it is considering a submission from Bharatiya Janata Party member Subramanian Swamy for an early hearing of his plea concerning the tender process for the next set of broadcast rights to Twenty20 cricket competition the Indian Premier League.
The rights are set to go to market on July 17 and Swamy has called for an e-auctioning process in order to gain maximum value from the tender and ensure its transparency.
The Press Trust of India news agency said a bench comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud said, “we will think over it” when Swamy sought an urgent hearing of his plea. “This petition prays that the distribution of IPL rights which is scheduled on 17 July, 2017 should be done in the most transparent mode available that is via e-auction,” the petition read.
It added: “It is a requirement that non-discriminatory and transparent method, with the best international practices must be adopted for distribution of the valuable media rights so as to ensure the maximum revenue in the larger national interest.
“Huge money is involved amounting to Rs 25,000-30,000 crore (€3.4bn-€4.08bn/$3.88bn-$4.65bn) in the valuable rights associated with the game of cricket in India, which makes it mandatory to have the auction process robust, completely transparent in order to maximise the revenue and prevent vested interest from making undue gains.”
The rights tender is set to cover five editions of the IPL, from 2018 to 2022. The Board of Control for Cricket in India launched an initial tender in September last year for broadcast rights covering 10 years, from 2018 to 2027, and digital rights covering five years, from 2018 to 2022.
However, the sales process stalled due to a legal challenge by the Supreme Court into the governance of the BCCI. The case ultimately led to Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke being removed as president and secretary of the BCCI, respectively, after failing to implement various reforms.
Sony Pictures Network India currently holds television rights to the IPL, while pay-television broadcaster Star India has digital and overseas rights to the IPL, aside from in the UK and the US.
Both deals expired at the end of the 2017 season, which concluded on May 21.