Murdoch seals £472m India deal

RUPERT Murdoch’s Star TV has won the bid to broadcast Indian cricket for six years for a fee of around £472 million.

The rights, which include television, internet and mobile broadcasting, will be for July 2012 to March 2018 and cover all home international matches and domestic tournaments but not the Indian Premier League (IPL). Star TV will pay about 400 million rupees (about £5 million) on average for each match, compared with the 322.5 million rupees (about £4 million) paid by previous rights holders Nimbus.

“This is a substantial improvement and the BCCI [Indian Cricket Board] is very happy the media rights have been fully evaluated and now I think fully priced,” BCCI president N Srinivasan told reporters in Chennai.

The BCCI terminated its deal with Nimbus in December, three years before it was due to expire, over payment defaults. MSM has the broadcast rights for the annual Twenty20 IPL.

“Star India will work with ESPN-Star Sports to exploit the rights,” said Star India chief executive Uday Shankar.