International Cricket

BCCI Broadcast Tender 2027-31 Rights Row May 2026 Decoded

Rohan Bhatia 19 May 2026 Updated 19 May 2026 ~5 min read ~913 words

Broadcast camera setup at Wankhede Stadium Mumbai with BCCI signage during a media-rights press event

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The BCCI's broadcast tender for the 2027-2031 international and domestic cricket cycle is the single biggest commercial event in Indian sport this calendar year, and the announcement timeline and bidder field were the dominant background conversation at the ICC AGM week. The tender opens formally on August 1, 2026, with sealed bids due on October 15. The reserve price has reportedly been set at 60,000 crore Indian Rupees for the combined India home international rights and a separate package for digital streaming and overseas rights. The two confirmed bidder groups are the merged Disney-Star-Jio entity and a new consortium-led bid from Sony with Aramco-backed financing. The merger background and the consortium-bid emergence have made this the most competitive tender cycle in BCCI history.

The reserve price and the package structure

The BCCI has divided the tender into four packages: Indian-territory television rights, Indian-territory digital rights, overseas television rights, and overseas digital rights. The reserve price for the Indian-territory television package alone is reportedly 28,000 crore for the cycle, with the digital package at 22,000 crore. The overseas packages combine at 10,000 crore. The package structure is significant. In the previous cycle the TV and digital were sold separately, and that produced the Star-Disney TV deal at 23,575 crore and the Viacom18 digital deal at 23,758 crore. The combined gross was 48,390 crore. The 60,000 crore reserve for the new cycle assumes a 24 percent uplift driven by the merged operator and the addition of an India home WTC cycle. Whether the market clears that price is the question.

The bidder groups, what is known

The Disney-Star-Jio merged entity, formally JioStar after the September 2025 merger completion, is the incumbent and the most likely lead bidder. The combined operator controls both television and digital reach in the Indian-territory market. JioStar has reportedly secured 14,000 crore of new commercial commitments from telecom and FMCG partners to underwrite the bid. The challenger is Sony Pictures Networks India in consortium with an Aramco-financing partner. Sony exited the IPL and BCCI broadcast space after the previous cycle and is now positioning a return. Aramco has been investing heavily in Indian sport through cricket and football sponsorships across 2024-2026, and the consortium-bid model would allow Sony to compete on the headline number while retaining capital flexibility.

The merger question and competition law

The Star-Disney-Jio merger was approved by the Competition Commission of India in February 2025 with two conditions. The first is a five-year cap on combined live-sports market share. The second is a divestment requirement on selected regional channels. The merger's impact on the broadcast tender is partly resolved: JioStar can bid as a single entity. The unresolved question is whether the Competition Commission will allow JioStar to take both television and digital packages, given the combined market share that would create. The BCCI's tender document does not require split-package bidding, but the post-tender approval process may force one. That is the lever Sony's consortium-bid is reportedly designed to exploit.

What the BCCI is balancing

The BCCI's commercial calculation is twofold. First, the headline number for the cycle. A bid above 60,000 crore would be a credible commercial outcome and would underwrite the next decade of Indian domestic and international cricket. Second, the long-term audience pathway. The digital-streaming market has shifted materially since the previous cycle. The over-the-top streaming subscriber base in India has grown to 580 million paid subscribers. The combined viewership for cricket on television and digital was 950 million unique viewers across the previous cycle. The BCCI wants both numbers preserved. A single-operator outcome consolidates the market. A two-operator outcome forces a fragmentation that may not serve the long-term audience.

What it means

The BCCI broadcast tender 2027-2031 will be the most-watched commercial event of the Indian sports calendar this year. The 60,000 crore reserve price is ambitious but plausible. The Disney-Star-Jio merged entity is the incumbent favourite, with a Sony-Aramco consortium as a credible challenger. The Competition Commission of India's post-tender review is the dark-horse variable. Watch the August 1 tender opening, the October 15 sealed-bid deadline, and the November 1 award announcement. The outcome will set the financial frame for Indian cricket and, by extension, the ICC and the global game for the next five years.