ICC Broadcast Rights MENA Tender May 2026: Named Bidders Decoded

The ICC's Middle East and North Africa broadcast rights tender for the 2027-31 global events cycle has produced the most competitive named-bidder field of the past decade. With Beating dish, a UAE-based PSL operator, and a regional sports network all in the running, the pricing baseline and the rights packaging structure are central to the conversation.

What the MENA rights cover

The MENA broadcast rights package covers ICC global events from 2027 through 2031, including the Men's T20 World Cup 2028, the Champions Trophy 2029, the Men's ODI World Cup 2031, the Women's T20 World Cup events in the window, and the Under-19 cycle. The package has historically been one of the smaller regional broadcast rights packages by value, but the audience growth in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the wider region has materially changed the commercial appraisal.

Named bidders: the public field

Beating dish, a long-standing MENA broadcast operator with cricket rights in its portfolio, is reportedly the front-runner. A UAE-based broadcast operator with PSL rights experience is the second-named bidder. A regional sports network associated with one of the Gulf states is the third public name. The reporting on the field has come from cricket business outlets and mainstream MENA media in equal measure.

Pricing baseline

The ICC's pricing baseline for the MENA package, based on the previous cycle value and the growth assumptions in the most recent commercial framework, is reportedly meaningfully higher than the 2023-27 cycle benchmark. The growth assumption is driven primarily by the broader cricket audience growth in the UAE driven by the ILT20, the expansion of the PSL hosting footprint, and the growing Saudi sports investment landscape.

Rights packaging structure

The ICC has historically offered the MENA package as a single bundle, but the 2027-31 cycle reportedly allows for sub-packaging by event type and by language pair. Sub-packaging, in cricket broadcast rights, generally produces a higher aggregate value when there are multiple credible operators in the region but tends to fragment the consumer experience. The ICC's commercial committee has reportedly modelled both single-bundle and sub-packaged scenarios.

Audience growth assumptions

The MENA audience growth assumption is anchored in three drivers: the South Asian diaspora in the region, the growth of local cricket pathways in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and the streaming-platform substitution effect. The audience growth on streaming platforms has reportedly outpaced the traditional broadcast audience growth, which has prompted bidders to offer hybrid packages that include broadcast and streaming exclusivity in different windows.

Regulatory and commercial complexity

The MENA broadcast environment includes regulatory considerations around local content quotas, language requirements, and platform-licensing frameworks. The named bidders all have established regulatory relationships in the region, but the new entrants face a longer onboarding pathway. The ICC's commercial team has reportedly engaged the regulatory advisers in the major MENA markets to map the bidder readiness.

What to watch

The ICC commercial committee's next meeting, scheduled for the second half of 2026, will reportedly include the MENA package decision on the agenda. The winning bidder's commercial framing will be a useful index of where the regional commercial value sits in the 2027-31 cycle. For South Asian fans watching from the MENA region, the broadcast experience for the next events cycle is going to feel different from the past one, and the named bidder choice will determine how. The wider regional sports broadcast market is watching.

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