With less than two months to go for the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup, the ICC is known to have initiated backroom negotiations for a new media rights deal (2026-29) for the Indian market. These talks are for a 20% price reduction from the existing deal (2024-27) of over $3 billion according to an industry source privy to developments. This has been necessitated with JioStar conveying to the governing body about their inability to honour the current deal in the prevailing market conditions. ICC and JioStar refused to comment.

While the ICC’s search for new partners hasn’t been very encouraging, they are protected by a watertight contract. With JioStar being their long standing commercial partners, a settlement could still be in the offing, another source in the know said.

ICC-JioStar talks

All conversations between JioStar and the ICC and the latter with prospective media partners – Sony and global digital players like Netflix, Amazon among others are known to be verbal in nature, leaving open room for a re-negotiation of the existing arrangement.

Having to renegotiate is an adverse situation for the ICC, but not completely unexpected. In July 2024, Disney Star, before their merger with Viacom 18, had written to the ICC wanting to opt out of the deal. At the time, they had questioned the viability of a T20 World Cup in the USA-West Indies and wanted it to be moved to England.

Subsequently, there have been backroom talks between the two parties. Other than valuations, another crucial discussion point has been forward looking; for there to be eight-year tenders, moving ahead (2028-35) in order to make break even easier, according to an official in the know.

The point about JioStar being fully invested in big cricket in the Indian market cannot be downplayed. They hold most of the major rights – IPL, BCCI bilateral cricket apart from the ICC rights. The upcoming bilateral series against South Africa, a build-up for the World Cup, will also be aired on the network.

“It’s unlikely that they will walk away just like that,” a cricket administrator said. “Besides, you can’t do that contractually, without a payout, unless the parting is mutual.”

In recent engagements between the governing body and the broadcaster, a favourable time zone to attract maximum advertising interest has been charted out. The women’s World Cup matches started, later than usual at 3pm IST. The next year’s T20 World Cup, being staged in India and Sri Lanka is ideal. In the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa too, India are expected to play in the day for favourable TV timezone.

For JioStar though, the valuation game is too steep to solve. In August 2022, Walt Disney-owned Star India had won the ICC rights, after striking an understanding with Zee network that the TV component would be sub-let to them. Zee’s ability to honour the deal was contingent on their now failed merger with Sony going through. JioStar, post their own merger, have carried the burden of the entire deal, which many in the industry call ‘highly inflated’.

Impact

Currently, the ICC-JioStar media rights deal (TV + digital) accounts for over 85 percent of global cricket revenue from world events. While the big three cricket nations – BCCI, England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia are self-sufficient without ICC revenue share, most other cricket nations – Test playing as well as the Associates are not.

Given lack of competition in the Indian media rights space, an anticipated dip in ICC revenue of 30 percent for the next cycle has been spoken of among member nations. If the current escalation of the media rights situation is resolved, the plan for actionable work on tender for the next rights cycle is expected to begin next March and could be formalised by mid-2026.