The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are planning to have multiple broadcasters for the new media rights for the next five-year cycle of the Indian Premier League.
Until now, there used to be a combined bid for IPL television and digital rights, exclusively acquired by one buyer. However, with the emergence of several big names, including Reliance and Amazon, the BCCI are considering bringing in multiple broadcasters to expand their revenue.
This method is widely used in the English Premier League, where Sky Sports, BT Sports, and BBC buy a certain number of matches every season.
As per Cricbuzz, the BCCI's plan is to sell weekend games – double headers – to multiple parties. The timeout will be increased to three minutes to allow the broadcasters to slot in more advertisements.
The 2022 edition of the IPL will begin on 26 March. With the addition of two new teams, there will be 70 league matches across Mumbai and Pune. The venues for Playoffs will be decided soon by the board.