JioCinema, Sports18 to be home of India's home cricket matches for next 5 years, will pay ₹67.8 crore per match

BCCI have sold the TV and live streaming rights of India's home cricket matches for the next five years to Viacom18. The Indian team's matches will be live on Sports18 TV channels and JioCinema online streaming platform until the 2027 home season.

Viacom18 was involved in a three-way bidding war alongside Disney, Star and Sony Pictures Sports Network for the TV and live streaming rights of India's home matches. The bidding took place on Thursday, August 31, with Viacom18 securing the rights for a whopping fee of ₹67.8 crore per match.

According to a report by Cricbuzz, the sum that Viacom18 will pay for one match is ₹7.8 crore more than the ₹60 crore per match fees paid by Star Sports during the previous cycle. In total, Viacom18 will pay ₹5966.4 crore over five years to BCCI for telecasting the matches on their platforms.

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The five-year deal guarantees 88 matches involving the Indian men's team. Apart from that, home matches of the Indian women's team are also included in the package. The upcoming India vs Australia men's series will be the first set of matches to be telecasted and streamed by Viacom18 under this deal.

Which TV channels will telecast India's home cricket matches?

Viacom18 owns three sports channels, namely Sports18 1, Sports18 1 HD and Sports18 Khel. Sports18 1 and Sports18 1 HD are English channels. Previously, India vs Ireland series, SA20 and Major League Cricket were live on these channels.

Sports18 Khel is a free-to-air Hindi sports channel. There is no HD channel for Sports18 Khel, but with Viacom18 securing the TV rights for India's home cricket matches, fans should expect a high-definition Hindi sports channel from the new broadcaster soon.

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Viacom18 also own several other regional channels. While the official announcement is yet to be made, there is a high chance that India's home matches will be telecasted in more than two languages.

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