Alphabet
Inc., the parent company of the iconic search engine Google, has expressed
interest in bidding for the broadcast rights to the Indian Premier League, or
IPL, joining a slew of media behemoths vying for the prized asset in
cricket-crazed India.

According to
sources familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because the
information isn’t public, the American tech corporation, which also owns the
video-streaming website YouTube, acquired the bid-related documents from the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). According to a source,
SuperSport, a South African television station company, also purchased the
records.

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According to
Bloomberg, Amazon.com Inc., The Walt Disney Co., billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led
Reliance Industries Ltd., Sony Group Corp., indigenous Zee Entertainment
Enterprises Ltd., and fantasy-sports platform Dream11 have all expressed
interest in obtaining these information dockets from BCCI.

Google’s
interest in the international media rights to India’s top cricket league
heightens the competition for a sporting event that has become as the world’s third
largest in terms of viewership, following only the Premier League and the
National Football League. According to BCCI estimates, the IPL attracted 600
million viewers last year, demonstrating the event’s immense media influence in
India’s extremely competitive entertainment sector. The BCCI and a spokesperson
from YouTube in India both declined to comment.

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The BCCI,
the governing body for cricket in India, which values the IPL at over $7 billion, will
begin auctioning broadcast and live streaming rights for the years
2023-2027 on June 12. Purchasing application documents does not guarantee a
bid, and corporations may choose not to bid, according to the sources. Obtaining
media rights to the IPL, which some see as the Super Bowl of cricket, will
allow firms to reach hundreds of millions of people and increase their
advertising income.

The rights are now held by Star India, which has a major presence in both the broadcast (Star Sports) and streaming (Disney+ Hotstar) realms. IPL is very important to its user base in India. To compete with Star, however, a united force that can challenge its domination in the arena of television and streaming is required.