The media rights for the maiden five-year cycle of the forthcoming Women’s IPL have been awarded to Viacom 18, according to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah on Monday (January 16). The winning offer was INR 951 crore, which works out to INR 7.09 crore per match for the 2023-27 season. The BCCI announced that Viacom18 was the victorious bidder for the media rights consolidated offer (i.e., Global Televisions Rights and Global Digital Rights).
The Network 18-owned media company has also obtained the internet rights to the Men’s IPL for the same cycle, as well as South Africa’s current SA20 League.
“I would like to congratulate Viacom18 for bagging the media rights for Women’s IPL for the period of 5 years,” BCCI president Roger Binny said.
“Women’s cricket has been on the up for a few years and the recently concluded bilateral series against Australia is a great testament to how popular women’s cricket has become in India.”
The Women’s league’s initial season will be a five-team double round-robin event, tentatively slated for March 2023. As previously reported, the BCCI will hold an auction for WIPL franchises on January 25, and the Manchester United group is one of the international companies that has shown interest in owning a team. The deadline for cricketers to register for the player auction, which will take place in February, is January 26.
