Dish TV asks BCCI not to grant IPL rights to Star

The Indian Premier League will go down in history as a league that revolutionized the game of cricket. Just like Kerry Packer’s World Series cricket had a lasting impression on the game, IPL cricket has ripped up the rule book and changed the face of cricket for players and fans alike.

Cricket under floodlights, coloured clothing and white ball cricket were introduced to us through World Series cricket. Similarly, the concept of rival players playing with each other in the same team brought about a completely different dynamic to international cricket.

Not to forget the amount of money that is being paid to the players participating in the IPL. Today, you can earn your living just through playing for your IPL franchise.

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While several cricket boards scoff at the amount of money that is being thrown about by the BCCI, deep down they know that they just cannot compete with them on a financial level.

All that being said, the IPL is a lucrative tournament even for distribution channels. TV rights come at a premium and there is intense competition to earn the right to broadcast the popular tournament across the world.

Dish TV has now asked the BCCI not to give the IPL broadcasting rights to STAR network. They believe that this will create a monopolistic situation in which customers will have to pay a premium for cricketing content.

This is what Dish TV’s chairman and managing director Jawahar Goel had to say on the matter.

“STAR is aiming to acquire the IPL cricket telecast rights also and thereby attain the status of ‘sole holder’ of the telecast rights of all the major cricketing events.”

“The history of the media industry is witness to the fact that all the actions initiated by STAR till date have always been to economically concentrate the power through acquisition of cricket broadcast rights and thereby create a monopoly in the market to gain huge commercial advantage at the expense of the consumers and the distribution industry,” Goel alleged