Last Updated on 2 years by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: Viacom 18 buys media rights for first 5-year cycle of Women’s IPL | Women’s IPL: who won the media rights?

The media rights for the inaugural edition of the Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) has been won by Viacom 18 from 2023-27 for Rs 951 crore. The per match value for the league thus stands at Rs 7.09 crore as only two of the eight interested parties, namely Viacom and Disney Star showed up for the auction. The victorious bid included both those of linear TV and digitally and were sold off for the global audience.

“After pay equity, today’s bidding for media rights for Women’s IPL marks another historic mandate. It’s a big and decisive step for empowerment of women’s cricket in India, which will ensure participation of women from all ages. A new dawn indeed!” Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), was quoted in a report by ESPN Cricinfo.

As of now, the league is expected to host 22 matches for the first three seasons. Post that based on the success of the preceding years, the board can look at adding a sixth franchise from 2026 onwards. Franchises part of the first women’s IPL will be garnering 80 per cent of the funds in the central commercial pool and media rights make up for a major chunk of the same.

The owners of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Gujarat Titans (GT), Delhi Capitals (DC), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Punjab Kings (PBKS) have submitted their bids for a side in the women’s IPL. The ownership rights for the sides will last for 10 years and 23rd January is the deadline day to submit technical bids for the teams.

The first edition of the women’s IPL is expected to run from 5-23 March. Each of the five teams will play each other twice in the league stages, which rounds off to 20 games. Then, there will be an eliminator between the second-placed and third-placed teams followed by the final between the table-toppers and the winner of the eliminator.