SA20 Media Rights: Indian firms seek clarifications over high base price

All top South African players will participate in SA20 (PC: Twitter)

The Indian broadcast companies have written a letter to Cricket South Africa (CSA) to express their concerns over the high base price of SA20 Media rights. 

The media rights tender (ITT) specifies the base price of USD 240,000 (close to INR 2 crore) per game in the inaugural season. The amount is set to see a 5 per cent rise every year, and the companies need to float their bid for 10 seasons. The total value for the season will add up to 8 million (INR 64 crore), with respect to 33 matches. 

In the ITT, CSA has included home international games as well for the 2024-31 Cycle, with USD 7 million for each India game and USD 3 million for non-India games. However, the broadcasting companies have asked the board to unbundle the rights for SA20 with international games. 

Star Sports, Viacom, Sony and FanCode are the three broadcasters, who have written to the South African board. Cricbuzz reached out to CSA officials regarding the matter, and the response was "CSA is not going to provide a response on a confidential process that's ongoing."

The concerned ITT is for the Indian sub-continent. The deadline for seeking clarification was October 3, while the broadcasters have to submit the bids until October 12. The sale of media rights is being taken care of by IMG. 

The tournament will witness six teams locking horns with each other twice-home and away, followed by the semi-finals and the finals. The SA20 auction was staged last month, which witnessed Tristan Stubbs emerging as the most expensive pick. 

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