Facebook bids $US600m for Indian Premier League cricket competition

Facebook lobbed in a $US600m ($754m) bid for rights to show the Indian Premier League cricket competition around the world for the next five years.


The world’s biggest publisher didn’t win out in a fiercely contested auction, but the move is a sign of founder Mark Zuckerberg’s intent to muscle in on sports rights.


Facebook has a deal to stream college football matches in the United States, but this is Zuckerberg’s first attempt at landing a major sports rights deal.

The move underscores the level of pressure traditional media companies are facing while the future of the media reform bill hangs in the balance.
Facebook’s offer also strengthens calls by the pay-TV industry to reform the anti-siphoning laws.


Anti-siphoning legislation prescribes which sporting events free-to-air television networks have first rights to bid on, but the scheme does not prevent tech giants and telecommunications companies from bidding before the Seven, Nine and Ten networks.


Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Twitter and Google’s YouTube could theoretically buy the rights to popular Australian sports before the commercial networks, and potentially charge a subscription fee for online access.


Last month, e-commerce giant Amazon outbid pan-European satellite and cable broadcaster Sky to win exclusive ATP tour tennis rights in the UK.
Amazon paid £10 million ($17m) a year for a new package of TV rights to the ATP Masters 1000 and 500 tournaments from 2019.
Media revealed on Monday that Tennis Australia has held talks with Australian commercial networks over a new $200 million-plus television rights deal in an attempt to start negotiations early.


TA has been testing the market in an attempt to steal a march on Cricket Australia, which is set to open negotiations on a new deal.
Star India, a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, saw off competition from Facebook with a record $US2.6 billion ($3.3bn) bid to secure the rights to the IPL, unseating incumbent Sony Pictures.


Sony paid $US1bn ($1.3bn) for its ten-year contract, meaning the value of the rights has quintupled in a decade.
The IPL lasts for just two months of the year, but its huge popularity among 1.3 billion cricket-mad Indians has turned the competition into one of the most lucrative sports franchises in the world.


Fox shares common ownership with News Corp, publisher of The Australian. Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox, and his family are major shareholders in Fox and News Corp.