India’s cricket board on Thursday struck a record $944 million (Rs 6138.1 crore) deal with broadcast giant Star India for the media rights of the national team, adding to their substantial television wealth. The amount was 60 percent higher than the last sale for the rights to India’s national teams and domestic tournaments.

Rupert Murdoch’s Star beat rival bidders including Sony and Reliance Jio to win the television and digital rights for 2018-2023, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said. The result of the e-auction was announced by BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry when he congratulated the broadcaster in a tweet.

Star paid $592 million for the broadcast rights to India’s home matches for 2012-2018. Star also paid a massive $2.55 billion last year for the media rights to the BCCI’s lucrative Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament. That five year deal also starts from 2018. The first internet rights auction in cricket – with each rival having a unique log on for bidding – lasted for three days before Star placed its winning bid. Initially six companies, including Facebook and Google, entered the fray to bid for international and domestic matches in India from April 15, 2018 to March 31, 2023.

BCCI had opted for the e-auction for the first time to sell their media rights and the process brought in a windfall for the cricket board as Star, Sony and new entrants Jio (Reliance) looked to outbid each other for over three days.

The bidding had stopped at Rs 6032.5 crore on Wednesday and went up by another 105.6 crore on the third and final day.