Star India, host broadcasters of the Indian Premier League and Cricket World Cup – two of the biggest events in the cricket calendar, made a loss during the period of the tournaments. The loss was attributed to the increased costs of acquiring television rights and a lukewarm advertising climate.
Star India is now a part of the Walt Disney Company and the parent company said that the operating loss of over Rs 425 crore in the quarter that ended on June 30, according to a report in the Economic Times.
“Star’s results this quarter came in well below our expectations and were driven primarily by a meaningful step up in rights cost for the Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League as revenue growth was more than offset by the incremental rights expense,” Christine McCarthy, senior EVP and CFO at The Walt Disney Co, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
According to ET estimates, Star India made a loss of over Rs 1,200 crore from IPL last year.
In 2017, Star India had successfully bagged the global media rights, including television and digital, for the next five IPL seasons at an astronomical fee of Rs 16,347.50 crore.
Star was the only company which submitted a global consolidated bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore, which turned out to be Rs 528 crore more than the sum of all the highest individual bids for the seven categories of rights being sold