The BCCI has made it clear that it wants IPL games to start at 8 PM IST- a schedule which was followed earlier. “BCCI’s preferred start times for double-headers being 4 pm and 8 pm Indian Standard Time,” it said in a written communique as the Board informed the interested parties who want to bid for the television and digital rights of the league for the 2023-27 five-year cycle.
The games were pushed to 7.30 IST for evening games and 3.30 IST for afternoon games on Star’s request who are the current broadcasters who had paid a whopping INR 16,347 crore for the broadcast rights. Star felt a 7.30 pm start would have extra 30 minutes in the Prime Time, when the viewership soars; therefore, the monetisation can be high. It also wanted the afternoon games to start 30 minutes early.
Nonetheless, with new broadcasters in fray, it needs to be seen if they resort to BCCI’s demands.
Furthermore, BCCI have also extended the last date for the purchase of the ITT document by 10 days. “Pursuant to requests from various interested parties, BCCI has now decided to further extend the date for purchasing the ITT documents till May 20, 2022. The procedure for purchasing the ITT documents is laid down in Exhibit I. All other terms contained in Exhibit I (including the non-refundable ITT fee amount) shall be applicable herein,” the BCCI said in a statement recently.
