JioStar’s $3 Billion ICC Broadcast Rights Deal: Why It’s Collapsing and What’s Next

Table of Contents

• The $3 Billion Mistake: JioStar’s ICC Gamble
• Why ICC Broadcast Rights Are Fundamentally Unsustainable
• The Inescapable Codependency of Cricket and Broadcasters
• Ripple Effects on the IPL and Beyond
• The Future of Cricket Broadcasting: A New Paradigm
• Conclusion: A Necessary Crisis for Cricket’s Evolution
• Sources

The cricket world is reeling from a seismic shock. JioStar, the media behemoth born from the merger of Reliance’s Jio and Disney’s Star India, is officially seeking an exit from its colossal $3 billion ICC broadcast rights deal—a full two years before its 2027 expiry . This isn’t just a business hiccup; it’s a full-blown crisis that exposes a deep, unsustainable flaw at the heart of international cricket’s financial model. Let’s break down why this deal was doomed from the start and what its collapse means for the future of the game.

The $3 Billion Mistake: JioStar’s ICC Gamble

In late 2022, the announcement was hailed as a triumph for the ICC: a record-shattering $3.1 billion deal for the 2024-2027 cycle, with JioStar (then Star India) as the primary rights holder for the massive Indian market . The deal covered a packed calendar with one major men’s ICC event scheduled each year . The logic seemed sound: secure the biggest market to fund the global game.

However, the reality on the ground has been brutal. The financial strain on JioStar has been mounting relentlessly. The company’s provisions for expected losses on its sports contracts more than doubled in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, skyrocketing from ₹12,319 crore to a staggering ₹25,760 crore . The primary culprits? The 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean, and the 2025 Champions Trophy, which reportedly delivered lower-than-expected Indian viewership and advertising revenue .

Why ICC Broadcast Rights Are Fundamentally Unsustainable

The core issue isn’t JioStar’s business acumen; it’s the inherent structure of the ICC broadcast rights package itself. Here’s why it’s broken:

• Event Fatigue and Uneven Quality: The annual men’s ICC event model has led to viewer fatigue. Not every event carries the prestige of a World Cup. Tournaments like the World Test Championship or the Champions Trophy struggle to command premium advertising rates year after year.
• Overvaluation Driven by IPL Hype: The $3 billion valuation was likely inflated by the euphoria surrounding the IPL’s own massive $6.2 billion media rights deal for 2023-2027 . Broadcasters may have mistakenly assumed ICC events could command similar audience engagement, a flawed assumption.
• Shifting Advertising Landscape: The digital advertising market, which was supposed to underpin these massive digital rights, has seen a significant slowdown, squeezing broadcaster margins .
• Misaligned Incentives: The ICC’s need for a huge, guaranteed sum clashed with the broadcaster’s need for a product that can consistently deliver ROI. The current model is a classic case of an asset being priced for a perfect market that doesn’t exist.

The Inescapable Codependency of Cricket and Broadcasters

Despite the losses, neither party could simply walk away. This has created a toxic, yet inescapable, codependency.

Cricket needs JioStar (or a similar giant). The ICC and its member boards, especially those from smaller nations, rely on these broadcast revenues to fund their entire cricketing ecosystem, from grassroots to the national team. Without a major broadcaster, the financial engine of international cricket stalls.

JioStar needs cricket. For a streaming service like JioCinema, premium live sports, especially cricket, is the ultimate subscriber acquisition and retention tool. In a fiercely competitive market, losing exclusive rights to the biggest sporting event in the country is not a viable option. This mutual need forced them into a renegotiation dance for over 18 months , a dance that has now ended with JioStar demanding an exit.

Ripple Effects on the IPL and Beyond

The fallout from this crisis will be felt most acutely in the IPL. The league’s franchises, who have built their multi-billion dollar valuations on the back of massive media rights deals, are watching this unfold with deep concern. The Indian Premier League’s enterprise value has already surged to a staggering $18.5 billion .

Industry experts now anticipate that the next cycle of IPL broadcast rights will see only a modest hike—likely in the range of five to ten percent—rather than the exponential growth seen in the past. The JioStar-ICC debacle has served as a stark reality check for the entire sports media industry, cooling the overheated market for live rights. Broadcasters are now far more cautious about overpaying for packages that may not deliver on their viewership promises.

The Future of Cricket Broadcasting: A New Paradigm

The ICC is already scrambling for a new partner for the 2026-2029 cycle and is reportedly now seeking around $2.4 billion—a significant markdown from the previous deal . This signals a necessary market correction.

The future of the ICC broadcast rights model will likely involve several key shifts:

1. Consolidated, Marquee Events: Moving away from an annual event to a more concentrated, high-stakes tournament every few years to rebuild prestige and viewer excitement.
2. Flexible, Tiered Rights Packages: Offering separate rights for different formats (Tests, ODIs, T20s) or different regions, allowing broadcasters to pick what fits their audience.
3. Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) Experiments: The ICC may explore its own streaming options to capture a share of the consumer revenue directly, reducing reliance on third-party broadcasters. This is a path already being explored by other global sports bodies [[INTERNAL_LINK:icc-dtc-strategy]].

Conclusion: A Necessary Crisis for Cricket’s Evolution

JioStar’s retreat from its $3 billion gamble is not just a financial loss; it’s a wake-up call. The old model of selling bundled, overpriced broadcast rights for a cluttered calendar is dead. This painful but necessary crisis will force the ICC and its stakeholders to build a more sustainable, audience-centric, and financially realistic future for international cricket. The game will be healthier for it in the long run.

Sources

• “ICC Scrambles As JioStar Seeks Exit”
• “JioStar seeks exit from US$3bn ICC cricket deal”
• “ICC on a sticky wicket as JioStar seeks to exit deal”
• “JioStar backs out of $3bn ICC deal”
• “ICC on a sticky wicket as JioStar seeks to exit deal”
• “JioStar & ICC have been renegotiating the 2024-2027 broadcast deal”
• “Report: JioStar backing out of mega ICC deal two years early”
• “IPL valuation hits $18.5 billion as franchise brands surge”
• “Unveiling the Data Behind the IPL’s Soaring Valuation”
• International Cricket Council (ICC) Official Website: https://www.icc-cricket.com