Bundesliga media rights value in India set to fall from $1.5M to $600,000 per year: Report

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the lives of people across the world. It has brought the world to an unprecedented, perhaps war-like standstill that has affected global share markets as well. All the sporting events have come to a halt, which is why sporting organizations, leagues and teams alike, have suffered huge losses. The financial market has also taken a massive hit due to the pandemic.

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Bundesliga live telecast in India and Bundesliga live streaming in jeopardy as broadcasters set to pay only 40% of the previous deal

The Indian sports TV rights market has been shrinking too. Cricket Boards of New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies are already facing the wrath of COVID-19 and now German football league Bundesliga has joined the bandwagon. Star India, which is now owned by Disney, has the rights of Bundesliga live telecast in India. Besides the Bundesliga live telecast in India, the Bundesliga live streaming in India is available on Disney+Hotstar. 

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According to InsideSport, Star Sports is currently negotiating with Bundesliga for the renewal of the media rights contract. While speaking to InsideSport, sources revealed that the rights values are set to plunge almost 60% vis a vis the last deal with the broadcaster.  Previously, Star India had a five-season deal with the DFL Sports Enterprises which is a commercial division of the DFL, Germany's governing body of football. According to InsideSport, the deal was worth $1.5 million per season and covered all the territories of the Indian sub-continent (India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives).

The existing five-year contract ended with the conclusion of Bundesliga this year. And since the last few weeks, Bundesliga has been in negotiation with Star India for a deal for the upcoming cycle. The new deal offered by Star India is almost 60% less than the earlier deal as reported by the sources. This means the new deal will be in the range of just $600,000 for the entire territory of the Indian Sub-Continent, which is a loss worth approximately $900,000 per season for Bundesliga. This shows the drastic effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on Indian sports media rights market.

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A leading sports media rights expert stated that COVID-19 pandemic's repercussions are not the only reason behind the plunge in the Indian sports media rights market. According to Ashish Chadha, CEO of Sporty Solutionz (a company which deals in biggest of the sports rights in the region), it is a clear case of more supply than demand and COVID-19 has just escalated the issues.  He pointed out that the real reason is that in such a huge country, there are only two players in the form of Star India & Sony Pictures Sports Network, who the rights holders can look up to. 

Chadha claimed that consumption has a limit afterall. He reckoned according to their estimates, values for the global sporting properties and the foreign cricket boards will be further eroded in India in the next cycle.

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IMAGE COURTESY: FC BAYERN US & STAR SPORTS INDIA TWITTER