Sports Sports CEO Sanjog Gupta (L) was a guest of the first episode of Bombay Sport Exchange (BSE).
22 March, when the 18th season of the Indian Premier League started, the broadcast was imprinting a tectonic shift in the Indian media landscape. IPL, dubbed the “mother of all cricket leagues”, began broadcasting under the “mother of all mergers” – RS 70 352 Crore Consolidation, which combined the Reliance ViaCom18 and Disney’s Star India into a single entity. Result: Unified IPL broadcasting experience now placed under South (TV) and Jiohotstar (digital), a move that signals consolidation of strength and distribution in the hands of one media giant.
IPL is still a monster in the Indian sports landscape. It has turned into a cultural spectacle, deeply rooted into the lives of millions of fans for more than two months each year.
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“Since 2018, which is when we gained rights to IPL for Star at that time, nearly 40%in television players. Now for developing, mature assets, which IPL already in 2018 to grow as much as it shows, which is in the first exchange that is in the conversation with KEK RAO. Shriniwas Rao (Sports).
“First of all, the property always had a huge potential to go from a place where it was supposed to be invisible. And two show the potential of this market and a huge light height for the market, if you are willing to introduce the possibilities again, and that is where this IPL has started the star.
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At SiTar, it is an ambition with IPL 2025 to reach a billion viewers across television, mobile and connected devices.
“After the Merger, The Property Is Across the Si -Network on Linear, on Mobile Screens and on Ctv. And What We Want To Achieve by the End of Ipl is Engage With and Billion People Across All Uour Platforms Hyper-Personalized Experience That We Are Looking to Offer and of Course Across the Platforms Wee Are Looking to Recruit New Audiences, “Stated Gupta.
Star Sports received IPL rights in 2018 by spending 16 347.50 crore over five seasons.
The rights were left in 2022 (for cycle 2023-27), while Disney Star spent 23,575 crore on linear television broadcasting in India. Digital rights were trapped using the Viacom18 for 23,758 Crore RS. This was the first time that digital rights were sold for higher value than linear television rights.
Gupta, whose impressive CV has been in Star TV Network for nearly 15 years, stressed that, despite the increase in digital consumption, television remains a dominant force.
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“Our ambitions for growth across our linear platform, which is stellar sports, is as ambitious as our ambitions for digital growth. It’s just that the space for growth on digital platforms based on the clear number of screens that makes us accessible to us.”
“If you think India has about 250-270 million households dedicated to only about 150-260 million currently has a living room device on which they can monitor any content. This is a space for all facilities in the living room,” he said in the episode.
The ambitious plans of the Southern for IPL 2025 include a panel of 170 experts, including cricket legends and celebrities. Coverage contains 25 plus channels in 12 languages.
In addition to IPL, the biggest cricket rivalry continues to increase involvement. Border-Gavaskar trophy achieved more spectators in five tests in 2024-25, mainly due to the intensity of the India-Australia competition, not the format itself, Gupta said on the show.
“The Border-Gavascar trophy or the rivalry between India and Australia would say that only the rivalry between India and Pakistan comes second. India-Australia’s rivalry now does not have to have cultural significance or historical meaning that has an indication rivalry.
Watch the whole episode: Sanjog Gupta, CEO of SiStar Sports, in an interview with K Shriniwas Rao in the first episode of Bombay Sport Exchange
Bombay Sport Exchange Ep.1: Sanjog Gupta on IPL, Indian Market and India-Australia Series
Get the latest IPL 2025 updates in Times of India, including matches, team units and IPL Live scores for CSK, Mi, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS and RR. Find out how to watch the IPL 2025 in Canada and the US.
