‘IPL & ICC rights will bring right volume & cadence of content for Disney Star’
The Walt Disney Company Senior EVP and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy, at an event, said the company has consciously decided to stay away from sports rights that are not value accretive
The Indian Premier League (IPL) TV rights and International Cricket Council (ICC) digital rights will help Disney Star to get the right volume and cadence of content for its TV (Star Sports) and digital (Disney+ Hotstar) platforms, said The Walt Disney Company Senior EVP and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy.
Speaking at the 2022 Bank of America Securities Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, McCarthy also said that the company has consciously decided to stay away from sports rights that are not value accretive. She was responding to a question from Bank of America Merrill Lynch media analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich as to why the company walked away from the IPL digital rights and the Big Ten Conference rights, which is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the US.
"When we look at sports rights, we look at them not just financially but also strategically. There are lots of different sports rights out there. And there are lots of platforms. You can go just for linear. You can go for digital. You can do some flexibility in negotiations that you're having with the sports rights owners. But we've made a commitment that we will not do deals that are not value accretive. So we have been disciplined," McCarthy said.
McCarthy noted that the company remains focussed on achieving profitability for Disney+ including the Disney+ Hotstar business in 2024.
"I know there was a lot of focus on the IPL auction in the summer for the India cricket rights. We walked away with a package. Many people, I think, assumed we were just going to go for it and get whatever we had in the past, but we came back with a different package," McCarthy said.
"Then we looked at ICC rights that were just recently awarded. And we've got a smaller package of ICC rights. We're looking at this as combining different rights packages to get the right volume, get the right cadence of content on our platforms with an eye towards, once again, I never lose sight of this, getting to profitability in 2024. And that would include even the Hotstar India business."
Disney Star had won the IPL TV rights for Rs 23,575 crore and the ICC media rights for India for Rs 24,000 crore. Within a few days of winning the ICC media rights, the company licenced the TV rights to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) for almost Rs 12,000 crore while retaining the digital rights. Viacom18 had secured IPL digital rights for Rs 23,758 crore.
The company's sports portfolio includes the television rights for IPL (2023-27), ICC digital rights (2024-27), BCCI media rights till 2023, Cricket Australia media rights (2024-31), and Cricket South Africa (end of 2023-24 season). The portfolio also includes Pro Kabbadi League, Indian Super League, and various international rights, including the Wimbledon Championships and the English Premier League.
