ICC Media Rights Tender: There is a new twist in the tale of ICC Media Rights Auction. Just two days before the final bid submission, auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers UK (PWC) has withdrawn from the process. The bids were supposed to be submitted at PWC’s UK office and the company would have kept the sealed bids safe in their locker. However, with the new development, the ICC now has changed the venue bid submission venue to its headquarters in Dubai, UAE. Follow Live Updates of Cricket on InsideSport.IN.
The broadcasters will now head to Dubai on August 26 to submit the official bids at the ICC headquarters. ICC sources confirmed the development to Cricbuzz, saying that the withdrawal won’t effect anything.
“We have changed the venue where the bids will be accepted. It was the PWC office earlier and now it will be at the ICC headquarters. The change is because the schedule has been changed from August 22 to 26,” Cricbuzz cited ICC sources.
ICC Media Rights Tender: Auditor PWC parts ways two days before bid submission date, ICC changes venue to Dubai, Follow LIVE Updates
However, ICC is unperturbed by the last-minute pullout. In an official response to TOI, ICC said PWC withdrew after completing due diligence. Furthermore, PWC will continue to support ICC in other aspects.
“PWC were contracted to support the ICC’s media rights sales process in two phases. Firstly, providing background checks as part of the due diligence on all bids which is ongoing. The second element was to act as an independent third party to hold the financial bids securely between submission and opening,” ICC told TOI.
“Recent clarifications to bidders confirmed that bids can be submitted and opened simultaneously meaning PWC’s services were no longer required to securely hold financial bids. PWC continue to support the process in other respects,” it added.
ICC Media Rights Tender: Auditor PWC parts ways two days before bid submission date, ICC changes venue to Dubai, Follow LIVE Updates
On Monday, all broadcasters including Zee, Star Sports, Viacom18 and Sony submitted technical bids. Eligible parties will now be asked to submit the financial bids on August 26.
It is worth noting that the “under pressure from the broadcasters boycott threat” governing body of cricket made changes to its bidding documents. The Indian broadcasters demanded that ICC must be transparent in its bidding documents for better understanding and clarity in the process. While ICC refused initially, it finally agreed to make changes.
ICC Media Rights Tender: Auditor PWC parts ways two days before bid submission date, ICC changes venue to Dubai, Follow LIVE Updates
ICC Media Rights: What are the changes ICC has made?
- The ICC has now set the base price at $1.44 billion for a 4-year cycle.
- The ICC has also revealed as per TOI that the second round of auction will be called in if the difference between the highest bid and 2nd highest bid is less than 10%.
- In that case, the second round of bidding will be an e-auction.
- The ICC has also proposed a 2.8 multiplier formula in case a broadcaster wants to bid for eight-year cycle.
- In that case, for eight years, the broadcaster will have to pay $4 billion which is slightly more than double the amount for four years.
- For example, if Star pays $2 billion for the first four and opts for a total of eight years, they will end up paying $5.6 Billion.
- However, not every broadcaster is happy with the 2.8 multiplier formula. But they have agreed to go ahead.
ICC Media Rights Tender: Auditor PWC parts ways two days before bid submission date, ICC changes venue to Dubai, Follow LIVE Updates
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