How Big of a Loss for Disney+ Are the IPL Cricket Streaming Rights?
Disney (NYSE: DIS) has managed to sign up a lot of cricket fans for Disney+. In fact, the company pointed to the delay in the start of the Indian Premier League season last year as a reason for its weak subscriber numbers in the fourth quarter. But after failing to renew those streaming rights for future seasons, Disney may permanently lose a lot of subscribers. Estimates put the number around 20 million.
The question Disney investors need to ask is how much worse off is the entertainment giant after it failed to secure those streaming rights. Or is it worse off at all?
The winning bidder in the streaming rights for the IPL matches from 2023 to 2027 was Viacom18 -- a joint venture between Reliance Industries and Paramount Global. It ended up paying just over $3 billion, slightly more than Disney paid to retain the television broadcast rights in India.
Source Fool.com
