JioStar shuts down reports claiming its broadcasting deal exit:ICC’s media partner to continue four year $3 billion association with apex board

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and JioStar have confirmed their long-term association and denied the claims that the media partner is looking to pull out of the four-year, $3 billion(US) deal. Notably, a few days ago, the JioStar made the headlines with a media report claiming that the company has announced its withdrawal from the match broadcasting. There were even claims of ICC reaching out to major platforms like Sony, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video, but the official statement from ICC and JioStar has nullified all the reports with an official statement. ‘JioStar is fully committed to honour its contractual obligations’: Joint statement from ICC and JioStar In a joint statement from ICC and JioStar, the broadcasting company quashed the reports of withdrawing from the broadcasting deal, set to last till 2027. The official statement, which was released on Friday(12 December), read: The ICC and JioStar have noted recent media reports concerning the status of the ICC’s media rights agreement in India. These reports do not reflect the position of either organisation. The existing agreement between the ICC and JioStar remains fully in force, and JioStar continues as the ICC’s official media rights partner in India. Any suggestion that JioStar has withdrawn from the agreement is incorrect. With recent confirmation, JioStar has also made sure to convey that it will broadcast the matches from the T20 World Cup 2026, with less than three months left before its commencement. JioStar will continue to telecast ICC events in India The official statement from JioStar further read, “JioStar is fully committed to honour its contractual obligations in letter and spirit. Both organisations remain focused on delivering uninterrupted, world-class coverage of upcoming ICC events to fans across India, including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, one of the sport’s most anticipated global tournaments.” “Preparations for these (T20 World Cup) events are progressing exactly as planned, and there is no impact on viewers, advertisers, or industry partners. ICC and JioStar, as long-term commercial partners, maintain regular communication on operational, commercial and strategic matters focused on the role the partnership can play in growing the sport,” the broadcasting company concluded its statement. JioStar signed $3 billion deal in 2023 In 2023, ICC sold all India broadcast rights for 2024–27 to JioStar (then Star India), valued at around ₹25,000 crore. This required JioStar to pay roughly ₹6,000 crore each year. However, earnings from cricket broadcasts fell sharply in the last two years. The biggest blow came from the ban on real-money gaming apps like Dream11, which had been major advertisers. With their exit, ‘advertising revenue isn’t as high as before’, making it difficult for JioStar to recover costs. The company even created financial provisions assuming the losses were unavoidable. Last year, JioStar projected a loss of ₹12,319 crore from the ICC deal. This year, the losses increased further to ₹25,760 crore. Therefore, there were reports of the company backing down from the deal, although the company has denied such claims once and for all.