ICC Media Rights Crisis, JioStar Shock Exit Before T20 World Cup 2026
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is facing one of its biggest problems right now. JioStar, which is the company that holds the rights to broadcast cricket in India, has told the ICC that it wants to leave its media deal two years early. This news has shocked the cricket world and has put the ICC in a difficult position with only two months left before the T20 World Cup 2026 starts in India and Sri Lanka.
What makes this situation even more serious is the timing. The T20 World Cup 2026 is supposed to begin in February, and right now there is no clear plan about who will show these cricket matches to people in India. The ICC media rights deal that JioStar agreed to was worth 3 billion dollars, but now the company is backing out because of huge money losses.
How Did the ICC Media Rights Deal Start?
To understand what’s happening now, we need to look back at how this ICC media rights deal started. The ICC media rights cycle that runs from 2024 to 2027 was sold for 3 billion dollars. This was a massive amount of money that the ICC received. JioStar, which is owned by Reliance Industries, got the chance to show cricket matches on their platform called JioHotstar.
The ICC media rights are important because they decide which company gets to broadcast all the cricket tournaments that the ICC organizes. This includes the World Cups, Champions Trophy, and other major events. When JioStar won the ICC media rights, it was supposed to be a win for them because JioHotstar is a very popular streaming app in India.
But something went wrong very quickly. The ICC media rights deal turned into a financial burden for JioStar. The company started losing huge amounts of money because of the cricket broadcasting contract. Now, after just a few years, JioStar has decided that it cannot continue with this deal anymore.
Why Is JioStar Leaving the ICC Media Rights Deal?
JioStar has given a clear reason for leaving the ICC media rights deal. The company says it is losing too much money from the agreement and cannot continue to broadcast cricket matches anymore. This is a serious issue because when a big company like JioStar, backed by Reliance Industries, decides to pull out of a deal, it shows that the deal was not good for them.
One major problem that made JioStar’s situation worse was the ban on real-money gaming that happened in India earlier in 2025. This ban affected JioStar’s finances because the company was relying on certain income sources that were suddenly stopped. When you lose income streams, it becomes much harder to pay for expensive ICC media rights.
The ICC media rights deal requires JioStar to pay a lot of money every year to broadcast cricket. When viewership is low or when a company loses other income sources, these costs become impossible to handle. JioStar has shown in its financial reports that it had to increase the money it set aside for losing sports contracts from 12,319 crores to 25,760 crores. This is more than double in just one year.
The ICC media rights situation became even worse for JioStar when the T20 World Cup 2024 was held in America and the Caribbean. The viewership numbers for this tournament were lower than expected in India because the match timings were not good for Indian audiences. When there is less viewership, companies like JioStar earn less money from advertisements. This made the ICC media rights deal even more expensive for them.
Who Is Trying to Get the ICC Media Rights Now?
The ICC has approached several major companies to see if they will take over the ICC media rights deal. These companies include Sony Sports Network, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. Each of these companies has shown interest in cricket content before, but now the ICC media rights situation is different.
The ICC media rights valuation has gone down from 3 billion dollars to around 2.4 billion dollars for the next cycle. Even with this lower price, the companies that the ICC has approached have not shown much interest yet. The main reason is that they think the ICC media rights price is still too high. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are mainly interested in making their services attractive to subscribers, and they are worried about whether cricket broadcasting will be worth the cost.
Sony Sports Network already broadcasts cricket in India, so they know what the ICC media rights are like. But even Sony Sports Network has not committed to taking over the deal from JioStar. This shows how serious the problem is. If companies like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Sony Sports Network do not want the ICC media rights, then the ICC may have trouble finding anyone to broadcast the T20 World Cup 2026.
The Real Problem Behind ICC Media Rights Deals
The ICC media rights crisis shows a bigger problem in cricket broadcasting. Many companies have learned that buying the ICC media rights is not always a good business choice. They spend billions of dollars but do not always get the viewership and money they need to make back their investment.
When the ICC media rights were sold for 3 billion dollars, everyone thought it was a great deal for the ICC. But for JioStar, it turned out to be a bad decision. The company paid too much money for rights that did not make them enough money in return. Now, with the ICC media rights price at 2.4 billion dollars, other companies are asking themselves if this is worth the risk.
The ICC media rights also have another problem. Cricket is played at different times around the world. In India, many matches happen during times when people are working or sleeping. This means that viewership can be lower than expected. The T20 World Cup 2024 in America showed this problem when Indian viewers could not watch the matches during normal Indian hours.
What About ICC Media Rights for 2026 to 2029?
The ICC has already started planning for the next ICC media rights cycle from 2026 to 2029. The ICC is looking for about 2.4 billion dollars for these ICC media rights. This is less than what JioStar paid for the current cycle, but it is still a lot of money.
The problem is that the ICC media rights for the 2026-29 cycle will not start until next year. But the T20 World Cup 2026 is happening in February 2026, which is just a few months away. The ICC needs someone to broadcast the T20 World Cup 2026, but there is no deal in place yet. This is creating confusion about how the T20 World Cup 2026 will be shown to people in India.
The ICC media rights situation is moving very fast now. The ICC has given companies a short time to bid for the ICC media rights and decide if they want to take over from JioStar. If nobody takes the offer, the ICC might have to make a quick decision or even give the rights to someone else.
The Race Against Time for ICC Media Rights
The ICC is now in a race against time to find someone to take the ICC media rights. The T20 World Cup 2026 is only two months away, and there are many things that need to be done before the tournament starts. The ICC media rights company needs to have cameras, commentators, and broadcast equipment ready to show all the matches.
The ICC has made it clear that finding a new ICC media rights holder is very important. The ICC media rights are not just about money. They are also about making sure that cricket fans around the world can watch the tournaments. If there is no company to broadcast the matches, then the ICC media rights problem becomes a problem for everyone who loves cricket.
The ICC media rights crisis is also putting pressure on companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to make a quick decision. These companies know that the ICC media rights are valuable, but they also know that they need to be careful about how much money they spend. The ICC media rights situation will be solved soon because the T20 World Cup 2026 cannot happen without someone to broadcast it.
Why ICC Media Rights Deals Are Getting Harder to Sell
The ICC media rights situation shows that it is getting harder to sell the rights to broadcast cricket. A few years ago, companies were willing to pay more and more money for the ICC media rights. But now, companies are asking harder questions about whether the ICC media rights are worth the cost.
One reason for this change is that watching cricket is changing. More people are watching cricket online instead of on television. But it is not clear if streaming cricket is as profitable as showing it on TV. Companies like JioStar learned this the hard way when they started losing money on the ICC media rights.
Another reason is that the ICC media rights come with high costs. Cricket matches happen for long hours, and you need many people to broadcast them. You need camera people, commentators, directors, and many other workers. All of these people cost a lot of money. When viewership is lower than expected, the cost per viewer becomes very high.
The ICC media rights situation is now a serious problem that affects the whole cricket industry. How the ICC solves this problem will decide what happens to cricket broadcasting in the future. The ICC media rights crisis is showing that cricket needs a new way of thinking about how to sell and broadcast matches around the world.
