The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come out swinging against suggestions that heavyweights Indian pay-TV broadcaster JioStar will be backing out of its deal with the body two years ahead of schedule.
Earlier this month, it was heavily reported that JioStar, owned by the Reliance Industries conglomerate and the Ambani family, would be exiting its deal with the ICC - signed in late 2022 - because of serious financial issues.
The network holds Indian broadcast rights to major ICC events for the 2024-27 cycle, with that agreement worth $3.1 billion overall - and the speculation has come with the Men's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka less than two months away.
Now, however, the ICC has said that the aforementioned reports "do not reflect the position of either organisation."
In a statement issued today, the Dubai-based governing body has said: "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 Any suggestion that JioStar has withdrawn from the agreement is incorrect.
"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 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."
India is by far and away cricket's biggest market, and any instability in the ICC's broadcast rights revenue from that country will cause serious worry at the game's governing body. Indeed, this news comes with the ICC already expecting a 30% drop in revenue from its next media rights contracts in other markets, starting in 2028.
Last week, The Economic Times suggested that the ICC was seeking $2.4 billion from an Indian broadcast partner for the next three years, and that Sony Pictures Networks, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video had already all been approached.
It was also reported that JioStar would, indeed, have to fulfil the contract via whatever means necessary if an alternative partner could not be found, however.
That broadcaster's losses from sports rights fees have more than doubled over the last financial year, with the Indian ban on gambling and fantasy sports companies having severely affected its advertising revenue - companies such as Dream11 have now had to shut down their real money operations in the country.
