IPR, Games & Satellite Rights

INTRODUCTION

Cricket is in the air- literally! Cricket matches and seasons have only grown bigger, more colourful, exciting, and expensive in every way and are being ‘aired’, on every broadcast/telecast media and television channels (whether past or current). Housing societies, theatres, and pubs, these days host live telecast of matches on big screens encouraging both social gatherings and sales of food and beverages. It is fantastic to witness how sporting events around the world, whether cricket, soccer, tennis, hockey, and the likes, have metamorphosed into their current spectacular avatars and dominate our lives with the excitement of the games being brought right into our living rooms. What is not seen and remains largely hidden behind the noise, are the enormous flows of commerce generated and emanating from the ‘intellectual property rights’ embedded in the games. The telecasts of the matches today have reached gargantuan proportions with the number of matches increasing and which has not only shaped the viewer’s experience but has also redefined and influenced the financial and technological landscape of sports broadcasting entirely.

It’s a no-brainer, therefore, that the bigger the game, the more money it guzzles as well as spews. Prior to that, ICC awarded Star Sports the global broadcast rights for all ICC events 2015-2023, including exclusive live and highlights rights across all platforms for ICC major events like the ICC Cricket World Cup and its qualifiers, the ICC Women’s World Cup, the ICC World Twenty20 and its qualifiers, the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.[1] One interesting news report claimed that ICC stood to lose 90% of Champion’s Trophy‘25 media rights revenue if India pulled out of the match, as it threatened to do, because of the original intention to hold the match in Pakistan.[2]

The Indian Premier League (“IPL”) has become the second most valued sporting property in the world, on a per-match basis valued at approximately Rs. 107.5 crore as cited by a BCCI functionary for the 2023 -2027 IPL seasons. It is interesting to note that ever since its 17 years of existence, IPL has managed to sell its media rights for an astronomical sum of Rs. 48,390.32 crore for a period of 5 years[3]. With an average annual cost for IPL’s broadcasting rights standing at approximately Rs. 24,000 crores each for digital and television rights in India, between 2023 and 2027. The media rights were strategically divided across platforms and regions and sold in four packages as follows: 

• Package A (Television Rights): Star Sports secured the television rights for the Indian subcontinent, committing Rs. 23,575 crores.
• Package B (Digital Rights): Viacom18 emerged as the dominant digital player, and acquired the digital streaming rights for the Indian subcontinent for Rs. 20,500 crores.
• Package C (Non-Exclusive Digital Rights): Viacom18 further won the non-exclusive digital rights for Rs. 3,257.5 crores.
• Package D (International/Overseas rights): Times Internet secured the rights for the MENA region, the USA, and the rest of the world, while Viacom18 expanded its reach to the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, with the overseas rights totaling to Rs. 1,058 crores.[4]

The intense battle for the coveted ICC or IPL media rights underscores their immense lucrative property value for broadcasters, in transforming sports into entertainment, exactly because of which, today media giants are competing for exclusive access to massive audiences across the world. The IPL brand has been valued at over $10 billion by multiple firms, with estimates ranging from $10 billion to $16 billion in 2024.[5] The original eight IPL franchises, including Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, could be valued up to $2 billion each.[6]

Every season, before the commencement of certain specific games like those mentioned above, cricket and soccer leading the pack of course, we find media announcements of auctions/sales of ‘satellite rights’ of the approaching games.  The sale of media rights, particularly for sports events like the IPL, ICC, and FIFA World Cup involves broadcasters (telecasters) paying colossal sums of money for the exclusive rights to broadcast content, which is a major revenue source for sports organizations hosting the games. While the above astounding figures refer only to the first sale revenues of the event host/film owner, it is difficult to wrap our heads around what income actually individual buyer channels make following the telecast of these matches, from various activities like ad revenues, subscriptions and further licensing to other channels around the globe for an indeterminate period of time. Obviously, profits being the main objective of the exercise, they earn in multiples of what they invest in buying the satellite media rights. 

So, what are then satellite rights and what are the purchasers of those rights paying for?

SATELLITE RIGHTS

Satellite rights are the rights given to a television channel to broadcast a film or program on television via a satellite. Typically, they are auctioned to the highest bidder of these rights, like a television channel or streaming platform, who expects to generate greater revenues from the broadcast/telecast of the coverage of the live game as well as the right to distribute the same. To simplify things, essentially these rights mean the rights of the event organising sports club, sports association, or body, who directs another agent or creator (director, producer, or other entities) to create the film on the game/event, which film the organiser will then own as a proprietor and content owner. Such ownership could be sole or joint, depending on the number of people involved in creating the content (film) and/or investing in it and the understanding between them.

LICENSE TO BROADCAST & DISTRIBUTE

Essentially thus, satellite rights refer to the exclusive permission granted by the owner of the content to a television channel or media platform to broadcast a film or program via the use of broadcast satellite, through a license agreement. Satellite rights can also be sold to a streaming platform, especially as streaming platforms are increasingly gaining dominance in content distribution, with some even acquiring both satellite and digital rights. Digital rights of the live telecast are also auctioned as mentioned above, as these rights acquired by streaming (OTT) platforms provide access to a wider audience in a cost-effective way. As mentioned above about ‘packages’, satellite and digital rights are sold under the basket of television rights based on territory, territory-based digital streaming rights, non-exclusive digital rights, and international rights forming specific rights granted to buyers beyond the territories specified. The period and extent of the licensed rights can vary, ranging from a few years to a lifetime, depending on the agreement between the content owner and the broadcaster. For example, the satellite rights for the Kannada movie “Sooryavansham” were sold to MAX channel for 100 years.[7] Needless to explicitly stress here, that these games apart from their sheer public entertainment value are also multi-billion-dollar revenue generators, primarily because the sold rights are then resold/re-distributed in other geographies for specified time periods, other than the geography of its creation.

VALUE OF THE CONTENT CREATED

On what basis are these rights sold? Obviously based on the market value being assigned to the multiple factors behind the creation of the film/content. The winner takes them all! A lot depends on the kind of creativity involved in the content to be a winner, like the reputation of the content producer. Further, factors like who owns the rights to the filming of the live match, who has produced it (production house), the brand of the creative team/cameramen (including cameras used to shoot), editing of the film, sound recordings, soundtrack and last but not the least, whether the commentators and experts roped in are marquee names or not, play a huge role in determining the price of the content; very much like who is the author of a book or the director of a film, etc. It is also interesting to note that in the face of evolving consumption trends, media everywhere is reinventing itself to satisfy consumers and create cricket telecasts as immersive experiences, all of which involve the deployment of ingenuous, creative intellectual labour, and which in turn forms the intellectual properties of the various creators and players involved in the process.  The bottom line is always - what more can be creatively done to grab the most eyeballs and rake in the maximum bucks?

CREATIVE STRATEGY

To cite a reported instance - Viacom 18 following its acquisition of IPL’s digital rights, employed a bold strategy by streaming the tournament for free on Jio Cinema to build a vast user base. This approach proved highly effective in 2023, as Jio Cinema reportedly earned Rs. 3,239 crores from advertising alone.[8] The strategy continued to deliver exceptional results in 2024, attracting over 111 million logged-in viewers and achieving a 51% year-on-year increase in viewership on the tournament’s opening night.[9]

COPYRIGHTS

However, all these sales and licenses take place in a highly regulated environment and the deals surrounding satellite/telecast or broadcast rights therefore, ride on the back of two very important sets of laws; one being Intellectual Property Laws and the other being Contract Law, amongst other rules and regulations like club/league rules, international broadcasting rules, international treaties, etc. Primary among the intellectual property laws governing these deals are those relating to Copyright Law that regulates the reproduction and distribution of creative human expressions. Another is the Trademark Law that governs and regulates the management of trademarks/names, logos, colors, brands, merchandise, and franchises, all of which create a unique brand identity for the various entities or leagues or clubs who own and invest in creating these identities, like for example Rajasthan Royals or Kolkata Knight Riders or even Manchester United.

The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act), explicitly mentions under its Section 13 that the law of copyrights applies to original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, as well as cinematograph films and sound recordings, as ‘creative human expressions’ that need to be protected. A mere reading of this section makes it abundantly clear that all creative efforts covering each of these human expressions are found in the telecasts being discussed here. Further, Section 37 of the Act, specifically takes care of the broadcasting rights of organisations, whereby it clearly allows such organisations the exclusive rights to reproduce their “broadcasts’ and stipulates that if any person without the right owner’s licence re-broadcasts the broadcast; or causes the broadcast to be heard or seen by the public on payment of any charges; or makes any sound recording or visual recording of the broadcast; or makes any reproduction of such sound recording or visual recording where such initial recording was done without licence or was licensed for any purpose not contemplated by licence agreement; or sells or gives on commercial rental any such sound or visual recording, shall be deemed to have infringed the broadcast reproduction right. The exception, however, to the above-explained scenario would be the application of the “fair use” principle (fair dealing – no infringement) and its exceptions provided under Section 39 of the Act read with Section 52.

KINDS OF COPYRIGHTS

It is hence noteworthy to specify at this juncture that the key rights of broadcasting organisations are in the nature of Rebroadcasting Rights, Rights of Communication to the Public, Fixation and Reproduction, Distribution Rights, Commercial Rental Rights, Moral Rights, Injunctions, Damages or Account of Profits, which bundle of rights forms an integral part of the deal contract, the license agreement and governs the contractual arrangement between the Parties for further telecasts. Each of these rights is not being elaborately discussed, to not obfuscate the purpose of this article. The purpose is only to introduce the reader to the complexities at play behind the games and the entertainment business and the rights at work for which buyers pay hefty sums of money.   

CONTRACTS

The contracts between the parties in such deals address the management of ownership of the content (intellectual property) and define the boundaries and limits of the same, the kind of license granted (exclusive, sole or non-exclusive), details of the content licensed, the media through which it can be distributed (television or streaming platforms), compensation and revenue sharing including royalties, outlining risks and liabilities and setting out the dispute resolution mechanisms.

CONCLUSION

Looking at the figures mentioned above, it is quite evident that intellectual rights perhaps fetch worth more than real estate prices. At the end, it is about market perceptions and what value the buyer sees in the product, is willing to pay for it, as well as can extract from it. To my mind, the following quote of author Marlin Bennett in the book Knowledge Power sums up nicely, the value in the satellite and digital broadcast rights as:

“To create something from nothing, in all the natural world is a uniquely human ability. Using our mind we originate works of arts, generate inventions, accumulate knowledge and discover truths about the world we live in. What sets the information age apart from prior periods in history is the price tag we put on these intellectual creations.”