This includes both television and digital rights, as well as clips and other footage, for the Indian subcontinent.
The Australian cricket board is likely to make an official announcement this week.
“Cricket Australia has accepted Disney Star’s offer, which was around $270-280 million, much higher than the one offered by incumbent SPN,” said the person cited above. “The deal will include four India tours, consisting of 26 matches over 70 days, two Ashes series, one white ball series between the arch-rivals Australia and England – and bilateral matches with other boards.”
The deal will also include Big Bash League, the homegrown T20 format league of Australia, as well as women’s tournaments.
An email query sent to Disney Star did not elicit any response till press time Wednesday.
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The development has come a month after Disney Star secured the TV rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the next five years by bidding Rs 57.5 crore per match, or Rs 23,575 crore.
In 2017, after winning the IPL media rights for the first time, the then Star India (later acquired by The Walt Disney Company as part of a global deal) had let go of rights of Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Disney Star also has rights to the International Cricket Council (ICC) properties, and the India matches of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) till 2023. It is also currently telecasting the first major esports tournament in India on a sports channel, BGMI Master Series.
SPN, which had lost the bid for IPL, had picked up Cricket Australia rights for six years for around $120 million.
