Sun TV will be looking to sign as many players from the original Chargers team as they can
The Sun TV network have officially become the new owners of the Hyderabad franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after bidding Rs 85.05 crores per year (around $15.9m) in a five-year deal.
The deal was announced after an IPL Governing Council meeting in Mumbai on Thursday, and a week after the original Deccan Chargers franchise was terminated for failing to pay its bank guarantee by the deadline given.
The other major bidder for the franchise was PVP Ventures, who offered Rs 69.03 crores per year (around $12.9m), making this the second time they have attempted to purchase the franchise after having failed to acquire it last month when they submitted a bid of Rs 900 crores ($164m) for a ten-year period.
The IPL Governing Council also decided that Sun TV would have until the end of the month to sign as many players from the original Deccan Chargers franchise as possible, and added that the players who refused to sign would be included in next year’s auction.
Sun TV Networks Limited, which is based in Chennai, are one of the biggest television networks in all of India, with 32 channels and 45 FM radio stations aimed at an audience who speak the four southern languages of the country.
Sun TV’s bid was higher than the $107 million paid by previous owners Deccan Chargers Holdings Limited (DCHL) in 2008, when the inaugural edition of the IPL took place.
A statement released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said: “This Franchise fee represents a premium of over a 100 % above the amount paid by DCHL for the Hyderabad Franchise in 2008.”
However, compared to two years ago, Sun TV’s total bid of $80m or Rs 425.2 crores for five years is much lower than what the Sahara group offered to pay for the Pune Warriors.
In 2010, Sahara offered an outstanding $370 million over a ten-year period for the Pune franchise, which equals out to $185 million after five years.
In hopes of attracting more bidders, the IPL Governing Council had to lower the base price to about $56m (about Rs 300 crore) for five years, which is almost nothing compared to the base price of $225m for ten years in 2010 when the Pune and Kochi franchises were bought.