Star India bags IPL media rights for $2.55 billion

FILE PHOTO - A policeman walks past a logo of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during a governing council meeting of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai April 26, 2010. REUTERS/Arko Datta

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Star India will pay a staggering 163.48 billion rupees (£1.97 billion) for the television and digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the next five years, the country's cricket board announced on Monday.

Sony, the only other bidder for the television rights of the world's richest domestic Twenty20 competition, offered 110.5 billion rupees but lost out to Star's consolidated offer for the worldwide rights from 2018 to 2022.