A complaint has been filed against the owners of Mumbai Indians. There is a ‘conflict of interest allegation against Nita Ambani, who is the director of Reliance Industries (RIL). It is through RIL’s subsidiary Viacom18 that the digital rights of IPL were won. Nita Ambani has now been asked to respond to the complaint.
The digital rights of IPL are with Viacom 18
The media and digital rights of IPL were auctioned a few months ago. While Star won the TV rights, it was Viacom18 that managed to win the digital rights. The price of the digital rights of India’s premier T20 competition is INR 23,758 crores.
The digital revolution in the country has meant that cricket is not watched just on TV. There are multiple devices that can now stream the game. In fact, that has almost equaled the consumption of the TV. Hence, there was no surprise in the price of the package.
Viacom18 bags digital rights with its winning bid of Rs 23,758 cr. India has seen a digital revolution & the sector has endless potential. The digital landscape has changed the way cricket is watched. It has been a big factor in the growth of the game & the Digital India vision.
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) June 14, 2022
Complaint filed against Mumbai Indians owners
Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) member Sanjeev Gupta has written a complaint, “It is submitted that RIL website states that Viacom 18 is a subsidiary company of RIL.” Nita Ambani is the director of RIL and it is well aware that the Mumbai Indians franchise is also owned by Nita and the company. Therefore, a conflict of interest complaint has been made.
BCCI ethics officer Vineet Saran has now written to Nita Ambani and has asked her to respond to the complaint on or before September 2nd, 2022. It will be interesting to see Mumbai Indians’ response to the complaint.
It has to be noted that Mumbai Indians is one of the most popular franchises in the league. MI is also the most successful team, having won five trophies. Interestingly, MI did not do well last season along with Chennai Super Kings and this was stated as one of the reasons for the drop in viewership of the tournament.
