With the passage of time, commercial deals involving the Indian cricket team have witnessed exponential growth. But none so astronomical as the US$612 million committed by Nimbus Communications Limited to The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as part of the four-year deal for global media rights for Indian cricket (on Indian soil) until March 2010. The BCCI also signed a $219 million five-year global media rights deal with Zee Telefilms for one-day matches featuring India at neutral venues.

December 2006, securing the rights for India played a significant role in pushing up the price of global acquisition rights. ESPN STAR Sports won the bid to become International Cricket Council’s (ICC) global media and production partner for its audio-visual rights for ICC events from late 2007 to 2015. While the bid amount wasn’t disclosed, as the industry estimates, it was indicated that ESS will pay around US$1.1 billion for the rights. And India contributes over 70% of the ICC’s revenues.