The International Cricket Council (ICC) is set to face a major obstacle regarding its media rights contract. Streaming giant JioHotstar, who are currently the holders of ICC media rights, are pondering over a premature exit from the deal. According to the Economic Times, JioHotstar has faced estimated losses of Rs 25,760 crore in 2024-25, thereby forcing them towards a huge call.
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The total length of JioHotstar's deal with the ICC is till 2027 and valued at $3 billion but according to the streaming platform's data, their losses in 2024-25 have almost doubled from 2023-24 when their losses were estimated to be around Rs 12,319 crore. If JioHotstar does pull out of the deal, it would be a huge setback for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026 that is scheduled in February-March 2026.
India and Sri Lanka are the co-hosts of the showpiece event that could find logistical and broadcasting troubles if JioHotstar opts out at this stage. As per reports, JioHotstar has already issued a notice to ICC regarding their current stand on the media rights deal. Consequently, the ICC has already started to look out for replacement options in this regard. The revised deal is reportedly valued at $2.4 billion for a three-year period between 2026 and 2029.
There are contenders who could step in at such short notice but the valuation might change too. Amazon Prime Video and Sony Sports Network are two obvious players who could be in the race to bag the media rights deal. There could also be a dark horse in the form of Netflix who have never attempted into live sports coverage previously.
The 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 ODI Champions Trophy were huge financial losses for JioHotstar. The Indian government's ban on real money gaming has also reportedly affected the streaming giant. Speculations are that a huge chunk of the audience that viewed JioHotstar were doing so to keep track of their gaming fortunes and not necessarily out of the pure passion of watching sports.