The media rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL), which are offered for sale in the world cricket market, have piqued the interest of a few parties, including Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Supersport in South Africa.

The purchase of the Invitation To Tender (ITT) paperwork by the UK and South African broadcast stations, who are anticipated to compete for the Bouquet D — international rights — of the IPL, has been verified by sources within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The confirmed parties who have taken the ITT documents, which cost a non-refundable Rs 25 lakh, are Star India Pvt Ltd, Viacom 18 Media Private Limited, Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited, Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, Sporta Technologies Pvt Ltd (Dream 11), Supersport International Pty Ltd, and Sky UK Ltd.

The ITT will be available to buy till May 10th.

There has been speculation that NetFlix, Facebook, Apple, and AirTel are also interested, but this has yet to be confirmed. Local news channels contacted a couple of Apple officials in India, but they declined to confirm or deny.

Even though a Sony official expressed concern about the exorbitant purchase of the rights, BCCI officials are sure that the price will break beyond the glass limit.

According to local news channel, the BCCI has set a total base price of Rs 32,890 crore for the four packages, which will go on sale on June 12.

Meanwhile, on April 30, the BCCI closed the time for clarifications sought by interested parties.

The clarifications are expected in a few weeks and should address the concerns of potential bidders, who, it is understood, were primarily concerned about the match cap.

ITT has not stated what the final number of games for a season would be; BCCI has only stated that if the number of games is expanded beyond the existing quota of 74, it will charge the broadcasters on a pro-rata basis.

There were also concerns about the 5% increase mentioned in the ITT, which appears to be the amount to be charged to parties who want to challenge another bouquet.

If X, the winner of Bouquet A, wants to challenge Y which has Package B for Rs 5000 crore, the former can do it by placing an increment of Rs 250 crore extra.

Following bids will need to be increased by 5% over the previous bid. However, BCCI has not specified the value of increments in each category of rights in the e-auction.