Idea tieup with Mumbai Indians for IPL

IDEA Cellular, one of the leading telecom operators in the country will unveil an innovative gateway for its customers and other cricket fans to help them connect with Mumbai Indians’ stars such as Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan, through a massive campaign starting tomorrow.

The Mukesh Ambani owned RIL won the bid for the Mumbai franchise of the IPL for $ 111.9 million for a 10 year period. While 10 per cent of this fee has to be paid to the IPL yearly, a franchise typically spends Rs 45-55 crore each year towards players fees, new players' acquisitions, marketing, stadium management and other administration costs.

During the tournament, IDEA will launch a range of value added services for its customers, and will bring cricket updates of Mumbai Indians’ on-and off-field performance. IDEA will also offer a range of value added services such as wall papers, screen savers, ring tones, gaming, match videos, photos, and updates.

Subscribers will also be able to send messages to their favourite IPL players from the Mumbai Indians team. Selective subscribers will also be able to speak to certain players of Mumbai Indians while subscribers also stand to win a chance to go to South Africa to view live matches.

In terms of revenues, franchises get 80 per cent of the global media rights fee. Out of this, 80 per cent is equally divided among all teams while the other 20 per cent is divided based on performance. The franchises also get 60 per cent of the central commercial revenues and generate their own revenues through team sponsorships.