New Delhi, Jun 16 (IANS): Recently, Disney Star committed to pay more than Rs 23,000 crore to TV telecast rights of the IPL, while Viacom18 committed to pay another Rs 20,500 crore for the digital rights.

This amount gives them the right to exclusively telecast and web cast the IPL matches for five years.

The deal makes the BCCI become one of the richest sports bodies in the world. In fact, with a per match telecast fee of more than Rs 107 crore, one IPL match is now more expensive in terms of broadcast rights than one match in the legendary English Premier League for football.

Quite naturally, commentators and cricket enthusiasts were going ga ga over the continued success and popularity of the IPL. But there were some who pointed out the fact that TRPs and overall viewership of IPL matches had apparently dropped in the 2022 season and wondered if the high prices committed by the winning bidders were financially wise and justifiable.

CVoter conducted a nationwide survey on behalf of IANS on the issue to find out what ordinary Indians felt and thought about the issue.

The results of the survey indicate that a majority of Indians agree with the skeptics who contend that the money committed by the winning bidders is too high.

Overall, about 41 per cent of the respondents were of the opinion that the prices being paid by the bidders were justified, while more than 58 per cent of the respondents felt that the prices were not justified.

While 45 per cent of male respondents agreed with the contention that the prices were justified, women were less enthusiastic with just 37 per cent sharing the same sentiment.

The younger respondents were more sceptical, with less than 38 per cent in the 18 to 24 age group stating the bidding prices were justified while more than 46 per cent of respondents in the 55 and above age group shared the same sentiment.