JioHotstar’s notice to ICC before T20 World Cup 2026

New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has faced a serious setback before the T20 World Cup 2026 to be held in India and Sri Lanka in February-March next year. Current media rights holder JioHotstar has given formal notice to terminate its agreement till 2027.

In this situation, the challenge has arisen for ICC to find a new broadcaster, because now they have only two months time. However, there is no official confirmation on this topic yet.

demand to break the agreement

In 2024, ICC signed a $3 billion (approximately Rs 27,000 crore) deal with JioHotstar for the 2024-27 round. There were still two years left in this agreement, but the company has given notice to terminate it. The main reason for this is the huge losses being incurred in the field of sports broadcasting.

loss situations

According to an Economic Times report, JioHotstar is set to incur a loss of Rs 25,760 crore from sports contracts in 2024-25, double the loss of Rs 12,319 crore last year. The main reason for this is the ban on real money gaming apps (like Dream11, MyCircle11).

The Government of India passed the Online Gaming Act in 2025, after which the advertisements of these apps were banned. A large portion of the cricket broadcast came from these advertisements, which is estimated to have caused a loss of about Rs 7,000 crore in the advertising market.

ICC will have to find a new broadcaster

Now ICC needs to find a new broadcast partner for 2026-29. The value of the new deal is likely to be around $2.4 billion (about Rs 21,600 crore), which is much lower than the current deal.

ICC has also held talks with Sony, Amazon Prime and Netflix, but no one came forward at such a high price. If a new partner is not found, JioHotstar will have to go on air till 2027.

Impact of upcoming major tournaments

There are several major ICC events planned in the coming months, creating monetary pressure for streaming. This is the reason why JioHotstar is withdrawing from its streaming.

• January 2026- Under-19 Men’s World Cup
• February-March 2026- Men’s T20 World Cup (India-Sri Lanka)
• 2026- Women’s T20 World Cup
• 2027- Men’s ODI World Cup