For the period under review, the Walt Disney-owned company’s operating revenue from the sports business rose 40% to $504 million, while operating expenses jumped 51% to $786 million.
In its Q2 results, Walt Disney said that the higher programming and production costs at Star India were attributable to higher rights costs for ICC and, to a lesser extent, IPL cricket programming in the current period compared to the prior-year period.
Walt Disney follows the October to September fiscal calendar.
The increase in ICC cricket programming costs was due to an increase in average costs per match and more matches aired, while the increase in costs for IPL cricket programming was due to more matches aired, it added.
The American entertainment giant also said that these increases were partially offset by the comparison to costs for BCCI cricket programming in the prior-year period as we did not renew the rights for the current fiscal year.The company’s ad revenue for the first six months more than doubled to $221 million, while affiliate revenue declined 3% to $128 million.Star India’s sports business narrowed its operating loss by 73% to $27 million for the quarter ended March 30 due to lower programming and production costs attributable to the non-renewal of Board of Control for Cricket in India rights, partially offset by an increase in costs for Indian Premier League matches due to more matches aired in the current quarter compared to the prior-year quarter.
India sports revenue dropped 17% to $105 million, while operating expenses for the quarter declined by 48% to $102 million. Ad revenue for the quarter increased by 9% to $37 million, even though affiliate revenue remained stagnant at $63 million.
