Dentons’ Sports and Media practice has advised OSN on its bid for the media rights for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to international cricket matches organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the period of 2015-2023. The deal covers 18 ICC tournaments, including two ICC Cricket World Cups, two ICC Champions Trophy tournaments and two ICC World Twenty20 tournaments.
OSN participated in a fiercely contested auction for both regional and global packages of media rights, the outcome of which was that STAR India and STAR Middle East acquired all of the global rights packages from ICC. STAR Middle East subsequently agreed to sub-license the rights for the MENA region to OSN, according to the firm.
OSN is a long-standing client of Dentons’ Dubai office, who have acted for OSN on several important transactions, including the acquisition of Pehla in 2013, which is the current ICC rights holder for the MENA region.
“We are delighted to have worked with OSN on its bid for the ICC’s Media rights, particularly given their strategic importance to OSN’s business”, said Ingrid Silver, head of Dentons’ Media and Entertainment practice in the UK.
The Dentons’ team comprised Ingrid Silver, Alex Haffner (Senior Associate), Alex Henderson (Associate) and Adrian Barr-Smith (Consultant), working closely alongside partners Joby Beretta and Iain Black in Dubai and a number of other colleagues across Dentons’ Middle East offices.
