Mumbai, Dec. 9 -- Global cricket finances could come under pressure sooner than anticipated with a strong possibility of the International Cricket Council (ICC) being forced to hammer out a scaled down media rights deal with current holders JioStar. With less than two months to go for the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup, the ICC is known to have initiated backroom negotiations for a new media rights deal (2026-29) for the Indian market. These talks are for a 20% price reduction from the existing deal (2024-27) of over $3 billion, according to an industry source privy to developments. This has been necessitated with JioStar conveying to the governing body their inability to honour the current deal in the prevailing market conditions. ICC and JioStar refused to comment. While ICC's search for new partners hasn't been very encouraging, they are protected by a watertight contract. With JioStar being their long standing commercial partners, a settlement could still be in the offing, another official in the know said. All conversations between JioStar and ICC and the latter with prospective media partners (Sony and global digital players like Netflix, Amazon, among others) are known to be verbal in nature, leaving open room for a re-negotiation of the existing arrangement. Having to renegotiate is an adverse situation for ICC, but not completely unexpected. In July 2024, Disney Star, before their merger with Viacom 18, had written to ICC wanting to opt out of the deal. There have also been backroom talks between the two parties. Another crucial point of discussion has been on the need of eight-year tenders moving ahead (2028-35) to make break even easier, an official in the know said. The point about JioStar being fully invested in big cricket in the Indian market cannot be downplayed. They hold most of the major rights - IPL, BCCI bilateral cricket, apart from the ICC rights. "It's unlikely that they will walk away just like that," a cricket administrator said. "Besides, you can't do that contractually, without a payout, unless the parting is mutual." In recent engagements between the governing body and the broadcaster, a favourable time zone to attract maximum advertising interest has been charted out. The women's World Cup matches started later than usual, at 3pm IST. Next year's T20 World Cup, being staged in India and Sri Lanka, is ideal. In the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa too, India are expected to play in the day for favourable TV time zone. For JioStar though, the valuation game is too steep to solve. In August 2022, Walt Disney-owned Star India had won the ICC rights after striking an understanding with Zee network that the TV component would be sublet to them. Zee's ability to honour the deal was contingent on their now failed merger with Sony going through. JioStar, post their own merger, have carried the burden of the entire deal, which many in the industry call 'highly inflated'. Currently, the ICC-JioStar media rights deal (TV + digital) accounts for over 85 percent of global cricket revenue from world events. While the big three cricket nations - BCCI, England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia -- are self-sufficient, most other cricket nations are not. Given a lack of competition in the Indian media rights space, an anticipated 30% dip in ICC revenue for the next cycle is being been spoken of. If this situation is resolved, the work on the tender for the next cycle could be formalised by mid-2026....