Dubai, Oct 12 (IANS): The International Cricket Council (ICC) Sunday announced its decision to jointly award the audio-visual rights for ICC events from 2015 to 2023 to Star India and Star Middle East for an undisclosed fee.

The decision, taken at ICC's headquarters here, was announced by a press statement, claiming that it is cricket's biggest-ever global broadcast partnership, "significantly in excess of the ICC's previous commercial deals".

The statement added that the decision was taken after an examination of 17 competitive bids from various broadcasters across different territories that started in July 2014.

The current contract with ESPN Star Sports expires at the end of the 2015 World Cup in February-March 2015.

"We are delighted that our partnership with the Star group has extended to the next cycle of ICC events. This illustrates the strong relationship we have built in the current cycle and the value we have delivered since 2007," N. Srinivasan, ICC chairman, said.

"Star has an outstanding reputation as a sports broadcaster and has played an integral role in promoting and growing the game by taking coverage of ICC Events to a truly global and record-breaking audience, and we look forward to this continuing for another eight years.

"Star has been an excellent partner for the ICC during the current rights cycle, promoting and supporting ICC Events and cricket in general in the sub-continent, and I am pleased that we now have a chance to build on that success over the next eight years on a global level."

Star India CEO Uday Shankar expressed his happiness in extending their partnership with ICC, saying that they will continue to re-invent viewer experience.

"We are delighted and honoured to extend our partnership with ICC. This is a tribute to Star's commitment and ICC's trust in our ability to take the great game of cricket to the next level. Star will constantly attempt to reinvent the viewer experience to make cricket bigger and bigger," he said.