IPL
- DAZN to show 58 games, including playoffs and final
- ITV to air 16 regular season games
- Sky Sports’ contract expired after 2022 IPL season
Sports streaming subscription service DAZN and free-to-air (FTA) broadcaster ITV have landed live broadcast rights in the UK for the Indian Premier League (IPL), according to the Daily Mail.
The deal, which kicks in from this season’s edition of the domestic franchise Twenty20 cricket tournament, will reportedly run for five years.
DAZN has purportedly secured the lion’s share of fixtures and will stream 58 IPL games per season, including the playoffs and final. ITV will broadcast 16 regular season matches each year.
The Daily Mail adds that DAZN is funding the majority of the deal in what would be its first move into cricket broadcasting in the UK.
DAZN declined to comment when contacted by SportsPro.
ITV, meanwhile, previously held IPL rights between 2010 and 2014, and is expected to show this year’s tournament on the ITV4 channel. Pay-TV network Sky Sports then took over broadcasting duties in 2015, signing its last extension in 2020 which expired after the 2022 IPL campaign.
This year’s 74-match IPL season runs from 31st March to 28th May.
SportsPro says…
FTA top-level cricket is in relatively short supply in the UK, so ITV’s involvement will be a boost for UK-based IPL fans.
For DAZN, adding the game’s dominant franchise competition to its live content slate is the latest effort from the company to gain a foothold in its home market. Sublicensing some of the IPL games to ITV will also look to grow the streaming service’s audience.
As for Sky, it appears that it seems content to focus efforts on its other cricket rights, which cover the English domestic season, including the England national teams and The Hundred, as well as International Cricket Council (ICC) global events.
