IPL 2018: Doordarshan to broadcast Indian Premier League 2018 matches

What’s the story?

According to the new IPL media rights agreement, Doordarshan will share the rights with Star and will broadcast select matches.

However, the feed will be delayed by one hour after Star India acquired the media rights of the Indian Premier League for five years in an auction in September last year.

The details

According to several reports, there will be 50:50 revenue sharing between Star India and Doordarshan for the broadcast of IPL 2018.

With the tournament just two days away, the IPL is still awaiting a mandatory uplink permit from the government.

The BCCI has sent a letter to the Information and Broadcasting ministry with an emergency request to grant them the requisite permission.

"We're given to understand that the permission has not been granted yet. Given that we're close to the event, we request your kind intervention in ensuring that the permission is granted urgently to ensure that our Indian audiences are able to view and enjoy the event and to prevent significant commercial losses to the parties involved," BCCI acting Secretary Amitabh Choudhary writes in his letter accessed by India Today.

In case you didn’t know…

Back last year, Star India bagged the IPL media rights for Rs 16347.5 crore for the next five years.

Star managed to pip Sony Pictures Network and other 13 contenders which also included Facebook and Jio.

What’s next?

While this step is a welcome move by the IPL, it will be interesting to see how Star and Doordarshan helps in boosting the brand of the IPL especially in rural areas where cable network is still very jittery.

Author’s take

This step is just an extension of the philosophy which allows Prasar Bharti to broadcast cricket games of national importance which includes all official one-day internationals, Twenty20 and test matches played by the men’s cricket team, the semi-finals and finals of the men’s World Cup and the International Cricket Council Championship Trophy.