The deal includes multi-platform coverage with live streaming on JioCinema and television broadcast coverage on Sports18
Our Bureau
San Francisco, CA
Major League Cricket (MLC), the first professional Twenty20 cricket league of the US, has announced a media rights partnership deal with Viacom18 to telecast the first-ever edition of this prestigious competition exclusively on its sports network in India.
The multi-platform deal will include live streaming on JioCinema and television broadcast coverage on Sports18, starting from July 13, when the Texas Super Kings take on the Los Angeles Knight Riders at Grand Prairie Stadium near Dallas, Texas.
The inaugural season of MLC will be played in a round-robin format with the 4 best-performing teams competing in a playoff and the final round to decide a champion, to be crowned on July 30.
“JioCinema continues to change the landscape of sports consumption, and with Major League Cricket, fans will watch their favorite T20 cricketers and cheer for teams affiliated to their favorite franchisees,” said Viacom18 Sports Head of Strategy, Partnerships & Acquisitions Hursh Shrivastava.
“Indian viewers love T20 cricket, and we expect them to enjoy the action from the inaugural edition of the league across JioCinema and Sports18.”
“We are delighted to partner with Viacom18 and ensure that the world-class T20 action Major League Cricket is widely available in India, to be streamed on JioCinema and broadcast on Sports18,” said Vijay Srinivasan, MLC co-founder.
“Our six teams feature T20 superstars whom fans in India love to watch, and there’s no better partner to showcase world-class sports broadcasts in the world’s largest cricket market than Viacom18’s channels.”
This partnership involves the promotion of the inaugural season of America’s first professional T20 franchise cricket competition across more than 800 digital screens in the US and more than 1,000 digital screens in India.
MLC will feature top-class international cricket talent playing with America’s best players for the Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings, and Washington Freedom.
19 matches are set to thrill cricket lovers at two cricket-specific venues in North Texas (Grand Prairie Stadium, Grand Prairie, TX) and North Carolina (Church Street Park, Morrisville, NC) with the championship match on Sunday, July 30.
