EXCLUSIVE: ITV miss out on hosting 16 live IPL cricket matches after talks with rights holders DAZN collapse… as Sky Sports swoop in instead to fill void for tournament that starts next week
By Matt Hughes For Mailonline
15:43 24 Mar 2023, updated 22:19 24 Mar 2023
- DAZN have rights to host all 74 matches across the Indian Premier League (IPL)
- But they were planning to give ITV the chance to stage 16 of the live games
- However, rows over staging the final have seen the talks come to nothing
The IPL will be broadcast live on both DAZN and Sky Sports from next week following the late collapse of a deal that would have seen some matches shown on ITV.
Sportsmail revealed last month that DAZN had bought the live rights for all 74 matches of the world’s richest franchise league and offered 16 of them to ITV in an attempt to grow a bigger audience.
ITV were keen to sign the deal and negotiations reached an advanced stage, but an agreement proved elusive and talks have broken down a week before the start of the tournament, which begins next Friday with a clash between holders Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings.
DAZN are understood to have been frustrated at the lack of promotional opportunities offered by ITV, who in turn were unhappy at being denied the chance to screen the IPL play-offs or final.
DAZN have reacted promptly to this setback by agreeing a co-exclusive rights share with Sky, who will also show all 74 games.
The IPL has been broadcast by Sky for the last three years, whilst DAZN already have the live rights in Australia and South Africa.
The IPL’s domestic TV deal in India with Star Sports is worth £5billion, making it the second most lucrative competition in the world across all sports on a per-match basis at £14m-per-game after the NFL.
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