Willow TV, the largest cricket broadcaster in North America, has secured domestic rights for the inaugural edition of Major League Cricket (MLC), the US-based men’s domestic Twenty20 competition, as part of a five-year deal.
The six-team league starts tomorrow (July 13), and the new deal will see coverage of all games broadcast live across the US and Canada on Willow TV, starting with the inaugural match between Texas Super Kings and Los Angeles Knight Riders at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
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The four other competing teams are MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, and Washington Freedom.
The cricket-specific Grand Prairie Stadium will play host to 12 matches, while seven will take part at Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina. MLC said 30 cameras will be set up at each venue to ensure “a world-class production.”
The rights add to Willow TV’s portfolio of rights, which includes International Cricket Council broadcast and digital rights – including the men’s and women’s World Cup events – as well as the Indian Premier League and the Ashes.
MLC co-founder Vijay Srinivasan said: “American cricket fans have been watching the best cricketers in the globe on Willow TV for two decades, and now they can follow the same type of world-class action happening here in the United States live on Willow TV.
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By GlobalData“We are thrilled to partner with Willow TV over a long-term agreement that will showcase the world’s best players taking part in America’s transformative T20 competition.”
Willow TV was founded in 2003 by MLC co-founders Sameer Mehta and Srinivasan. It was acquired by the Times of India Group, one of India’s leading media companies, in 2016.
As part of the new rights deal, MLC will gain coverage across the Times of India's news websites timesofindia.com and Cricbuzz.
Satyan Gajwani, vice chair of Times Internet, said: “Willow TV is the long-time home for cricket in North America. We are thrilled to add MLC to our portfolio of world-class events and provide fans with the chance to watch T20 franchise action taking place in the US featuring T20 cricket superstars that Willow subscribers love to watch.”
MLC is owned by American Cricket Enterprises, a group that is backed by Mehta and Srinivasan. The company won a competitive tender in May 2019 to fund and develop a professional T20 league in the US. MLC has been planning to deploy more than $120 million to launch this year.
MLC also announced several international broadcasters that will cover the upcoming league season, including Fox (Australia), SportsMax (the Caribbean), Sky NZ (New Zealand), SuperSport (South Africa), and BT Sport (the UK).
The new deals come after MLC announced its first overseas rights agreement with Viacom18 in India on July 7. Four of the six MLC sides are owned by investors of sides in the premier Indian Premier League.
ARY Digital Network, one of Pakistan’s main media outlets, has also been announced as a broadcast partner for this year’s edition.
